ETUC support for the ILO Global Coalition for Social Justice
Adopted at the Executive Committee Meeting of 26-27 March 2024
Europe has a social justice emergency. The ETUC is at the forefront of the fight for a fair deal for workers, their families and their communities throughout Europe.
The ILO has launched a new initiative centred on social justice, a dimension of economic development that has been neglected for too long. The initiative is in response to world challenges stemming from multiple crises and long-term structural injustices, such as rising rates of extreme poverty, working poverty, child labour, youth unemployment, and informal work.
We endorse the Global Coalition on Social Justice and commit to play our part: without trade unions there cannot be decent work.
The ETUC will therefore join the ILO Global Coalition for Social Justice.
The Coalition will be an important tool for the ETUC and its affiliates to continue our struggle and mobilisation for social justice, including by contributing to political commitments, investments and concrete actions that support social justice at all levels.
As partners, the ETUC will strive in particular to secure quality jobs, collective bargaining, and with decent work as a threshold of decency below which no one should be forced to work, universal social protection, reduction of inequalities, social dialogue, and elevate these priorities in other multilateral fora such as the OECD, G7, G20 and the WTO.
The ETUC affiliates are invited to:
- join the Coalition themselves, and
- encourage national governments and employers’ organisations to join the initiative.
Background
The Global Coalition for Social Justice is an initiative launched by the ILO Director-General Houngbo, and has been shaped and developed in close consultation with ILO tripartite constituents, and endorsed by the ILO Governing Body in November 2023. The creation of the Coalition has been welcomed by a large number of Heads of State and Government, ministers and other global leaders, including the UN Secretary General, who defined this effort as being “about rebuilding the social contract through people-centred policies grounded and guided by social justice.”
The Coalition serves as a platform to generate political commitments, investments and concrete actions that support social justice in alignment with national priorities with a view to accelerate progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The initiative has its own forum of partners that meets annually to discuss issues and share best practices, and a coordinating group meets twice a year to guide the strategic agenda. The ILO hosts the secretariat.
Key areas of immediate action have been identified already, with a strong focus on outcomes:
- Addressing inequality, discrimination and exclusion,
- Realizing labour rights as human rights, ensuring human dignity and meeting basic needs,
- Expanding access to and capabilities for productive and freely chosen employment and sustainable enterprises,
- Providing protection and building resilience,
- Strengthening just transitions and the social dimension of sustainable development, trade and investment,
- Reinforcing institutions of social dialogue.
In line with our Congress mandate, the ETUC broadly shares the aims and the priorities identified above.
The European Commission has become, on behalf of the EU, partner in the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) Global Coalition for Social Justice. The EESC joined the initiative in January 2024, as have a number of governments in the EU (Belgium, Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland) as well as the ITUC.
Next steps
The ETUC will deliver to the ILO our declaration of joining the Coalition (likely in the occasion of the ILC in June 2024), and will discuss with the ILO the next steps for our engagement in the Coalition.