Trade Unions have Solutions for Development - 2nd Day of the TUDCN General Meeting

And those solutions were discussed today during the second day of the General Meeting of the Trade Union Development Cooperation Network.

Trade unions welcomed Gerardo Bracho, from the OECD, who exposed the issues at stake in the upcoming High Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Cooperation.

Trade unions will participate in the Meeting to remind governments that there can be no development without decent work and human rights. Union representatives also stressed the important role of social dialogue in development.

Debates on the private sector and its role in development were fruitful and insightful.
Trade unions were especially concerned that businesses might use the avenue of development cooperation to push for privatisation of basic services. Trade unions believe in the pivotal role of quality public services for development.
Talks of Public Private Partnerships for Development could hide another reality: Using public money for private benefits, regardless of political, social and environmental consequences...
Pierre Habbard, when presenting his research, also stressed the need to fight tax evasion and tax avoidance as they hinder the state’s potential to raise people’s living standards.

South-South cooperation was also discussed. PLADA, for instance, the new trade union network for Latin America, will endeavour to monitor more closely the impact of Latin American governments cooperation policies.

Lastly, trade unions started a strategic discussion on the post-2015 Development Framework to ensure that the three main trade union priorities are included in the forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals:
Decent Work for All
Universal Social Protection
Free Quality Education