Volume 11, No.1 - Feb - May 2002

World Summit

"The World Summit on Sustainable Development takes place at a time of serious environmental, political, social and economic crisis for Africa, and indeed for the world in general. We need a paradigm shift from macro-economic stabilisation to models of development that take into consideration human development, employment creation and social protection.

"The forces of globalisation that have shaped the world and our continent in the last decades have deepened and entrenched poverty, marginalised peoples and nations, and accelerated ecological disintegration."
(From a statement adopted by representatives of African civil society who met in October 2001 in preparation for the Summit, which is to take place in August in Johannesburg ).

In the previous two articles on the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) we looked at the purpose of the WSSD and assessed developments since the Rio Earth Summit ten years ago. Now we look at how South African organisations and COSATU in particular are preparing for the Summit and what role there is for organised labour in the WSSD.

Fashioning a New Deal
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), representing the biggest body of organised labour worldwide is calling for a " New Deal" to emerge from the Summit of the Heads of State.
The confederation's document "Fashioning a New Deal" places an emphasis on the "social dimension of sustainable development and particularly on quality employment as the key to poverty eradication and an acceptable standard of living". It promotes a workplace approach based on the principle of worker participation.

The ICFTU is guided by the following approach:

• The eradication of poverty and social marginalisation through employment
  
• Equal access for all to basic resources and services such as food, energy, shelter, water, sanitation, health, welfare, education, transportation
  
• Basic security of livelihood through social and employment transition planning
  
• Freedom of association and other core labour standards set out in Chapter 29 of Agenda 21 and ILO Instruments
  
• Ways to address social barriers based on gender, sex, age and physical attributes
  

For the ICFTU, globalisation leads to the weakening of national governments and deregulation in the economy and labour market. The WSSD must reaffirm the need for strong government and increase regulation.
The privatisation of basic services, particularly the provision of clean and safe water is identified as an example of how governments are giving up their responsibilities of protecting basic human rights.

The confederation believes that workers through their trade unions in the different countries and different sectors of the economy should use their collective bargaining power to negotiate Agenda 21 objectives.
The union view was summed up in COSATU's paper presented at the World Social Forum held in Brazil earlier this year:

"The trade union movement represents the most formidable force within civil society in contemporary global politics and the world political economy. Trade unions are a countervailing force against the powerful bloc of multinational companies, international financial institutions and industrial countries that seek to consolidate their hegemony over the world political and economic system at the expense of the weak."

For example, workers can use this power to address health rights issues such as adequate care and effective medicines for HIV/AIDS and other occupational health-related issues. This is to be linked to the development of an effective public health system in countries.

Other issues are that regions and nations become self-sufficient in providing food for their people, the development of a good public transport system and the promotion of sustainable energy use. Concerns of climate change, safer chemical use, the promotion of sustainable forestry and tourism are issues that affect workers as shop floor members but also as community members. Trade union perspectives on these issues are outlined in the ICFTU document.

The ICFTU recognise that poverty has deepened since 1992 and calls on WSSD to oppose the negative effects of globalisation and neo-liberalism. The New Deal approach is in line with the confederation's politics of co-determination and consensus building.

Labour summit during the WSSD
The ICFTU has decided to hold an international meeting on health and safety during the WSSD, to ensure a strong labour presence. About 500 participants are expected.
The themes for the labour summit are:

• AIDS/HIV as a workplace issue
  
• The link between public health and workplace health and safety
  
• Building consensus on climate change, through employment and social transition
  
• Capacity building for workplace actions between workers, trade unions and employers, a sector by sector review
• Addressing poverty through integrating the social dimension with indicators, assessments, performance reviews, analyses and political actions
  
• Corporate accountability, workplace verification, reporting, and labelling
  
• Trade, investment, and sustainable development implementation, through export credits and other measures.
  
• Understanding the role of core labour standards in worker participation and capacity building issues
  
• Workplace management and government responsibilities: the limits of deregulation, privatisation

What role for SA organised labour?
South Africa is still ranked as the third most unequal society in the world after Brazil and Guatemala. Close to 18 to 20 million (almost half the population) in our country live in poverty.

The poverty rate for Africans is 60% compared to 1% for whites, 60% of female-headed households fall under the poverty line, compared to 30% of male-headed households; and the poverty rate in rural areas is 70% compared to about 30% in urban areas.
Figures indicate that inequality in South Africa is on the increase, particularly within "race" groups. (Development Update Vol 3 No 3).
It has been recognised that the SA government has delivered on some of the promises it made in 1994. Areas such as housing, water, health and electricity are noted as success stories of delivery.

It is also recognised that the ANC- led government's macro-economic policy, GEAR, is a neo-liberal policy that limits state intervention in directing the economy and promotes the principle of cost recovery for basic services.
GEAR has failed particularly on meeting its targets of employment creation. Recent reports show that the unemployment figure is close to 41%.

Workers on the shop floor and people in the community have demonstrated their opposition to GEAR. Struggles such as the 2001 COSATU anti-privatisation strike, the anti-eviction struggles, the struggle for access to anti-retroviral drugs and the fight against the water and electricity cut-offs are expressions of this opposition.

In taking up these issues, people are engaged in sustainable development issues. In our country, the privatisation of basic public services such as refuse removal, health and water has demonstrated that for the private sector issues such as sanitation, the effects on the environment and meeting the basic needs of people are ignored for the sake of making profits.
The COSATU Central Committee in November 2001 reaffirmed the federation's tradition of social unionism and its strategy of combining workplace struggles with broader struggles.

It is also recognised the South African trade union movement is committed to radical transformation of society rather than simply being a cog in the industrial relations machinery.

It is fighting for the redistribution of power and resources rather than being an instrument to nurture a "new elite" which seeks accommodation in the political and economic system. "Unite for an alternative to globalisation and neoliberalism" is the position outlined in a paper COSATU presented at the World Social Forum.

The federation is a key actor for social change and development in society.
COSATU's role in the WSSD process is thus crucial. It can use this process to develop its relationship with organs of civil society that represent the working class located outside the shop floor and learn about the issues and struggles of this sector.