Crisis at the ILO and PSI Campaign for the Right to Strike

Abstract

INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 3 Volume 21 Issue 4 2014 FOCUS ❐ THE RIGHT TO STRIKE Crisis at the ILO and PSI Campaign for the Right to Strike Until recently most European Union countries could boast of best practices on social dialogue and collective bargaining, this trend is now changing rapidly SANDRA VERMUYTEN is Equality and Rights Officer with Public Services International in Ferney Voltaire and privatisation weakening trade unions and workers’ rights. In fact, while in most of the emerging economies PSI affiliates still have to fight to obtain full recognition of union and workers’ rights, in other countries the austerity policies producing cuts in public spending are forcing PSI members into defensive battles against the rise of unemployment, privatisation of public services, the reduction of welfare provisions and wage cuts. Whereas until recently most European Union countries could boast of best practices on social dialogue and collective bargaining, this trend is now changing rapidly. Governments use the arguments of international financial institutions to dismantle labour relations where it hurts most for future generations: in the public sector. Instead of using collective bargaining as a means of achieving greater efficiency and better management of the enterprise or public institutions, top-down decisions are pushed through that leave no space for negotiation. The types of measures adopted by governments include: wage freezes or cuts for public servants (25 percent in some cases and more than 20 percent in others); reduction in public employment by as much as 15 or 20 percent, sometimes through redundancies linked to the dissolution of many semi-public enterprises, public bodies and agencies, or through non-replacement of retired public servants; pushing back the retirement age; and freezing or cutting pensions and benefits in the event of redundancy. More importantly, these cuts have a much wider impact on living standards and the potential of employment of future and current generations , for example by cutting child care for working women. Moreover, privatisation and corruption go hand in hand. When services become too expensive for people, they find other ways to procure them. Collective bargaining can assist effectively in the fight against corruption and in the promotion of equality. It is also essential to be prepared to undertake intensive tripartite social dialogue so that exceptional measures - which must be only temporary - are not consolidated and to review the adjustments made during the crisis, once the economic situation improves. The danger that we are now being faced with is that antisocial decisions are being pushed through opportunistically beyond the scope of anti-crisis measures. The recommendations by the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards (‘CCAS’), directed at EU, IMF and World Bank, concerning the need for effective consultations with workers’ organisations and the need to fully take into account the obligations of States concerning ILO Conventions, are particularly important in this context. S ince the International Labour Conference (‘ILC’) in June 2012, the Employers’ Group has persisted to deny that the right to strike forms part of ILO Convention 87, thus undermining decades of jurisprudence of the application of international labour law. In 2014, The Workers’ Group unanimously rejected the demands of the Employers’ group. The conflict over the right to strike has since been referred to ILO’s Governing Body. In June 2014, the Executive Board of Public Services International expressed deep concern with the continuous attacks on trade union and worker’s rights. PSI strongly refutes the suggestion that limitations to collective bargaining are acceptable under any circumstances. As public services unions, we are committed to protect citizens and users by ensuring they always have access to quality public services, included through regulating essential services. But when a conflict persists workers have only one effective democratic right: the strike. Trade union rights violations in the public sector have become a daily occurrence and even more so – these are systemic violations that are not the exception, but the rule. Many governments have already introduced the worst privatesector practices in public sector employment conditions and today 50 percent of public service workers are in precarious employment, a majority of whom are women. A full-time job with a decent wage and full social security coverage is again a distant...