Last Sunday, 7 October
2018, we “celebrated” the 10th anniversary of the World Day for Decent Work
(WDDW): 10 years that unions across the world have been fighting to place
decent work at the centre of government policies, to bring back economic growth
that puts people first – people over profit.
In the past 10 years,
decent work has been echoed in major global instruments, such as the Second
United Nations Decade for the Eradication of Poverty (2008-2017), the
Conference on Sustainable Development (2011) and during the UN General Assembly
in September 2015 – decent work and the four pillars of the ILO Decent Work
Agenda are central elements of the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
Goal 8 of the 2030 Agenda calls for the promotion of sustained, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for
all.
But this decade also
witnessed the global financial crisis of 2007-2008, one of the worst ever.
World leaders responded with austerity recipes that led to unemployment,
informal and precarious jobs, privatisation and deregulation, all of which
increased the gap between the richest 1% and the rest of the planet. Decent
work took a heavy blow.
Add to this the changes
in the world of work brought about by internet technology, where apps drive the
gig economy and digitalisation is causing turmoil in work relations, and the
decent work agenda is further strained.
The emerging forms of
capitalism which were born from the crisis confront us with new working
relationships, such as the “Uberization” of work – which certainty is not the
future of work we want. In public services, we are seeing more proposals
to privatise, and to financialise and securitise the assets of these services –
basically turning them over to the financial sector’s speculations. Public
coffers were emptied to prop up the financial institutions that were on the
edge of failure, but workers and trade unions are fighting back.
In public services, PSI
·
helps
unions understand and act on the connections between public finance and decent
work: if the corporations and the world’s richest continue to evade taxes,
governments will continue to be starved of funds, public services will be
eroded, and working conditions will be the first victim – with our communities
not far behind.
·
leads a
push against the latest proposals to privatise, financialise and securitise
public services, turning our public assets over to the financial institutions
whose greed and recklessness caused the global financial crisis.
·
supports
the growing wave of ‘remunicipalisations’, whereby privatised services are
brought back under public ownership and management.
·
holds the
line on attempts to eliminate the right to strike, denying workers the ability
to withhold their labour – undermining one of the pillars of labour rights.
·
advocates
for the rights of migrants and refugees to access basic public services and
decent work.
·
organises
young workers who are often the most affected by the lack of decent work
opportunities.
In all of these
struggles, PSI’s messages are clear: "Unions must be able to fight on many
fronts and work with community allies to defend the decent work agenda, which
forms the basis for just and equitable workplaces and strengthens families and
communities", says Rosa Pavanelli, PSI's General Secretary.
From these rather
limited but persistent successes we learned that the access to universal
quality and gender responsive public services is essential for a better world.
We celebrate
the 10th anniversary of the World Day for Decent Work with that in mind and
call for all workers to join with unions to fight for Decent Work for All!
Public Services International (PSI) is a global trade union federation
representing 20 million workers who deliver public services in more than 160
countries. PSI champions human rights, advocates for social justice and
promotes universal access to quality public services. PSI complies with
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