Transcript Slide 1

Globalisation and Irish Workers:
how are workers in developing
countries coping with globalisation?
Croke Park Conference
Centre
April 23, 2008
Sue Longley
Presentation
 Introduce my organisation
 talk about the sector I know best - agriculture
 outline the problems facing workers in
agriculture
 how we are working on this
 ideas for strengthening TU co-operation
Who we are
 IUF = international union of food, agriculure, hotel,
restaurant, catering, tobacco and allied workers
www.iuf.org
 377 affiliated unions in 122 countries
- SIPTU & Unite;
- worked with Mandate (bananas) ICTU on fair trade
 Global union federations: BWI, EI, IFJ, IMF, ICEM,
ITGLWF, ITF, PSI ,UNI
 International trade union confederation (ITUC):
www. ituc-csi.org ; Council of Global Unions; TUAC
IUF - what we do
 Bring together workers throughout the
food chain - from plough to plate
 solidarity/defence of workers/rights
 equality
 TU development project - OHS
 build organising capacity along the
foodchain - TNCs - Nestlé, Coca Cola
IUF - what we do
Statutory commitment to work with
like-minded organisation and
broader civil society to achieve
equitable distribution of the world’s
food resources
Working in agriculture
000s
% of region's
total employment
1,036,330
34.9
Developed economies and EU
18,468
3.9
East Asia
309,797
38.4
South Asia
286,085
48.0
Latin America
46,383
19.1
Sub Saharan Africa
192,007
64.7
Total employment in
agriculture 2007 (source ILO)
World
Agriculture…... far from
decent work
 lack of freedom of
association/collective bargaining
 1 of 3 most dangerous industries
 high fatal accident rate
 70% of all child labour in agriculture
 high number of migrant workers
 precarious conditions
- seasonal work & outsourcing
Agriculture…... far from
decent work
We sow it
We reap it
We can’t afford
To eat it
(NUAAW, 1980s)
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75% of world’s poor live in
rural areas
Women in agriculture
 women are farmers and workers -
produce more that 50% of world’s food
 agriculture = most important sector for
women’s employment, especially in
Africa and Asia
 often in most precarious forms of
employment/unpaid family
work/seasonal contracts
Children in agriculture
 70 % of all child labour
 most on small, family farms
 some in commercial agriculture
 many child migrant workers
 hidden by piece rates/task work
 worst forms - forced labour, dangerous,
deprives them of education
Agriculture & globalisation
 Trade been dominated by TNCs for some
years
eg bananas - 5 companies control 75 % of
trade:
80% of grain distributed by 2 companies Cargill and ADM;
 similar dominance in tea, coffee, cocoa,
Agriculture & globalisation
 Now increasing control of retailers - “rise of
powerful global buyers, which can dictate
terms to suppliers” (ILO, Best & Mamic - agri.food chains)
 Increasing financialization of agriculture
How are these workers
coping?
 moving to towns - especially youth - first
time in human history that more people
live in urban areas;
 migrating to another country;
 self-employment & survival informal
economy
IUF’s strategies
 Organising, and more organising
 building union strength inside TNCs
- International Framework Agreements
- guarantee rights throughout company
Danone
Accor
Fonterra
Chiquita
IUF’s strategies
 not just stating the right but using it
 working with our affiliates to build
organisation within the companies
 strategic targets
- Hotels, restaurant, catering
- Coca Cola - PROGRESS
MEET 2 TIMES A YEAR
- Nestlé - world’s biggest food company
The successes
 IFAs so far achieved
 Elimination of child labour in tobacco
foundation
 International Cocoa Initiative
 New international partnership against child
labour in agric - ILO, FAO, IFAD, IFAP, IFPRI
& IUF
 Building of alliances - bananas and flowers
 commitment to organising migrant workers
Organising across borders
Key clauses from the Reciprocity Agreement
1.
2.
3.
Members having workers for one month in a country other than their own are entitled to
join the appropriate trade union organization of that country (“host country”). In which
case no entrance fee shall be charged. A member may join the host union on the
condition that she or he has fulfilled all obligation as member of the “home union” up to
the time of departure.
Members so transferred shall enjoy the same rights to benefits as the host union’s own
members under the latter’s Rules and Regulations, subject to the same length of
combined membership.
The dues to be paid by members so transferred shall be those fixed by the host union.
Host unions are requested to give every possible help and
assistance to this IUF member
(IUF International Union Card)
The successes
 Refocus of policy interest:
no achievement of Millennium
Development Goals
- World Bank/World Development
report 2008
- UN Commission on Sustainable Dev
- ILO 2008 - rural employment for
poverty reduction
Global TU co-operation
 Build our strength within companies -
food and hotels
 Identify global issues to campaign
around - issues attractive to young
workers - OHS; environment, fair trade
 Co-operation on private equity,
sovereign funds. financialization
Global TU co-operation
 TU definition of “green jobs” - green
jobs must be decent jobs - Food miles
 TU perspective on food miles
 TU perspective on climate
change/global warming
Global TU co-operation
 TU definition of “green jobs” - green
jobs must be decent jobs - Food miles
 TU perspective on food miles
 TU perspective on climate
change/global warming
“My breakfast and lunch is
gramoxone. It`s very nice if
you get use to it. Except it
caused I lost my baby 2 times
cause`miscarriage, it
scratches your skin, and
makes you difficult to breath in
the night”
(Barjiah, Lonsum women workers, Bagerpang estate,
North Sumatera)
An Gorta Mór - parallels with
today’s food crisis?
 Records food exported even during the worst years of the
Famine. When Ireland experienced a famine in 1782-83, ports
were closed to keep Irish-grown food in Ireland to feed the Irish.
Local food prices promptly dropped. Merchants lobbied against
the export ban, but government in the 1780s overrode their
protests; that export ban did not happen in the 1840s.
 Cecil Woodham-Smith, an authority on the Irish Famine, wrote
in The Great Hunger; Ireland 1845-1849
“no issue has provoked so much anger or so embittered
relations between the two countries (England and Ireland) as
the indisputable fact that huge quantities of food were exported
from Ireland to England throughout the period when the people
of Ireland were dying of starvation.”
An Gorta Mór - parallels with
today’s food crisis?
 Ireland remained a net exporter of food throughout most of the
five-year famine.
 Christine Kinealy, a University of Liverpool fellow and author of
two texts on the famine, Irish Famine: This Great Calamity and
A Death-Dealing Famine, writes that Irish exports of calves,
livestock (except pigs), bacon and ham actually increased
during the famine. The food was shipped under guard from the
most famine-stricken parts of Ireland. However, the poor had no
money to buy food and the government then did not ban
exports.
An Gorta Mór - parallels with
today’s food crisis?
 Lack of political will not
lack of food
 We must make sure there
is political will
 People have good quality,
fairly priced safe food