Support to the Make Poverty History coalition (MPH) is a natural step in unions further addressing international development and social and economic justice.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions and
affiliates have played an active international role through providing financial,
political and organisational support for trade unions and affiliated
organisations in developing countries. Since 1984, Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA has
been the humanitarian and development arm of the Australian trade union
movement, providing direct assistance to hundreds of thousands of workers and
their families in developing countries.
See www.apheda.org.au.
May Day 2005: Make
Poverty History:
www.apheda.org.au/news/1114129483_1856.html
The
trade union movement is international. Through our bilateral links and
affiliation to bodies like the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
(the ICFTU which represents national union centres in 149 countries), the Trade
Union Advisory Committee to the OECD and individual unions’ affiliations
to their Global Union Federations, unions are in daily contact with workers
representatives in both the developed and developing world.
“Make
Poverty History” encapsulates the core values of trade unionism – the
struggle for social and economic justice. The key message, that the structural
conditions of the global economic system are rigged against the developing world
in relation to trade, debt and aid, is a straightforward one for trade unionists
used to negotiating in their own workplaces.
As unionists we believe
that we, in the developed, industrialised world have an ethical responsibility
to meet the urgent needs of the world’s poorest, to address the structural
causes of poverty and to foster sustainable development. As part of “Make
Poverty History”, unions are calling on Governments and international
institutions, including the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide trade justice, cancel debt,
fund health and education projects and secure employment rights for all, so that
the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs)[1] can be met.
The
International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) is coordinating the
Global Unions campaign. “This year, trade unions are joining with others all
around the world in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, demanding that
the grand promises made by governments at the United Nations and elsewhere
should be put into action urgently.”
“Creating decent jobs for all has
never been more important, as divisions between the haves and the have-nots in
the global economy grow ever greater. One billion people are unemployed,
underemployed or working poor: 60% of these are women. In the Global Call, we
demand debt relief to the poorest countries, greatly increased development aid
and justice in the global trading system.”
More than a billion people
live on less than US$1 per day. In Australia we are campaigning for the Federal
Government to make a proper contribution to the goal of halving global poverty
by 2015. According to the non-government overseas aid agencies, doing our fair
share means:
internationally-agreed target of 0.7% of our national wealth (more than double
the current level of 0.26%)
sanitation for the poorest people
support their own people while they have to repay the rich
poverty
finances for aid and development.
The moral argument for
international trade union solidarity has always existed. However in an age of
ever-increasing globalisation, the direct economic consequences to Australian
workers of unfair patterns of development and underdevelopment are increasingly
clear. The gap between the world’s richest and poorest people has never
been wider. Never has the International Labour Organisation’s maxim,
‘poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere’ been more
true.
When countries desperate to attract foreign investment set up
Economic Processing Zones in which national laws and standards are waived
(including Core Labour Standards[2])
workers in these countries lose out, as do other workers including those in
developing countries who try to maintain decent standards.
The
international trade union movement advocates the view that job creation and
decent work is an essential part of any sustainable poverty reduction strategy.
We have seen that increases in global trade have not led to an equal reduction
in global poverty and know that organising workers is vital in the long term to
protect and promote workers rights and to ensure a fairer distribution of
wealth.
Union Actions in 2005:
Australian unions will join
with other civil society groups to hold a national launch of the campaign in
July.
A key aim of the MPH coalition is to vastly increase the level of
awareness of development issues and the structural problems that underlay world
poverty with the public. We plan to get this message to as many of
Australia’s workers as possible.
Through articles in union
journals, mailings to branches and running specific events. Members will also be
encouraged to actively participate by wearing the white band, sending letters to
Members of Parliament and taking part in a series of union events to be
organised throughout the year. The issues of trade justice, debt and aid are
also being raised at the regular meetings between unions and relevant government
departments.
By the end of 2005 we aim to have raised awareness and
prompted action at all levels of the Australian trade union movement around
issues raised by “Make Poverty History”, to have made the Australian
government aware of the trade union’s commitment to these issues and to
have built the strength of the alliance between the trade union movement in
developed and developing countries and with development NGO’s, church
groups etc.
We are committed to work with the ICFTU and Global Union
Federations to ensure that the “Global Call to Action Against
Poverty” is an effective international campaign.
For more
information:
MAKE POVERTY HISTORY is a campaigning
coalition of over 350 trade unions, NGOs and religious and faith groups. To find
out more visit www.makepovertyhistory.org.
ACTU
website = www.actu.asn.au/makepovertyhistory
ICFTU
website = www.icftu.org
ICFTU GCAP
webpages:
http://www.icftu.org/focus.asp?Issue=GCAPcampaign&Language=EN
Website of GCAP: http://www.whiteband.org/
APHEDA May Day
2005: Make Poverty History:
www.apheda.org.au/news/1114129483_1856.html
[1]
http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/
[2]
In 1997 the ILO designated 8 conventions as fundamental workers rights/core
labour standards. These are regarded as basic human rights and are applicable to
all ILO member countries regardless of levels of development. They can be summed
up as freedom from child labour, freedom from forced labour, the right to
non-discrimination in the work place and the right to join and a union and
bargain collectively.
http://www.ilo.org/dyn/declaris/DECLARATIONWEB.INDEXPAGE
