GENEVA (ILO News) - The International Labour Office (ILO) and its Bureau for workers' activities (ACTRAV) have organized an international symposium, September 24-28, on incorporating social concerns and core labour standards into the policies and operations of international financial institutions. The symposium, to be held at ILO Geneva Headquarters, will seek to strengthen workers' participation in the United Nations system and impact on the Bretton Woods institutions - the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
While the international financial institutions gradually have become more receptive to dialogue with global trade unions, a discussion paper prepared for the symposium argues that their policies still fail to address the negative consequences of globalization for workers around the world. The document, entitled " Trade unions and the global economy: An unfinished story," points to a number of instances where the policies of the financial institutions run contrary to ILO core Conventions, namely on the right to bargain collectively, and to universally-accepted provisions for social protection.
"There is now clear-cut evidence that the uniform model of structural adjustment imposed on developing countries during the 1980s and 1990s destroyed far more economies than it assisted," says a statement by the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU). "Vicious reductions in spending on health and education had a socially destabilizing effect and were detrimental economically by reducing countries' long-term human resource potential. All that was achieved was the preservation of a veneer of debt repayment that benefited a handful of the world's most profitable commercial banks."
Senior officials from the ICFTU, the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD and International Trade Secretariats will attend the symposium together with union leaders from 50 countries. Representatives from the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organization (WTO) are also expected to participate.
While discussing the evolution in relationship between trade unions and relevant international institutions, participants will formulate strategies aimed at influencing reforms engaged by the Bretton Woods institutions and the WTO and at promoting constructive dialogue with the labour movement. This is the first time representatives from the entire international trade union movement have come together to examine issues related to the World Bank/IMF and the WTO.
Special emphasis will also be placed on making the WTO more responsive to the needs and demands of workers ahead of the WTO's fourth ministerial conference to be held in Qatar at the beginning of November.
"The rules and rulings of the WTO have a direct impact on workers around the world", said ACTRAV Director Manuel Simón. "Workers'organizations have an important role to play in ensuring that the benefits of trade liberalization are shared amongst all people".
For information on the symposium, please contact: Faith O'Neill, ACTRAV, tel.: +4122/799-6150 (oneill@ilo.org).