PES Manifesto

Ania Skrzypek: Decent work, decent life - decent policies to deliver!

Publié vendredi 28 mars 2008 à 15h30
par ania_skrzypek (vu 1081 fois et 4 commentaires)

Today is the first sunny day in Brussels, after a week of snow, rain, cold and grey-dom. One wakes up – and U2 song ‘It’s a beautiful day’ seem to be sung inside oneself just naturally….

This is how me and you wake up. Probably you open the sink listening to the water falling down into wash basin steadily…Sip of coffee with no thoughts of where it came from… Warm cotton t-shirt surrounds your neck… fair trade? What is fair trade during such a joyful morning? On TV the news presenter says something about some protests or riots in far away country, but no time for that – same tv claims it is already 8. Aha, you think with little anger, you will be late for work – why do people have to go to the office on such a beautiful Friday and sit there till 5 anyway? You think closing the door. The day begun – and within those two hours of pure enjoyment of yours – somewhere in Asia a kid went to factory instead of school, somewhere in Africa a poor family begun its walk to unknown, somewhere in Latin America a trade unionist get bullied again, somewhere in EU a jobless single mother goes for another job hunt. “Beautiful day”? Indeed!

You might think – I am crazy that I want you to bother everyday? Yes, I do! We must ‘bother’ every minute to deliver a difference! A worldwide difference – which is why I am an enthusiast of “Europe in the world” being such a vital part of the PES Manifesto, and which is why both “Europe in the world” and “Save our Planet”, but in a context of “Social Europe for all” get a highlight with me today.

European Socialists have a proud tradition, which draws from internationalism, of believing that Europe has to take responsibility for within the world. We do not do that because ‘it sounds better’ or because ‘it makes us feel cool’ – but because we are human, we believe that politics is a serious mission where you decide upon people’s faith – and now that has to be seen as a great responsibility. And this is de fact the choice you make becoming a socialists – do you want to bother about one another? Yes! This is why we believe that Europe has to be seen in a global context, this is why we want it to promote the concept of sustainable development and struggle on behalf of all of us for Decent Work, Decent Life.

What is ‘Decent work, decent life’? This is a question I get frequently – especially that the name, sounding so nicely in English is hard to translate (in German ‘Gute Arbeit’ – seem still not a perfect solution, to give an example). Decent Work is an ILO concept that in 2005 became recognized by UN summit as an instrument to ‘eradicate extreme poverty and hunger’. The idea that ensuring decent working conditions can be a path out of life in misery, that it can offer a chance – has inspired both NGOs and trade unions, as also the European institutions. The first ones, meeting in Porto Alegre at World Social Forum decided to establish ‘DWDL alliance’, which composed of SOLIDAR, GPF, ICFTU, ITUC, Social Alert carries the struggle till today, developing actions (which I will explain below). In 2006 and 2007 European Union also followed – Commission issuing two publications “Global Europe” are “Role of the EU in delivering decent work agenda”, followed by EP report.

And here – as always the problem appear. EU not speaking with one voice is one thing – but the EC not speaking with one is even stranger. The main issue of difference is here the fact that trade policies and development policies do not seem to be perceived as going ‘hand in hand’. Well, one can discover that even in the special shops, which proudly serve two kind of products ‘fair trade’ and ‘made in dignity’ – I wish they were both in one…There has been many attempts to change it – at a certain point the Alliance proposed ‘No trade agreements without decent work/ILO labour standards’ – but then again, the remark was made that Europe itself does not have a clean record on the decent work issue and that this would invite a new form of protectionism – namely an excuse ‘you do not provide those standards’ to ban selected products from the EU markets. Plus the question appeared: and who would judge?

With that issue a second element is concerned – since the Decent Work Agenda is promoted by ILO and the Development NGOs together with trade unions – everyone seem to believe that this is a distant issue that has something to do with international politics. Nothing scarier than such an assumption!!!! What about the decent work and life in Europe? What about people not having equal rights for equal work? Without social protection? What about work for migrants into the EU? What about trade unions in the new member states? And here the PES Manifesto has undoubtedly a great role to play to emphasize that Europe is integral part of the world – that no problems in the world, in the globalization age can be ‘foreign, namely strangers to us”. And this is why I solemnly believe that Decent Work has to be put in the heart of Manifesto of 2009, both in the “Europe in the world”, as also in “A New Social Europe” – as the responsible and hopeful agenda for all.

This is also why the Manifesto Consultation process is such an important tool. It allows us all to redefine the concepts we know, but we might luxuriously have taken for granted recently. First of them, it is about partnerships in Alliances like the DWDL. The Process gives us a chance to explore what has been done and what should be done, and yet – also strengthen one another with even more enthusiastic commitment and intensive cooperation. Secondly, addressing the fact, which Giddens named recently a book after, the theme “Europe in Global Age” – and reinforce our work in structure of Global Progressive Forum. I was a participant in GPF launch in 2003 by Poul Nyrup Rasmussen in Brussels. What I remember from those days is excitement, feeling that we do something new, inspiring and responsible. And this is hat we need to remind ourselves and voters in 2009 – in which I agree with Poul’s earlier post and for which the debate we launch as GPYF/ECOSY and GPF at our Summer Camp in July 2008 will be so crucial.

If I were you, Dear Reader, I would perhaps asked: do I have to wait? Can I act now instead? Yes, you can! For that: please join the ‘Call for Action” already today or contact Barbara Caracciolo from Solidar (who is a heart of the action!) – and above all – please respond to this post! ;) We need to break the silence, we need to speak and act, we need to make this demand for “Decent work, decent life” a highlight commitment in PES Manifesto – so that all, around the globe, will be able to wake up each morning and sign to oneselves ‘What a beautiful day…’

Tags: aide, blogueur de la semaine, commerce équitable, mondialisation, pauvreté, solidarité, travail décent