Thursday, May 15, 2008

Empowerment for Sustainable Development

The Trade Union Way

By: Winston Gereluk, International Trade Union Confederation, Workers & Trade Unions Major Group Coordinator

‘Empowerment’ is now a key term in the jargon of the CSD, with widespread agreement that women, children, indigenous people, and the poor must be ‘empowered’ if we are to achieve sustainable forms of development.

There is little talk of worker empowerment, however, which is surprising, as sustainable development requires massive changes to work places and processes, where all of the world’s production and much of its consumption takes place. This change cannot take place, however, without involving workers, and this is where trade unions enter the picture.

Unsustainable patterns of production

At the same time as Chapter 29 of Agenda 21 spells out the key role of workers in sustainable development, it also recognises that trade unions are the most reliable vehicle for worker action. This is because they provide a voice, badly-needed protection, education and access to the ‘table’ where decisions are made.

Patterns of production premised on abusive or substandard labour conditions cannot be ‘sustainable’, but unfortunately, this is where most of the world’s production is currently heading. Most of the shifts in recent decades have been towards centers of low pay, substandard working conditions and suppression of workers’ rights. Sixty years after the adoption of Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the rights of the world’s workers are systematically and flagrantly violated in almost every country in the world, as shown in the Annual Survey of Trade Union Rights compiled by the International Trade Union Congress (http://www.ituc-csi.org)

Decent Work

As a consequence, our Workers & Trade Unions caucus at the CSD has consistently called for concrete forms of empowerment that begin with the right to belong to a trade union. The 2 million collective agreements negotiated by trade unions worldwide, European Works Councils and the Framework Agreements, and the joint union-management workplace committees have all provided us with primary means to join the struggle for sustainable development.

Concrete empowerment, we have said, requires guarantees of Decent Work as defined by the International Labour Organisation. Today, however, 1/3 of the world’s workers are unemployed or relegated to short-term, part-time, unsafe jobs with low wages and long hours, or they work in the informal economy with no rights or social protection. Women bear the brunt of this trend towards precarious employment, as do the millions of children who are condemned to child labour.

Not exactly rocket science

We have called for empowerment through a ‘just transition’, so that workers, their families and communities would not have to suffer the bulk of the economic hardship or dislocation that will come with climate change or other environmental measures. Such policies would not only ensure an element of justice, they would build confidence and support of our fellow workers for national efforts to address climate change.

The conditions under which workers not only perform their best, but will also be willing to fight for sustainable development are not mysterious - they have always been commonplace and well-known: respect for our knowledge and commitment; recognition of our rights, including the right to organize and bargain collectively; decent pay to maintain our families and avoid the need to migrate; and decent work, with adequate training and guarantees of occupational health and safety.

These are the simple keys to worker empowerment, and the reasons why we join trade unions.