Unions call for employment and decent work in the post-2015 Development Agenda

Press release | 23 May 2013
GENEVA – Global worker representatives have launched a Trade Union Action Plan calling for the inclusion of full and productive employment and decent work for all in the United Nations’ Post-2015 Development Agenda.

Adopted after a two-day meeting at ILO headquarters in Geneva, the Action Plan underlines the need for quality jobs to eradicate poverty and hunger around the globe.

“We do not want any jobs; we want quality jobs, decent jobs,” said Luc Cortebeeck, the Chair of the Workers’ Group in the ILO Governing Body, in his concluding remarks to the meeting.

“Under the Decent Work Goal, we must set targets for employment, a social protection floor, fundamental rights at work and social dialogue”.

According to the conclusions of the meeting, “the current consultations on the Post-2015 development agenda are crucial and need the full engagement of the social partners and the ILO”.

Forty trade unionists from all world regions participated in the meeting, which was organised by the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities.

The United Nations has been working on a new development framework as the 2015 deadline for the current Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approaches.

The first results of the UN ‘My World’ global survey, which asked people in 190 countries for their priorities for a post-2015 development agenda, have shown that “jobs are a high priority everywhere.”

For more information, please contact Claude Akpokavie, Senior Adviser, at akpokavie@ilo.org.