World Day for Decent Work 2008

7 October 2008 has been designated the first ever Global Unions Day of Action. Originally chosen by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) it has now been adopted as a common day by the entire Global Unions family to demonstrate the vital importance of global trade union solidarity in an increasingly globalised world economy.

The ITF is calling on all its affiliates around the world to give their full support to this day of action, the main purpose of which is to underline the need for closer links between the national and global trade union movements.

For ITF affiliates, in addition to activities which may have already been planned by ITUC national centres, which can be referred to at www.wddw.org, there are three main areas which the ITF is prioritising:

Precarious work

As part of the Organising Globally programme adopted by the Durban Congress, the ITF is currently preparing an organising handbook on precarious workers. Precarious work is one term used to describe a growing type of worker which exist increasingly not just in transport but in most sectors of the world economy, which are not in a traditional full time, permanent, employment relationship with an employer, but are either 'informal workers, part-time or casual workers or are classed as self employed even though they are, in reality, dependent for work on a public or private enterprise.

This category of workers is growing constantly, as employers outsource or 'offshore' work into relationships which often remove the workers concerned from the protection of trade union membership, collective bargaining or even social legislation. In focusing attention on the urgent need to adapt trade union organising strategies and national and international regulations to cope with this growing proportion of the workforce, we are working closely with other Global Union Federations, particularly the International Metalworkers Federation and the International Chemical Energy and Mineworkers Federation.

Following a decision taken by the Durban Congress to plan more ITF activities specifically on organising young transport workers, an ITF youth network has now been established and a first ITF Youth Conference is being held in Brussels on October 7-8 to coincide with the World Day on Decent Work.  

ITF Youth have already identified precarious and non-standard work as one of the most vital issues affecting young workers today and activities surrounding the Youth Conference are being organised to highlight this.

The right of trade unions to take collective action in defence of their members interests is central to keeping trade union strength in a global economy. The ability of national unions to take such action is already threatened by the global economy and the risk of social dumping and the ability of transport unions, both in goods and passenger transport, to respond quickly to such challenges is vital to the future of the global trade union movement. In recent months, the right of unions in European countries to take such action – even when guaranteed under national labour law – has been put into question by a number of key decisions taken by the European Court of Justice – the EU's supreme court. In one of these, the Viking case, the ITF together with our affiliate the Finnish Seamens Union, was a principal defendant. Another involved the Swedish Construction Workers union. In both cases, which are now being followed by others, what is at stake is the conflict between the fundamental rights of workers within the Europen Union to take action in defence of their members and the right of employers to establish themselves in other EU countries and then provide services across national borders. There is a very real risk of the practice of social dumping being enshrined in European law.

The ITF and the ETF together with our colleagues in the Building and Wood sector, key national confederations and the ETUC are now concerned to demonstrate to decision makers everywhere the importance of ensuring that EU law guarantees the rights of worker, not employers. This also is a key issue which we would like ITF affiliates to use in planning their activities for October 7th.

Campaign Materials
Click here to download: Posters and Stickers in Portuguese, Spanish and English.
     
Campaign Activities 2008
Click here to view regional activities for 2008