Trade Union Focus on Development - Issue 12

A SUSTAINABLE AND JUST DEVELOPMENT MODEL

The second congress of the ITUC in Vancouver last month adopted a comprehensive resolution on development cooperation. (See pages 2-6).

In that resolution we assessed the state of “development” in today’s world and set out our vision of the sustainable and just development model we stand for and defined the mandate for the coming years.

Development is been assigned a place at the heart of the trade union policies, and with more strength than before, trade unions have confirmed their commitment to take up the development challenges as priorities on their national, regional and international agendas.

Decent work and democratic ownership are reaffirmed as the cornerstones for our action. But the resolution also denounces the profit- based greed culture that has steered for far too long the international neoliberal development model, and advocates essential policy reforms. It also underlines the fundamental role for the ILO in shaping a new development model based on social justice.

The resolution also reinforces the ITUC commitment to support trade unions as actors for development, and it stresses the role of the Trade Union Development Cooperation Network in achieving more and better trade union development cooperation.

As from September, we will pursue the evaluation of the networks outcomes, and by the end of the year, finalise the blueprint for the further work of the TUDCN. The resolution adopted in Vancouver will be our guidance and inspiration in renewing our action plan for the coming years.

But the very first challenge to meet over the next years will be to ensure a fairer and stronger representation for the trade union movement from the South in the global development debates: inside the Network, but also towards the international institutions and within the CSO platforms and networks. Our ability to raise the voice of the trade union movement from the South in the concert of the international development debate will be our major indicator for success over the coming years.

The TUDCN team

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