Trade unions and international development

Trade unions and international development:

Trade Unions all over the world exist to support, understand and where necessary defend the rights of the workforce. Through the implementation of the ILO's core labour standards into national legislation, trade unions have a legal right to negotiate with employers and to lobby governments to ensure they listens to workers concerns.

Free trade unions are democratically accountable and financially self-reliant and an extensive global grassroots network of often untapped potential to eliminate poverty and reduce societal inequality exists. Often seen as 'the voice of the people', i.e. in Brazil, Nigeria, and South Africa, unions can be vital in the process of mobilising society on issues of national importance - such as more and better aid, debt cancellation and trade justice - including holding their governments to account.

Trade unions can help in the dissemination of information and best practice on HIV/AIDs, equality and other issues crucial to development and offer a substantial expertise to consult with in the areas in which they operate, such as health, education and agriculture.

As the DfID policy statement "Poverty reduction and labour standards", and their "How to work with trade unions" guide make clear, unions in developing countries can make substantial contribution to development, principally through their domestic activities but also through their involvement in international and regional bodies (such as the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (www.icftu.org) and sectoral bodies like Global Union Federations - GUFs (www.global-unions.org). Some examples of how unions can contribute to development goals are:

• improving the working conditions and living standards of poor people, through collective bargaining, representation (e.g. health and safety), provision of services (legal and financial services - e.g. creating co-operatives and credit unions for informal economy farm workers, training and convalescence facilities etc);
• campaigning for the introduction, improvement and implementation of legislation in accordance with core and other ILO standards, working with civil society coalitions such Make Poverty History and the Global Campaign for Education and effective pro-poor lobbying of regional and international institutions like the World Bank;
• participating in promoting economic growth and development, including pressing for pro-growth government economic policies, greater access to education, more health care provision including measures on HIV/AIDS, redistributive and other more equitable policies;
• promoting democracy and good government, through building strong civil society and in particular developing pro-poor coalitions between unions and NGOs , promoting pluralism, holding governments and employers to account (including support for a free press), and giving working people practical experience of the elements of democracy - participation, elections and accountability. This has been especially important when democracies have failed - in cases like Nigeria and Zimbabwe; and
• addressing equality and social exclusion issues such as encouraging participation by women and ethnic minorities in unions and in political life, regularising workers in the informal sector, combating child labour and promoting equality (including disability and sexual orientation) generally.

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