Transcript Promoting Youth Employment through Decent Work in a Low

A108180
ACTRAV/ITC-ILO COURSE
Trade Unions Policies for Decent Work
Generation for Young Workers
16 to 27 February 2015
Promoting Youth Employment through Decent Work in
Low-carbon World
What is the Green Jobs
Initiative and what are
the objectives of this
initiative?
Green Jobs Initiative
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Green Jobs Initiative, started in 2007, is a joint initiative by:
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International Labour Organisation (ILO)
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP)
International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC)
International Employers’ Organisation (IOE) – came on-board in
2008
Objective:
 Realise the potential for Green Jobs and positive labour
market transition in the face of climate change
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Respond to the dual challenge of:
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Climate change; and
Decent work deficits
What does the Green
Jobs Initiative brings
into the Environmental
Debate?
Continues…
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The Green Jobs Initiative:
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Brings employment, labour market and social justice
perspectives into the environmental and climate change
discussion
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Fosters better understanding of how to achieve [through a
balanced approach] the three pillars of sustainable
development, namely:
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Economic growth
Social progress
Ecological preservation
Provides a positive step towards a cleaner planet, decent
work for all and sustainable development
What is Green
Economy?
Continues…
GREEN ECONOMY
LOW CARBON
GROWTH
RESOURCE
EFFICIENCY
SOCIAL
INCLUSIVITY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ?
SustainLabour’s Approach to SD
What Are Green
Jobs?
Continues…
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Green Jobs are jobs that help to:
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Protect ecosystems, biodiversity and minimize environmental degrading
impacts;
Reduce energy, material and water consumption through high efficiency
strategies;
Reduce GHG emissions and de-carbonize the economy;
Minimize or altogether avoid the generation of all forms of waste and
pollution;
Jobs that produce so-called green products
But does it mean GREEN JOBS are also decent jobs? – what
is the place of Safe & Decent Work for workers in the
concept of green jobs?
1. Does it mean all Green Jobs
are Decent Jobs?
2. What is the place of Safe
and Decent Work for
Workers in the Concept of
Green Jobs?
Green Jobs are Not Necessarily Decent Jobs
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Quality of green jobs? Health hazards of green jobs?
- many green jobs in recycling and reuse operations are
dirty, dangerous & difficult/demeaning - Ex. the recycling
industry (IT, plastics, waste industry, Ship breaking)
Picture Source: http://www.hazards.org/greenjobs/
Green BUT same ‘Bad Old Management’
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Many GREEN JOBS are done in conditions
that will be considered ‘indecent’:
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Low pay
Inadequate or no social protection
Poor health and safety standards
Eexploitative employment relationships
Violations and/or Denial of Statutory Workers’ Rights
High levels of job and income insecurity
Increasing precarity of work arrangements and erosion
of rights
Environment
Green and Decent Jobs? A Schematic Overview
Green, but not decent
Green and decent
Examples:
Examples:
 Electronics recycling without
adequate occupational safety
 Low-wage installers of solar panels
 Exploited biofuel plantation
laborers
 Unionized wind and solar power
jobs
 Green architects
 Well-paid public transit workers
Neither green nor decent
Decent, but not green
Examples:
Examples:
 Coal mining with inadequate
safety
 Women workers in cut flower
industry
 Hog slaughterhouse workers
 Unionized car manufacturing
workers
 Chemical engineers
 Airline pilots
Decent Work
UNEP Green Economy Report
Investing 2% of global GDP
into ten key sectors can kickstart a transition towards a lowcarbon, resource-efficient
economy.
Modeling
Enabling
Conditions
Agriculture
Building
Cities
Energy
Finance
Forest
Manufacturing
Tourism
Transport
Waste
Water
www.unep.org/greeneconomy
World Development Report 2013: Jobs as
drivers of development
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It is not just the number of jobs that matter – some do more for development
than others
Jobs with the greatest
development payoffs
are those that make
cities function better,
connect the economy to
global markets, protect
the environment, foster
trust and civic
engagement, or reduce
poverty.
Decent Work in Green Economy Implies ….
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Ratification, implementation of relevant ILO standards &
respect of national labour laws (freedom of association,
collective bargaining & social protection – social floor)
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Strengthening tripartitism, participation & consultation of
workers & their unions: in design, implementation & evaluation
of policies & programs
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Focus on safety, health & environment at the workplace – to
protect workers, the environment & community
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Adoption and implementaion of an incomes policy in the
country
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Poverty wages do not promote sustainable development
Capacity building of employers & workers – skills development
for green economy
Decent & Green Jobs link MDG 1 (poverty reduction) and
MDG 7 (protecting the environment):
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So, how do we promote Green & Decent Jobs in the
manufacturing sector?
‘Greening of industry’ comes not just from ‘growing
more trees’ or investing in effluent treatment plants or
energy efficient production processes - important as
these are
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BUT we also need to look at how an industry conducts its
business?
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What employment & working conditions need to be promoted
for a realisation of Green and Decent Jobs?
Issues Requiring Urgent TUs’ Action in
the Green and Decent Jobs Debate
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Flexibility Policies in the area of production and
employment
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Working conditions - OSH issues
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Terms of Employment (wages and contracts of
employment) –regularization of employment
relations
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Right to FOA and CB
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A Just Transition
Production & Employment Practices of Industry
Incompatible with Environment Protection
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Outsourcing & sub-contracting hazardous and polluting
work
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Employment of casual workers, low skilled paid labourers
to do hazardous and dirty work
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Lack of responsibility towards waste disposal (outsourcing
to contractors) resulting into the pollution of air, land &
water resources
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Why is hazardous, dirty work (ex. jobs related to industrial
sanitation and maintenance, cleaning of furnaces,
machinery, etc.) not considered skilled enough, requiring
regular workforce and paid accordingly?
Working Conditions – OSH Issues
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OSH and Environment protection are the two sides of the
same coin:
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The right of the people to live in clean environment is
accepted much readily
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But the right to work in clean and safe environment is often
times not adequately appreciated
Right to FOA and CB
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Income/wage policies for green economy: poverty
wages do not contribute towards sustainable
development.
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The right to FOA & CB are enabling conditions
for:
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Sharing in the gains of growth
Democratic decision-making over workplace changes
Representative and inclusiveness
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Denial and/or violation of these fundamental rights
entrench exploitation, marginalization and impoverishment
of workers
Unsustainable Approaches to Pollution
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Closure & shifting of industry is not always a good solution –
but this policy has often been implemented by governments
when pressurized by NGOs on account of industrial pollution
 Industries usually shift to rural/backward areas where
they continue to pollute.
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While industry gets incentives and support for relocation,
workers are not so lucky
 Relocation causes job losses and dislocation of
workers lives including unionized workers
 Contract-casual workers get no compensation at all.
A Just Transition
But Why A Just Transition?
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Ensure consultations & involvement of social partners;
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Ensure that employment, decent work and social inclusion
are integral parts of the shift towards a greener economy
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Achieve a transition that buffers the downside risks by
tackling social, environmental and economic issues through
an integrated approach
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Ensure respect for rights at work
Continues…
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Closure and & relocation policy often only increase
the misery of the people which in turn will lead to
conditions that are not conducive for environment
protection.
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As a solution, industries should be obliged to invest
in pollution control and cleaner technologies rather
than allow them to take the easier route of
relocating and ultimately shift the pollution
elsewhere.
Some other Issues
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GDP growth measure – it grows even when we
destroy environment, employ child labour, start a
war or destroy jobs or cause industrial accidents
(like Bhopal)
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Financialization of the economy – ‘short-termism’
of the stock markets, rewarding of destruction of
productive capacity and causing job losses
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Development Model hazards of export-oriented
growth, need for more local, human centred, rather
than GDP growth-centred economic model
A Word About Some Specific Policy
Measures
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Carbon Tax - proposal for carbon tax on
households versus tendency to give tax breaks to
high income people
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Carbon Tax should be imposed only if 100% of the revenues are
directed into investments in GHG emission reductions
(renewable energy, energy efficiency and retrofit programs,
public transit, as well as a green-energy tax refund to protect
low-income population
Subsidies - who should subsidies aimed at: Oil and
Gas Industry? Small producers?
Together We Can Sustain Planet Earth
THE END
QUESTIONS