Luc Cortebeeck, Chairperson of the Workers’ Group

Ladies and Gentlemen,


Let me commend the Director-General for his report on the End to Poverty Initiative.

2015 was the year world leaders took two historic decisions. The Sustainable Development Goals, now the 2030 Development Agenda and the Paris Climate Agreement which - taken together - chart a course to a zero carbon and zero poverty world.

As we approach the Centenary of the ILO it is timely to be reminded of our constitutional responsibilities and the vision of our forebears – reflected in the preamble of the Constitution and the Philadelphia Declaration - for a zero poverty world which is front and centre of a global demand once again. However the grim reality is that almost one century after the creation of the ILO we have not realized the ambition of eradicating poverty. Our generation has therefore a moral responsibility to revert this situation.

The Workers’ Group welcomes and supports the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. This is a universal agenda that calls upon all countries to commit to end poverty and hunger and combat inequalities between now and 2030.

We welcome in particular Goal 8 on “promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all”. Through Goal 8 the international community has given the ILO the responsibility to oversee the linkages between economic growth and decent work and assist member states to implement growth strategies that are inclusive and deliver decent work for all.

The realization of decent work can reduce poverty and inequality if minimum living wages, secure employment relationships and collective bargaining is realized and the rule of law re-spected. For women and migrant workers it requires equal opportunity and equal treatment including equal remuneration. For young people it means inclusion and equal treatment and for all workers an end to the modern slavery of forced labour and the formalization of infor-mal work.

But other goals are important and also lie at the core of the ILO mandate. These are Goal 10 on “Reduce inequality within and among countries” and Goal 5 on Gender Equality. We also welcome the strong support in the proposed SDGs for social protection in general including social protection floors and the rights’ based approach of the SDGs with references to non-discrimination (Goal 8.5), child and forced labour (goal 8.7) labour rights in general including migrant workers’ rights (goal 8.8) and Goal 16 which is devoted to governance, rule of law and human rights.

Our Group therefore expects ILO action on Goal 8 as well as the other goals and issues that are linked to the ILO mandate.

Our Group warmly welcomes the strong normative character of the 2030 Development Agenda. Here again it offers the ILO the opportunity to provide a strategic contribution to its implementation and accountability framework taking into account its body of international labour standards and its unique supervisory system.

As the Director-General puts it, the 2030 Agenda: “is today’s integrated global agenda for social justice, and as such a major opportunity for the ILO.”
We fully endorse the DG statement that the Social Justice Declaration (SJD) is a remarkably helpful framework for the coordination of national and international contributions to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. The message of the SJD that the four pillars of decent work – fundamental principles and rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue - need to be pursued in an integrated way is extremely relevant for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Rights and social dialogue – the added value of the ILO – will have to be pursued alongside employment and social protection. National implementation of decent work in its four pillars is of course key but it will have to be backed up by international policy coherence. This implies that all organisations of the multilateral system will have to ensure that their advocacy work and policies contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. Too often the four strategic objective are note pursued in an integrated way and much remains to be done to ensure that the bulk of the UN agencies mainstream decent work in their operations. And here as well the SJD provides the ILO with an important mandate: that of fostering such coherence to achieve the goal of realizing social justice through decent work and thus contribute to the eradication of poverty.

Implementation of the 2030 Agenda at national level will have to secure the involvement of the social partners and Labour Ministries. But success in achieving the Goals set in the agenda and in positioning decent work at its centre will crucially depend on the level of coordination across different ministries at national level. Here as well the SJD provides an helpful framework. Already in 2008 the SJD called on member states to take and I quote: “ appropriate steps for an adequate coordination between positions taken on behalf of the member State concerned in relevant international forums” (SJD Section II B (iii)). This potentially confers a very important role to Labour Ministries in coordination with the social partners to position decent work as a priority across ministries. But it also calls upon the ILO to support these efforts and ensure that Labour Ministries and social partners are not marginalized by other Ministries. As Workers’ Group we expect dedicated resources to be allocated to strengthen the capacities of workers’ organisations to be effectively involved in national SDG processes.

It is also important that the ILO recognizes the strong link between the implementation of the Paris Climate Agreement and the promotion of the ILO Guidelines on a Just Transition. The structural transformation of moving to a low-carbon development model will entail profound changes for workers and society. Hence the importance of securing a just transition.

If one wants to eradicate poverty attention also needs to be paid to fighting inequality.

Inequality is now recognized as a global risk. Unemployment remains at historic levels, global growth is stagnant, austerity policies have failed and the centrality of decent work, universal social protection and respect for trade union and workers’ rights has never been a more stark challenge.
As stated in the report, the figures – and let’s remember that behind them there are people – are telling: in 2015, 327 million working people were living in extreme poverty, and 967 million in moderate or near poverty, in developing and emerging economies. In the advanced economies the share of the population living in absolute poverty increased by 1% between 2007 and 2011.

The ITUC poll released this week shows that around 10% of the world working families live in desperation and cannot live on their income. Around a further 35% are living on the edge struggling to make ends meet and the majority of the rest are just getting by.

Over the last years we have seen the stagnation of wages and the delinking of wages and productivity growth which is in turn leading to a deficit in aggregate demand. This must change. The ILO needs to help revert the decline in the wage share of output. The economic evidence is clear. Comprehensive and coordinated collective bargaining has a positive impact on economic growth, employment and investment. It is also the best way to counter increasing income inequality. At a time when we are about to develop a new strategic policy framework the ILO needs a renewed focus and a well-resourced programme of work on the promotion of collective bargaining and an adequate living wage for all. This would be an important contribution to the implementation of SDGs 8 and 10.

The work that the ILO has been doing on social protection is also a key tool to address inequality. We support the work on the implementation of the social protection floors Recommendation although it is important to remember that this is a floor and that it cannot become a ceiling. Hence policies to extend social protection have also to take into account the vertical dimension and the promotion of the ratification and implementation of Convention 102.
Another important tool is the ILO Recommendation on Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy that provides comprehensive guidance based on the decent work agenda to promote formal and decent jobs and thus contribute to poverty eradication.

Let me say a few words on the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda. The labour movement in the negotiations that led to the adoption of the SDGs expressed its disappointment that the follow-up and review of the SDGs was voluntary in nature. We would have preferred the aspirations of the SDGs to be binding in nature with a system of regular national reports. Instead, we have largely voluntary processes with the danger that governments will pick and choose the goals they want or pick and choose within the Goals, thus undermining the level of accountability in implementation that is needed. This is why international scrutiny of national efforts will be important. Therefore we welcome the fact that several countries have volunteered to present national reviews which could offer the potential for constructive dialogue. We believe that the ILO should initiate a similar process based on goal 8 and 10 and related decent work issues in the Agenda following the guidance provided by the Social Justice Declaration both on the integrated approach to decent work and policy coherence.

When it comes to partnerships it will be important that the ILO seeks to guarantee the integrated nature of the decent work agenda and it related objectives. We have for instance seen how work on SDG 8.7 has given prominence to child and forced labour to the detriment of freedom of association and collective and discrimination. This will have to be redressed.

The High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development is expected to examine global reports on progress and review voluntary national reports and regional reports emanating from the UN system. We expect the ILO to fully participate in all the different reviews and follow-up process. It will be important that the inputs of the ILO are rights-based and that they are also based on reports of the ILO supervisory system.

Finally a few words on financing. The means of implementation will have to ensure real commitment to finance the SDGs and support poor countries through official development assistance. This calls for the establishment and strengthening of progressive taxation regimes as well as consideration given to the introduction of a global financial transaction tax. We maintain doubts about the over-reliance on private sources of financing because of the danger of privatizing development. The best way the private sector can help in development is to pay workers living wages, secure healthy and safe working places and respect the right of workers to organise and bargain collectively.

In conclusion the goal of social justice enshrined in the ILO constitution remains crucial to eradicate poverty and the challenge ahead of us is to make it a reality in the 21st century though the realization of decent work. We live in a world with much higher levels of GDP than in 1919, yet poverty and inequality are at historic levels. The ILO, with its unique tri-partite system and standards mandate is well placed to realize the solutions if indeed we all accept responsibility. Let’s us not repeat the mistakes of the Millenium Development Goals and let us make sure that the SDGs are really implemented and all Goals met by 2030.

I thank you for your attention.