WDDW2008: Decent Work and Trade - Speech by Paul Talbot

World Day for Decent Work

Tuesday 7 October 2008

Speech by TUC General Councillor Paul Talbot

When we look at how to secure Decent Work the link to trade policy is an absolutely vital aspect.

However obscure and complex the language of trade negotiations and policy sounds it has a direct effect on the livelihood of almost every person on the planet.

I won't go into the Byzantine maze of the myriad sets of trade negotiations currently underway.

At a global level via the World Trade Organisation - the Doha Round is going nowhere fast

The Economic Partnership Agreements being negotiated by the EU with six blocks of 77 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries

And the regional & national free trade agreements being negotiated with countries like Korea and India

At all of these levels the Global Trade Union movement is fighting for agreements that work to sustain and support Decent Work rather than undermining it.

There are three points that need to be constantly repeated when we discuss trade policy, Decent Work and how to get a system that works for people rather than against them.

Trade can't be separated from wider debate about direction of globalisation - the international Trade Union movement is neither crudely 'for' nor 'against' globalisation, it is a process that can and must be reshaped by political decisions and popular campaigns - it must be socialised and it must support Decent Work. Trade policy is an inseparable part of this.

Trade and the expansion of trade can be a very a good thing. Trade is needed for growth and growth creates employment. It appears to be a constant tactic of free marketers to say that anyone who criticises the current system is 'against trade' and therefore 'against growth' which is quite simply total rubbish. Trade justice was for instance a central theme of the Make Poverty History campaign because we acknowledged that to address the systemic causes of global poverty trade has to be got right. In the longer term it will make more of an impact on development than debt relief and aid budgets.

But, and this is the vital point about joined up and coherent policy that so many of those who work on trade negotiations seem to ignore, Trade is not enough, in too many statements and speeches it has become a rhetorical trope that increased trade leads to new jobs and poverty reduction in some magic and unspecified way like a Harry Potter style magic wand.

I'm sure there is no one here who believes in trickledown theory, but to listen to some the exponents of the Doha round, you would think it was a proven fact. There is a total failure to acknowledge that growth in trade without the associated polices and regulations to ensure that the benefits of that growth are fairly distributed makes it pointless unless of course you already happen to be one of the privileged few.

In all of our campaign and lobbying work we need to press home the basic common sense mantra that;

You can't have sustainable development without all four pillars of Decent Work,

You can't have Decent Work without the underpinning of the key pillar of universal core labour standards

And you can't have that underpinning of core labour standards while you have a trade system that privileges commercial goals like intellectual property rights over the rights of those who make trade possible; by producing the goods, growing the crops and delivering the services

The failure to make this link is fundamentally undermining the chances of securing public support for the global trade system.

In Britain we are repeatedly told that the way globalisation is progressing and trade system changing is good for us. The 'China price' is keeping inflation down and consumer goods within everyone's reach.

But when it is your workplace that shuts down because it is cheaper to make the goods in Guangzhou or answer the calls in Bangalore the fact that your DVD player was £20 cheaper isn't always so relevant

This isn't and mustn't be a protectionist agenda. We shouldn't and don't object to fair competition based on comparative advantages such as easier access to materials, lower labour costs or economies of scale we do and must object to a race to the bottom in terms of labour standards and artificially low costs based on the deliberate subversion of Decent Work, things such as unions being illegal.

And in the south what is the experience of our union counterparts? Of course increased trade can bring benefits, if it is done right, but when it goes wrong;

Formal sector jobs are destroyed,

Markets are forced open in an unsequenced way,

New industries aren't not allowed to find their feet,

Markets are swamped by goods from developed world or China,

Purchasing practices by our multinationals lead to workers being forced to work 16 hour days, 7 days a week.

And politicians and trade officials wonder why there is a growing backlash!

So is it all doom and gloom? Not by any stretch of the imagination.

How do we start to build a fairer more just system?

Well from a union perspective we need labour rights to be built into trade agreements in a watertight way with the same status as any other clause. Social and environmental standards must cease to be seen as an add on to be paid lip service to when talking to domestic audiences, but dropped once the 'real' business of trade negotiations gets underway or almost as bad included but as the poor relations of 'commercial' clauses

Voluntary initiatives like the ETI (explain) and consumer power demonstrated in the growth of 'fair trade' products, are important for setting best practice and raising awareness and consciousness, but in the real world of 21 Century global capitalism we have to force home the point that global markets need global regulations.

A system based on trade justice sustaining and supporting Decent Work would be a genuine win-win situation. If we carry on the way we are going it will end in disaster for not just the worlds poorest but all of us here to.

Add your support to the 'Global Unions Decent Work - Decent Life Campaign' and the wider campaign for trade justice.