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That much has become clear at the four-day fourth world congress of the UNI Global Union that began in Cape Town on Sunday. As the agenda notes: “The evidence is clear: we are living in a world of financial instability, dangerous climate change and growing inequality."
As UNI Global Union general secretary Philip Jennings told the opening session of the congress, jobs continue to be lost and wages tend to be stagnating. However, there are a few silver linings which he was quick to highlight.
Silver linings
Prime among these were the agreements struck with major international retailers regarding reparations and conditions of work in the garment factories of Bangladesh. However, the agreement was only reached after considerable pressure by the labour movement, following the deaths of 1 100 workers in the Rana Plaza fire. “But we changed the rules of the game,” he added.
On Monday morning Jennings also spelled out the way in which the unions should move to dissipate the gloom of the current epoch. The answer, he maintained, lies in growing unions.
Speaking to more than 2 000 delegates from 108 countries, he stressed that unions “are part of the solution” to overcome the growing levels of greed and inequality. So far, he said, UNI Global had struck a number of international greeements. “We have put human rights into the business equation,” he said.
He also promised “more alliance building and more action”. UNI Global members should heed Nelson Mandela’s middle name Rolihlahla - “Troublemaker” - and become good troublemakers.
