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GLOBALISATION AND A LABOUR AGENDA

GLOBALISATION AND A LABOUR AGENDA. Major dimension of globalisation:defining the concept Globalisation and polarisation Impact of globalisation on Workers’ Organisations The challenge:govern or fight globalisation The ILO agenda: Decent Work and the World Commission on Globalisation.

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GLOBALISATION AND A LABOUR AGENDA

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  1. GLOBALISATION AND A LABOUR AGENDA • Major dimension of globalisation:defining the concept • Globalisation and polarisation • Impact of globalisation on Workers’ Organisations • The challenge:govern or fight globalisation • The ILO agenda: Decent Work and the World Commission on Globalisation

  2. GLOBALISATION: HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENTS • Continuity or radical changes in: • Technology • Evolution of means of transportation • Political changes

  3. GLOBALISATION OF: • Trade • Production • Finance • Cultures • Politics

  4. GLOBALISATION OF TRADE • TNCs develop: • World market • Regional markets • Production still based in few industrialised countries: • Fordism/Taylorism • Standardisation of products

  5. GLOBALISATION OF PRODUCTION (1) • Transition to post-Fordism / Toyotism • Decentralisation of production units / outsourcing • Flexibility in production lines • Reduction of workers • New job profiles (skilled workers) • Diversification of products • TNCs operating on a global scale

  6. GLOBALISATION OF PRODUCTION (2) • More than 60,000 TNCs • Fifty-one of the world's top 100 economies are corporations. • TNCs control 2/3 of all world trade and 80 % of foreign investment Source: www.unctad.org Source: Anfreff W., Le multinazionali globali - Trieste 2000

  7. GLOBALISATION OF PRODUCTION (3) • TNCs employ only 3% of the total world labour force (2.5 billion workers) • The 200 largest TNCs employed slightly 1% of the total labour force and have a turnover equal to 28.3% of the world GNP Source: www.oneworld.net/guides/TNCs/ Source:www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/tncs/top200.htm

  8. GLOBALISATION OF FINANCE (1) • Political decisions to liberalise capital’s circulation • Creation of a global financial network • Daily transactions: more than 2000 billion US $ (1/4 of total world trade value) Source: www.wto.org (Annual Report of the Director-General 2001)

  9. GLOBALISATION OF FINANCE (2) • Where does this money come from? • Productivity (transition to post-Fordism) • Reduction of salaries and welfare • Pension funds • Financial resources allocated for speculation • Low investments (saturated traditional markets)

  10. GLOBALISATION OF CULTURES • Development of the media via satellites • Global media concentration • Advertising • Less than 6000 world languages (95% of world population speak around 100 languages). One person in 5 speaks English • One world language for business

  11. GLOBALISATION OF POLITICAL SYSTEMS • New geopolitical system • Development of democratic principles • Human rights and core labour standards as universal values

  12. OTHER FACTORS OF GLOBALISATION (1) • Neo-liberal policies/Washington consensus • Structural Adjustment Programmes (S.A.P.’s) and the new policies of the IMF on Poverty Reduction (P.R.S.P.) • Privatisation of public enterprises • Privatisation of welfare/social protection

  13. OTHER FACTORS OF GLOBALISATION (2) • Fiscal crises if national states • Reduction of tariffs & trade barriers (GATT and WTO) • Concentration of capital (mergers) • Development of new products (New Economy): services and information • Digital divide

  14. THE DIGITAL DIVIDE (3) • 60 billion web pages • Between 300-400 million of web-sites • 200 million users • 95% of users in the north hemisphere • 60% of users visit 4 major web-sites: AOL-Time Warner, Yahoo, MSF, Napster • 52% of web sites in English

  15. GLOBALISATION OR POLARISATION? (1) • Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) • 49 LDC receive 0.5% of FDI • Share in FDI inflows • Africa below 1% Source: UNCTAD “World Investment Report 2001” - Chp. 1. See: www.unctad.org

  16. GLOBALISATION OR POLARISATION? (2) • Income distribution - 1/5 of world population controls 80% of world’s resources - 20% of the world’s population consumes 86% of goods produced - The richest 20% of the world’s population had at their disposal 86% of the world GDP while the poorest 20%had access to a mere 1% Source: Gallino, Globalizzazione e diseguaglianza - Bari 2000

  17. GLOBALISATION OR POLARISATION? (3) • Percentage in World Trade • Africa 1% While world trade has increased ten times since 1970 and more food is produced per person than ever before, the number of people going hungry in Africa has doubled

  18. GLOBALISATION OR POLARISATION? (4) • More than 250 million children at work • 120 million working children have no access to school • Number of “official” unemployed is of 160 million workers (500 million new jobs needed over the next decade) • 500 million workers are unable to keep their families above the $1 poverty line (of the 1.3 billion people living in poverty worldwide, more than 70% of them are women and girls.) Source: ILO World Employment Report 2001 (www.ilo.org) - ICFTUConference of women trade union leaders, Rio di Janeiro, 18-21 May 1999

  19. Impact of Globalisation on Workers’ Organisations (1) • Decrease of trade union density • From national agreements/negotiations to enterprise/individual agreements • Abolition of check off systems • Weak tripartite machinery • Increase of the informal sector (most of the workers employed in the informal sector are women and children)

  20. Impact of Globalisation on Workers’ Organisations (2) • Increase of atypical forms of labour (contract labour). These form are more common among women than among men (90% of homeworkers in EU are women) • Increase of EPZs (33 countries involved) • Global attack against workers’ rights Source: www.icftu.org/survey

  21. Impact of Globalisation on Workers’ Rights (1) • over 300 strikes repressed by employers or the police, in nearly 90 countries • about 8,500 arrested or detained • 209 trade unionists killed or “disappeared” • over 100,000 harassed • 20,000 dismissed because of their trade union activities Source: ICFTU Survey of Violations of Trade Union Rights 2001 (http://www.icftu.org/survey).

  22. Impact of Globalisation on Workers’ Rights (2) • 20 million bounded labourers worldwide • 700.000 women and children victims of cross-border human trafficking each year • worldwide women are paid anything between 10-50% less than men for doing similar job or different job of equal value Source:PSI Women - N.14- January 2002 (www.world-psi.org) ICFTU:www.icftu.org/survey

  23. THE CHALLENGE:GOVERN OR FIGHT GLOBALISATION?(1) • Organising / Global unions • Extension of the European Works Councils (Global representation of workers/framework agreements) • Codes of Conduct and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

  24. THE CHALLENGE:GOVERN OR FIGHT GLOBALISATION?(2) • Trade union networking and global solidarity • Globalisation of workers’ rights: ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work • TU nat./inter. policies: links / coherent international framework/governance/co-ordination of economic, trade, and social policies

  25. THE CHALLENGE:GOVERN OR FIGHT GLOBALISATION?(3) • Trade unions and Decent Work • Social dimension of globalisation and the role of the ILO in the world agenda (G8 and relationships with IMF/WB/WTO

  26. THE ILO AGENDA • Decent Work agenda • World Commission on the Social dimension of globalisation

  27. THE DECENT WORK AGENDA: • Decent Work and the role of the ILO to enhance: • Workers’ rights • Employment • Social protection • Social Dialogue

  28. WORKERS’RIGHTS • Ratification and implementation of core labour standards (eight core conventions) • Ratification and implementation of international labour standards • Participation to the ILS supervisory system and to the follow-up of the Declaration

  29. EMPLOYMENT • Employment policies - Equal opportunities and treatments • Development of SME

  30. SOCIAL PROTECTION • Development of social security systems • Pension and retirement schemes • Other welfare benefits • Safety nets for the informal sector • O.S.H. and the Environment

  31. SOCIAL DIALOGUE • Development of tripartism • Strengthening workers’ and employers’ organisations • Strengthening tripartite machinery • Strengthening negotiations between social partners at national/enterprise/national level

  32. World Commission on the Social dimension of globalisation • National governance • Global governance : fair rules/better international policies/more accountable institutions/mobilizing action for change

  33. PROGRAMME FOR WORKERS’ ACTIVITIES OF THE ILO TURIN CENTRE(ACTRAV-Turin) actrav@itcilo.org THANK YOU!

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