Poverty is the Issue - Unions

There can be no sustainable development without an end to poverty, is the message trades unions have to deliver to the world's heads of state.

Some 200 trade union delegates are attending the Trade Union Summit, which started Sunday in central Johannesburg. The U.N. International Labour Organisation and the U.N. Environment Programme are also participating.

A document called "Fashioning a New Deal", presented to the summit by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) says that the three pillars of sustainable development are social, economic and environmental issues,

The ICFTU's chief delegate Lucien Royer met with South African President Thabo Mbeki in Sandton Centre on Monday.

This week's conference will discuss poverty reduction, child labour, gender equality, the marginalization of women and disabled persons, and the HIV/AIDS epidemic. ICFTU believes that the workplace is an important place to begin implementing sustainable development strategies.

At the opening ceremony, trade union representatives said that one of their major responsibilities to their members is to engage in dialogue with the employer to ensure that the worker is involved in the process, as well as influence governments through lobbying efforts to develop and legislate core labour standards in the developing countries.