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17 October, 2006Understanding the impact of trade agreements on development, employment and decent work and developing trade union capacity to influence the outcome of trade negotiations was the subject of the workshop.
GLOBAL: The International Metalworkers' Federation contributed to a global workshop aimed at strengthening the capacity of trade unionists on the issues of Non-Agricultural Market Access (NAMA) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and finding more effective ways to interact with governments on trade issues.
The negotiations for NAMA and GATS are crucial for the employment situation and development strategies of developing countries. The NAMA proposal would affect future industrial development by reducing substantially the already limited policy space for governments and, in the case of GATS, the current commitments would severely limit the regulatory capacity of governments in many services areas.
The workshop was aimed at assisting trade unionists in understanding the significance of these negotiations and proposals, to assess what is at stake for their countries and for workers, and to develop adequate strategies on how to promote and influence a beneficial outcome from the negotiations.
The workshop brought together trade unionists from around twenty different countries (including IMF affiliates from Argentina, Bangladesh and South Africa and unions from Brazil, Barbados, Costa Rica, Colombia, Nigeria, Senegal, Philippines, India, Benin, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Ghana, Australia, Canada, France, Belgium and Italy), as well as some participants of the Global Union Federations, International Labour Organisation (ILO) staff, and non-governmental organisations based in Geneva.
A wide variety of experts from World Trade Organisation missions based in Geneva, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), ILO, WTO, Third World Network, South Centre, Oxfam and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), shared information and experiences with the participants, both with an aim to increase knowledge on services and NAMA negotiations but also on the wider impacts of those negotiations on development, employment and decent work.
The workshop took place from September 27 to 29, 2006 in Geneva, and was jointly organised by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Geneva Office with support of the Global Union Research Network (GURN) and Solidar.
The negotiations for NAMA and GATS are crucial for the employment situation and development strategies of developing countries. The NAMA proposal would affect future industrial development by reducing substantially the already limited policy space for governments and, in the case of GATS, the current commitments would severely limit the regulatory capacity of governments in many services areas.
The workshop was aimed at assisting trade unionists in understanding the significance of these negotiations and proposals, to assess what is at stake for their countries and for workers, and to develop adequate strategies on how to promote and influence a beneficial outcome from the negotiations.
The workshop brought together trade unionists from around twenty different countries (including IMF affiliates from Argentina, Bangladesh and South Africa and unions from Brazil, Barbados, Costa Rica, Colombia, Nigeria, Senegal, Philippines, India, Benin, Bangladesh, Malaysia, Ghana, Australia, Canada, France, Belgium and Italy), as well as some participants of the Global Union Federations, International Labour Organisation (ILO) staff, and non-governmental organisations based in Geneva.
A wide variety of experts from World Trade Organisation missions based in Geneva, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), ILO, WTO, Third World Network, South Centre, Oxfam and the International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), shared information and experiences with the participants, both with an aim to increase knowledge on services and NAMA negotiations but also on the wider impacts of those negotiations on development, employment and decent work.
The workshop took place from September 27 to 29, 2006 in Geneva, and was jointly organised by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Geneva Office with support of the Global Union Research Network (GURN) and Solidar.