Confronting the Challenges to Democracy in the 21st Century

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Workers, Democracy, and Markets in a Globalizing Economy: The Role of Non-Market Institutions

• Millions of workers and their families have benefited from globalization, yet millions more have been marginalized in an ever increasingly integrated world. In many emerging democracies, income disparities and unemployment are on the rise.
  
• As developing countries implement the economic and political reforms necessary for them to compete effectively in the global marketplace, the changes they have initiated have created new problems, including weakened social safety nets and a growing informal sector. If left unchecked, these conditions can lead to political instability and threaten the nascent and fragile democratic structures that are beginning to develop. In a growing number of emerging democracies, there has been some "backsliding" in response to domestic pressures from citizens who have either not benefited from globalization or for whom living and working conditions have worsened.
• Economic development and democratic governance are mutually reinforcing. The enforcement of International Labor Organization (ILO) standards, including the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively, encourages more rapid and equitable economic growth. Equitable growth, in turn, underpins and reinforces respect for democratic norms and practices. Trade unions support democratic economic development, and economic democracy is essential to the development and sustainability of a democratic society.
• The number of multinational corporations with enormous economic clout has increased and they operate in a largely unregulated global economy. Many governments in emerging market economies hesitate to enforce their own labor codes as they compete for investments from foreign capital markets and multinational corporations. At the same time, unregulated capitol flows have created cyclical economic crises in which workers bear the brunt of retrenchments and declining living and working conditions.
• The ILO, a tripartite body of labor, business, and government, has stated that labor rights are human rights. The principles embodied in its 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work include:
  • freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
  • the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor;
  • the effective abolition of child labor;
    
  • the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation.
• Workshop participants recognized that effectively enforcing the ILO's core labor rights principles in all countries would address many of the major concerns voiced by workers in developed and emerging market economies and would contribute to sustainable economic growth. Adherence also contributes to strengthening democratic practices and the rule of law in nascent democracies and emerging market economies.
• While governments are ultimately responsible for their public policies, international financial institutions (IFIs) also play an important role because they influence government policies that in some cases undermine democratic norms and practices.

• In cooperation with other civil society organizations, trade unions should promote the principle that labor rights are human rights and are fundamental to a sustainable market economy and democratic governance. There is thus a need to strengthen the relationships among unions, NGOs, and civil society organizations, since workers are citizens of the global economy, and an injury to any worker is an injury to democracy.
• There should be greater publicity of sweatshops and child labor to expose the general public to worker abuses and to increase the pressure on bad actors.
• Trade unions and their civil society partners should initiate a global challenge to the legal theory that nations can create and impose standards regarding the products they import, but cannot impose standards on how they are made.
• Trade unions should facilitate a dialogue between north and south to create a global compromise on labor rights and trade. (Nations in the south, or the developing world, need access to capital and northern markets while nations in the north seek protection from the erosion of worker rights and living standards.)
  
• Export processing zones are an important economic development strategy in many countries, but the laws that regulate them should be based on international ILO labor rights standards and national laws. If not properly regulated, these zones can undermine democratic norms and create double standards within countries.
• Ultimately, governments are accountable for creating the global architecture and enforcing democratic rights and practices. Trade unions and their civil society partners must seek effective ways in which to participate with their governments in public policy making.
• Given the fact that over 50 percent of the world's workers are women, all trade union organizations and their civil society partners should review their gender policies in the context of the Beijing Conference, and take pro-active measures to increase the number of women in leadership positions in their organizations. Trade unions should also advocate more forcefully for equal pay for equal work for women workers.
• Trade unions and their civil society partners should advocate for the inclusion of ILO core labor standards in international trade agreements.
• Because of the influence of international financial institutions (IFIs) on national policies, civil society should be more involved in overseeing IFI policies and activities at both the national and international levels.