32. Memorandum submitted by ISTC The Community
Union, to complement the TUC submission
1. The absolute poor have no way to take
their places in the world of work and intercommunication which
would enable them to have their capacities and human dignity properly
recognised in the market because they are in many cases marginalised
by corrupt power structures and sometimes state-condoned or—promoted
coercion. The impact of trade on poverty reduction and its role
in enabling the poorest people to make progress towards the Millennium
Development Goals will fall far short of their hopes unless the
working poor are able to practise the rights which will enable
them to escape poverty and exploitation, to obtain conditions
of work appropriate to their human dignity, and open up for them
opportunities to acquire skills and expertise and other marketable
resources. In this respect, we believe that the trade union movement
has a key supportive role to play and extensive experience and
insights on which to draw.
2. In breaking down powerful, unaccountable
and oppressive regimes, it should be recalled that the two great
positive international developments of the last two decades: the
peaceful transition to democratic rule in South Africa and the
adoption of democratic and accountable systems in central and
eastern Europe were crucially initiated or promoted by independent
trade union organisations. These organisations have their roots
in ordinary places of work and built up respect and commitment
through addressing grievances at work but they came to articulate
and drive forward the aspirations of millions of people for accountable
governance and the free practice of basic rights. The TUC, the
ICFTU and other substantial trade union national centres gave
strong support over a period of more than a decade in the face
of persecution and British Government scepticism. The same was
true of Chile a few years before. The trade union movement in
Zimbabwe, in Fiji, in Swaziland and in other developing countries
is playing this same role now by keeping the idea of democratic
opposition alive against corrupt and oppressive regimes.
3. It is noteworthy that several country
reports issued by DFID refer to the difficulty of working with
civil society because of the weakness of the organisations, their
lack of internal democracy, and their dependence on ruling elites.
The development efforts of the British Government will not achieve
their targets unless independent accountable and effective civil
organisations are able to play a part in securing transparency
and accountability of governments, not least in respect of their
use of aid funds.
4. The trade union organisations in developing
countries with which the TUC works in the ICFTU do not suffer
from these limitations in the great majority of cases but British
aid programmes traditionally have shied away from having contacts
with unions or assisting independent trade union development except
in South Africa and Namibia. A small part of official aid resources
would be well spent through assisting British trade union organisations
to help counterpart organisations in developing countries with
education and training to become even more effective champions
of the common good in countries where the absolute poor make up
a majority or a large part of the entire population.
ISTC
January 2003
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