Editorial: Impacts of Covid-19 on Work and the Challenge for Union Rights

Abstract

2 | International Union Rights | 27/3 EDITORIAL Editorial: Impacts of Covid-19 on Work and the Challenge for Union Rights In the course of just a few months, the global health crisis has had profound impacts around the globe, causing devastating job losses, instability, poverty, and social and economic turmoil. Sharan Burrow sets out a stark assessment of the condition we are in: not only are people suffering the direct impacts of poverty, instability and health, but also anxiety about work and ‘a lack of trust in government’; many of them ‘are feeling powerless’, and we are witnessing ‘the widespread breakdown of the social contract’. Burrow acknowledges the tremendous challenge: ‘hundreds of millions of jobs have been destroyed by the pandemic, and hundreds of millions of new jobs are required to ensure recovery’ and that this ‘requires investment on a scale which is unprecedented’. It is, however, she asserts ‘achievable’, but will require ‘a transformative agenda’ and the constructive, on a global scale, of a new social contract, to build a world able not only to recover from this crisis, but to resist what she calls the ‘inevitable’ challenges of the future. Prof. Keith Ewing and Lord Hendy QC observe that the British ‘post war consensus’ was destroyed by the advent of neo-liberalism, under which labour law has ‘failed’, and collective bargaining and industrial democracy are almost completely absent. The situation in Sweden is, according to ClaesMikael Ståhl, completely different: there ‘social capital, trust and responsibility’ remain intact, and this framework of mutual trust explains why a different path was possible in Sweden. And at the opposite end of this scale, in a situation in which trust and social cooperation has broken even further than in the UK, Fabio Tibiriça Bon tells us that Brazil is ‘an international pariah, insensitive to minorities, a persistent violator of human rights, constantly flirting with neo-fascist movements’. In a context so radically different to the ‘mountain plateau’ of Sweden, Bolsonaro’s ‘irresponsible, unscientific, denialist’ approach to the virus is, Bon argues, literally criminal. Liz Blackshaw expands on and continues ideas discussed in IUR 271/272- concerning global transport and distribution workers, asking how these workers rights can be protected under the pandemic, and also how can their unions continue to function – even globally – with lockdowns and social distancing measures restricting union meetings; Prof. Phil Taylor looks at how unions are seeking to protect call centre workers, not only those who return to workplaces but also looking at ways to protect, organise and represent unprecedented number of homeworkers in the industry; and a team of researchers with the Fair.Work group discuss how couriers in Latin America have been asserting their labour rights, and Prof. Anthony Forsyth discusses the ‘legal barriers’ between gig economy workers and labour rights. While some ‘gig’ companies have been willing to negotiate with unions, and some couriers have formed their own unique models of organisation, Forsyth argues that the ‘legal fantasy’ that gig workers are independent contractors has had ‘brutal effects’ under the pandemic. Finally, we turn our attention to a concept that has been mooted around social protection, labour rights and trade union circles for some time, that was already gaining considerable traction in the years leading up to the pandemic, and which has found renewed appeal under the pandemic as a possible solution to racing global unemployment trends: Universal Basic Income. Ralf Krämer acknowledges the superficial charm of the idea which ‘sounds intriguing’, but which many unions believe is not well understood, may drive-up inflation, and is actually not as widely supported as it sometimes appears to be: even among UBI advocates a majority agree on an asset limit and an off-set against other income (which positions Krämer suggests rather undermine the central concept). More intriguing is his concern that UBI might even ‘put into question the existing system of monetary economy and capitalist production’. IUR might have to return to that suggestion in a future edition. Daniel Blackburn, Editor Next issue of IUR Articles between 850 and 1800 words should be sent by email (mail@ictur.org) and accompanied by a photograph and short biographical note of the author...