18 June, 2008Emphasising the importance of freedom of association and collective bargaining in achieving decent work, the Declaration also affirms ILO's mandate to examine economic, financial and trade policies and their effects on employment.
GLOBAL: A landmark Declaration designed to strengthen the International Labour Organization's capacity to tackle the growing challenges of globalisation was adopted by the International Labour Conference on June 13.
The "Declaration of Social Justice for a Fair Globalization" was supported by governments, workers and employers and places social justice at the heart of globalisation.
The Declaration provides a way forward for the implementation of ILO's agenda on decent work, making it clear that the different components of decent work are inseparable and inter-related. The Declaration challenges the ILO and all Member-states to strive for decent work and recognise the special role of freedom of association and collective bargaining in achieving this goal.
In addition the Declaration affirms the ILO's mandate to examine economic, financial and trade policies, since they all affect employment. It is clearly the ILO's role to evaluate those employment effects in order to place employment and decent work at the heart of economic policies.
Achieving this will require the ILO to make a strong and effective impact on the activities and policies proposed by the International Monetary Fund, World Bank and World Trade Organisation.
South African trade unionist Ebrahim Patel, who led the workers' side in the negotiations, said, "This is an excellent Declaration. It is a statement about the present and about the future, about helping to create a world in which social justice is at the heart of the global economy and in which decent work is the tool to get it there."
"It points to freedom of association, collective bargaining and the centrality of the employment relationship as more valid than ever," said Patel.
A copy of the Declaration can be found on the ILO website at this link: http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_norm/---relconf/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_094042.pdf