| 1. | Environmental concerns should encompass the broader issues of economic and social development, poverty, consumption and the quality of life. Environmental protection is a function of truly sustainable development, while economic policies which destroy the ecological basis of life cannot succeed. |
|
| 2. | Trade unions, as social development organizations, have an irreplaceable role to play as promoters of social change and advocates of environmental and sustainable development, and this role has to be accepted and implemented by governments and employers in practice. |
|
| 3. | The right of workers to establish and join trade unions, the right to collective bargaining and the right to full participation is essential to effective involvement in environmentally sound development. The trade unions and the ILO have a special responsibility in promoting these rights. |
|
| 4. | Workers' education is vital. To be effective in promoting environment-friendly policies and projects, workers' education programmes must: |
|
 |
draw their content and process from local experiences; | |
|
produce a training resource that facilitates sharing of information and experiences; | |
|
allow participants to define their own agenda and starting point for action; and | |
|
build capacities and strengthen structures for the democratic functioning of trade unions. | |
| 5. | There is a need for strong laws protecting the environment, and for adequate inspection and enforcement activities. | |
| 6. | Trade union priorities for action will reflect the experiences and perceived needs of members locally, and will therefore vary from workplace to workplace, country to country. | |
| 7. | Participation of trade unions at all levels, including in bipartite and tripartite mechanisms, is fundamental for economic and social development and envirom-nental matters. Effective participation will demand capacity-building in trade unions and the development of democratic structures. | |
| 8. | The first step for any trade union is to develop from within its broader policy and agenda an environmental perspective and policy outlining long-term goals and the strategies for achieving those goals. | |
| 9. | The following strategies should be considered by trade unions and supported by the ILO: | |
| a) | Raising awareness of members, leadership and public. | |
| b) | Education and training. Environmental concerns are to be integrated into all trade union education activities. This should be reflected in the training of trainers and preparation of local training materials. The educational process should enable the definition of concerns, be integrated with broader capacity building and support and motivate union actions. | |
| c) | Technical back-up is needed to support members and union activists on environmental issues. Information and research capabilities should be strengthened. | |
| d) | Trade unions can use their traditional collective bargaining skills to incorporate "green" clauses into agreements and to promote measures that go beyond the minimum requirements of legislation. | |
| e) | Promotion of sustainable working, living and community environments. | |
| f) | Improvement of inspection abilities, such as environmental auditing. | |
| g) | Workers and their organizations should have certain rights, including the right to refuse to carry out environment-unfriendly acts, and to shut down polluting plants; the right to information on a company's environmental performance; the right to education; the right to legal protection; the right to information on substances at a workplace and the hazards associated with those substances; the right to participate in workplace environmental audits; the right to joint union/management environment committees or similar institutions in the workplace. | |
| 10. | Trade unions should form alliances to promote common policies and mutually~supportive action: | |
|
with other trade unions; | |
|
with relevant local, national and international environment groups; | |
|
with other relevant social movements; | |
|
between countries (North-South, East-West); | |
|
over a transnational's operations; and | |
|
with indigenous peoples. | |
| 11. | Trade unions should foster employment policies and technologies which contribute to environmental promotion and rehabilitation, and stimulate environmental activities which contribute to sound and lasting employment. | |
| 12. | Trade union experience in occupational health and safety can be used as a basis for development of broader environmental actions. Joint union/management committees can be set up at workplace level to deal with environmental issues, or the mandate of existing structures such as health and safety committees could be broadened to encompass environment. | |
| 13. | Trade unions should develop suitable strategies to promote co-operation of women, workers in the informal sector, and indigenous and tribal peoples in environmental matters. | |
| 14. | Trade unions should expand their co-operation and participation in international decision-making bodies dealing with health, safety and environment. | |
| 15. | The ILO should continue to assist trade unions in their own environment and development programmes and activities. | |
| 16. | The ILO should integrate environmental and sustainable development considerations into its activities, projects and programmes. | |
| 17. | The ILO should promote ratification and application of ILO standards relating to environmental questions and trade union rights. This could include providing appropriate information packages on the contents of relevant standards. | |
| 18. | The ILO should collaborate with other agencies within the UN system and other international organizations concerned with environment and sustainable development. In particular, the ILO should seek to ensure that workers' rights are taken into account in structural adjustment programmes, promoting the philosophy of tripartism. The ILO should promote training projects for trade unions on the impact of structural adjustment programmes on environment and employment. | |
| 19. | The ILO should strengthen its research and information on environment and sustainable development capacities to enable it to: | |
|
serve as a data exchange of best practice examples in training, and other information; | |
|
act as an early warning system, to monitor events and disseminate information; | |
|
better identify trade union needs; | |
|
provide relevant information materials. | |
| 20. | The ILO should support local training activities, by providing an international perspective on environmental issues. This could include information on: | |
|
the global nature of environmental problems; | |
|
developmental differences between nations; | |
|
the effect of economic policies of international bodies such as the IMF and the World Bank; | |
|
legislation and collective agreements; | |
|
the practices of transnational corporations in different countries. | |
| 21. | The ILO should expand its training activities to include initiatives on: | |
|
training for workers and trade unions to be able to negotiate and interact on the policies and projects of such international bodies as the IMF and the World Bank; | |
|
training for trade unions on the strategies of transnational corporations that affect the environment; | |
|
promoting high-level seminars for trade union leaders on the impact of economic policies on the environment and employment. | |
| 22. | The ILO should explore the possibility of establishing a tripartite standing committee on the environment to give effect to Agenda 21 adopted by UNCED. | |
| 23. | The ILO should formally coordinate some selected environment-related activities with international trade union organizations. | |
| 24. | It cannot be emphasized strongly enough that the success of the current programmes of the ILO will largely depend on the support of trade unions. | |
| 25. | The ILO should make every possible endeavour to ensure that the revised ILO Encyclopedia on Occupational Health and Safety is published according to schedule. | |
05.01.1994.
Back to Top