SECURING DECENT WORK – THE PRIMARY OBJECTIVE OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL POLICIES
Statement by the General Confederation of Trade Unions
in connection with the World Day for Decent Work
7 October 2010
This year, it will be already for the third time that the world’s trade unions observe the World Day for Decent Work. The experience of the previous years shows that numerous events are organised worldwide on this day to reaffirm the commitment of the trade union movement to the principles of decent – free, productive, safe and fairly paid – work in accordance with the ILO conventions and its Decent Work Agenda.
At present, when the labour market prospects affected by a deep recession caused by the world financial crisis remain highly uncertain and when the number of the unemployed has exceeded 210 million, including 80 million young people, which is regarded by the International Trade Union Confederation as “a social time bomb”, the trade unions are called upon to once again demonstrate clearly their commitment to the decent work principles and urge all the countries, including CIS member-states, to adhere to these principles in seeking ways to overcome the crisis and in defining their post-crisis development.
In this connection, the GCTU welcomes the convocation of the international conference “The Challenges of Growth, Employment and Social Cohesion”, which will be organised on September 13, 2010, in Oslo, jointly by the International Labour Organisation and the International Monetary Fund and which will be attended not only by the leaders of many countries of the world but also scientists and leaders of a number of international organisations including trade unions. The General Confederation of Trade Unions expresses its hope that this Conference will help find ways of recovering sustainable economy in the world and creating new decent jobs.
The creation of new decent jobs in line with the ILO Global Jobs Pact, the inclusion of fair pay standards in laws, the observance of the fundamental rights of workers and their trade unions in all the countries of our region and the improvement of ecological safety acquire ever greater importance in the present situation. The Governments of the CIS countries must secure full employment, adequate working conditions and pay for all the categories of workers, promote social dialogue and take measures to ensure that the crisis of the recent years never happens again. This will require: unrelenting attention to the social problems as a whole, mainstreaming social problems in developing and implementing programmes of further post-crisis development of the CIS countries. It is also necessary to strive for wider international solidarity in the activity aimed at achieving decent work objectives.
Such are the main demands of the trade union movement in the Commonwealth of Independent States that can be put forth today in our region in connection with the World Day for Decent Work 7 October 2010.
The General Confederation of Trade Unions calls upon all its affiliates to mark this Day with due regard for the specific conditions of each country and impart broad publicity to these events.
General Confederation of Trade Unions
27 August 2010