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WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: Trade Unions to Attempt More Unity

Stefania Bianchi

BRUSSELS, Jan 25 2005 (IPS) - The world’s largest trade union network will be campaigning to make globalisation more "favourable, equal and secure" for workers when it joins the fifth World Social Forum (WSF) in Porto Alegre, Brazil later this week.

The Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which represents some 145 million workers in more than 150 countries, says it will address the "social dimension" of globalisation.

"The ICFTU wants to make globalisation more favourable to workers’ interests and lessen the greater inequality and insecurity that it is currently generating," ICFTU spokesperson Barbara Kwateng told IPS Tuesday.

"Trade unions and civil society organisations are poised to support a more coherent international institutional structure in monitoring the social impact of today’s global economy," she added.

The WSF taking place Jan. 26-31 is an annual event which draws more than 100,000 participants from civil society groups to exchange views on globalisation, human rights and workers’ rights.

Running simultaneously with the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland, the WSF provides an opportunity for civil society organisations to forge alliances on shared goals and to pressure governments and international institutions to better address the social agenda.

ICFTU will host a three-day seminar (Jan. 27-30) on ‘The Social Dimension of Globalisation’ in line with recommendations by the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation in February last year.

The commission’s report, ‘A Fair Globalisation: Creating Opportunities for All’ was prepared by a special world commission made of 26 members from government, businesses, labour unions, universities and civil society.

The report proposed innovative ways of combining economic, social and environmental objectives and made a series of recommendations to create consensus among key actors. ICFTU says the forum will seek to ensure that these recommendations now become a reality.

"The World Commission recommended, for example, that international institutions work more in concert with each other to forge cohesion on social issues," Kwateng said.

This included a proposal for formal structures for consultation with the international labour movement and the business community to be established within institutions such as the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

ICFTU says there has been "some movement" on this front, but there is still much to do. "We are yet to see fully recognised channels in organisations such as the WTO for properly communicating the concerns of workers," Kwateng said.

On the sidelines of the WSF, ICFTU will also participate in the fourth annual trade union forum Jan. 25 and 26 when delegates from trade unions across the world will take steps towards strengthening the trade union movement, and discuss the recently announced unification between ICFTU and the World Confederation of Labour (WCL).

The WCL comprises 144 trade unions from 116 countries, with more than 26 million members, mainly from developing countries.

"We hope that this will ultimately mean that the international trade union movement is able to speak with a stronger voice for the world’s working people in the global economy," said Kwateng.

The economic and political climate has made the case for unification "much stronger", she said. "Both the ICFTU and WCL see that the duplication of effort is unnecessary and at times damaging. Therefore we are seeking to rectify this."

Kwateng says this year’s WSF will be particularly significant for the trade union network because of changes within the movement.

"What makes this year different is that we have the experience of the ‘Play Fair at the Olympics’ campaign which made some important gains with multinational sportswear manufacturers, we are developing a new campaign signalling closer collaboration with civil society organisations, and that we have announced our plans to strengthen the trade union movement," she said.

Kwateng also stresses the importance of this year’s meeting in the context of other development goals.

"Never was a WSF more necessary, providing an arena for trade unions, non-governmental organisations, other civil society organisations and individuals from across the world to come up with suggested strategies for attaining the Millennium Development Goals and other poverty reducing strategies, and signalling where there is a serious need for attention," she said.

ICFTU will also play a part in the ‘Global Call to Action Against Poverty’ campaign set to be launched at the WSF in the presence of Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The campaign aims to force world leaders to live up to their promises and adopt concrete policies to fight poverty.