#Timefor8: Unions’ actions at national level - Spain

Comisiones Obreras invests in the awareness-raising on and mobilisation around the SDGs. Since the approval of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, Comisiones Obreras has been a strong supporter of the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Spain.

In 2015, within months of the approval of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, Comisiones Obreras (CCOO) began work on communicating the contents of the 2030 Agenda within the organisation, based on the firm belief that the world of work has a leading and pivotal role to play in contributing to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2017, the CCOO Confederal Executive Committee passed a resolution in which it undertook to “incorporate the guidelines set out in the International Agenda for Sustainable Development in its general policies (and particularly those regarding international cooperation), seeking greater coherence between CCOO initiatives with impacts on the social, economic and environmental landscape as well as to conduct information and awareness-raising campaigns on the reach of the 2030 Agenda within its confederated organisations, focusing, above all, on members and workers”. The CCOO’s progressive expansion of its efforts to promote greater awareness of the 2030 Agenda and its implementation, covering all of its secretariats, federal structures, the various territories and foundations by 2020, is testimony to the strength of its commitment.

Many steps have been taken to raise awareness and rally trade union mobilisation on the SDGs. An important milestone was reached in 2018, when, thanks to the initiative of the ITUC and its Trade Union Network for Development Cooperation (TUDCN), the CCOO took part in drafting a trade union report on the implementation of the SDGs in Spain, presented some months later at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development. The CCOO will repeat the experience this year with a new 2021 report that will also cover the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on national development processes.

The CCOO report on sustainable development goals is now the main tool for monitoring the impact and progress of policies to achieve the 2030 Agenda in Spain. It is a tool that also sets out the large number of positions and proposals contributed by the CCOO in all the areas covered by the SDGs. The recently published third edition of the report met the huge challenge of addressing all the SDGs, with the help of all the CCOO federations. The document puts forward a new model of sustainable development, based on three main pillars: a change in the production model, ecological transition and effective measures to promote equality. The inclusion of the Trade Union Institute for Work, the Environment and Health (ISTAS-CCOO) in the drawing up of these reports has proved invaluable, enabling the integration of positions and perspectives not only on environmental but also on occupational health and safety issues.

To broaden its impact, a trade union strategy for communicating about SDGs on social media has been launched and is being implemented by the various CCOO structures at all levels. In accordance with the strategy, coordinated action is being taken to give visibility to the trade union commitment to the 2030 Agenda, as well as union information and proposals regarding the SDGs. With this in mind, the @Agenda2030CCOO profile was set up for people to follow on the various social media platforms.

Momentum is being kept up with the production of a trade union guide on the SDGs, to be shared in the near future. Similarly, the CCOO’s participation in the European Trade Union Confederation’s project on “Raising awareness on SDGs among workers and trade union leaders: decent work, the environment and the rule of law”, within the framework of the international TimeFor8 campaign, will allow it to continue, during 2021, with the trade union events launched in Barcelona, with the holding of a conference on the SDGs from a trade union perspective, in November 2020.

The CCOO invites you to follow all our activities on:

 

 


For more information
Contact:
Ofelia De Felipe Vila, Instituto Paz y Solidaridad - Fundación 1 de Mayo CCOO
Félix Ovejero, , Instituto Paz y Solidaridad - Fundación 1 de Mayo CCOO
Pazysolidaridad[@]1mayo.ccoo.es