Carol Beaumont speech to ILO Asia Regional Meeting, Korea

Speech of Carol Beaumont to International Labor Organisation Asian Regional Meeting plenary, 30 August 2006, Korea.

Sisters and brothers, I would like to start by thanking the Director General for his report to which we speak and also all of the people who have worked so hard to make this important meeting possible.

Carol Beaumont

The challenge to us all is – how to ensure that we are talking about Decent Work for all not Decent Work for some.

In a NZ context this means contemplating how we ensure employment for the indigenous Maori people who have unemployment rates of 8.2% compared to population overall who have unemployment rates of 3.2%.  Or employment for young people – Maori youth unemployment sits at 20%.  It also means recognising that productivity increased significantly between 1998 and 2005 but real wages during that time barely rose.  Income disparity throughout the region is increasing.

Solutions are not possible in the absence of a commitment to and implementation of fundamental rights at work including the right of workers to organise in unions. Solutions are not possible without acceptance of tripartite processes and social dialogue to identify agreed priorities.

The process of developing a Decent work plan for NZ has been a positive one using a genuine tripartite process. It will provide a useful tool to chart our progress and we have identified agreed success factors.  But we still have a way to go in achieving those success factors.

The tripartite partners have taken up the productivity challenge seriously and we can all agree that the way forward is a high wage, high skill, highly productive path. The union movement recognizes that productivity improvements are essential for NZ to compete globally, to provide decent work and to provide quality social services. 

Productivity must be lifted through an investment approach – including investing in people not an approach of reducing wages or conditions or making workers work harder for less.  Genuine improvements cannot be made by decree – although many have tried this.

A specific contribution unions are making is to develop a worker project on productivity. For many NZ workers productivity is a dirty word – work harder for less, lift productivity and find your job has gone.  We are promoting an approach that includes investing in skills development, lifting participation in work design and decision making as well as lifting wages.  We are also discussing how change security provisions can be developed that gives workers employment security if not job security.  This needs to be in the context of adequate social protections.  I want to stress that this work would not have been possible a decade ago when worker and union rights were under attack as they currently are for so many in the region including our close neighbours in Australia.

The change in labour market governance in NZ since 2000 recognises unions and promotes the development of productive workplace relations.  I believe these go hand in hand.  This has been strengthened by an increase in tripartite dialogue.  Underpinning this are improvements in the legislative minimum code including lifting the minimum wage, improving holiday entitlements, providing paid parental leave and strengthening health and safety provisions.

The union movement has campaigned for these improvements, as well as engaging in tripartite processes as well as organizing around collective bargaining.  We need to operate at all these levels.

This leads me to my next challenge – the need to genuinely recognize unions as the voice of workers.  Throughout the region including NZ there is a failure to recognize how vital unions are in achieving Decent Work for all.  Without us it is not possible.

Genuine change cannot occur without involving workers in developing the solutions.  Genuine sustainable change cannot be built on the back of inequality. Unions have a fundamental role in fighting for those who are disadvantaged or excluded.  Fighting for a fair share for all is a legitimate union role. Achieving Decent Work for all makes good economic and social sense.

If we left this meeting with a genuine consensus about the value of unions we would have made progress.  If that translated into recognition into labour market governance arrangements we would have made further progress and if we also had a commitment from Governments to work with unions and employer organizations and help build their capacity then we may start making progress in achieving Decent Work for all.

In concluding I would like to share a quote from a poster in my office.
Do not leave anyone behind.  Every person has the right to life of health and equal opportunity.

Let us not leave anyone behind as we strive for Decent Work for all.

Thank you.