Speech to 96th ILO Conference, Geneva, June 15 2007
 
Laila Harré
Worker substitute delegate, New Zealand.

I will begin my contribution this morning with a short traditional Maori greeting that acknowledges the diversity and unity of those here.

E nga iwi
E nga reo
e nga karangatanga maha o nga hau e wha

Tena koutou, tena koutou, tena koutou tatou katoa

My job here is to respond on behalf of New Zealand workers to the Director-General’s report to the Conference.

We appreciate the forthright way in which he has exposed shortcomings in progress towards social, environmental and economic sustainability.

We agree that by handing much of its responsibility to the free market, the policy establishment has facilitated the transfer of wealth from workers to owners and growing income inequality within and between countries.

Constraining the exercise of property rights, including the rights of the owners of capital, is a fundamental role of public policy and is a central purpose of this Organisation.

That is what labour standards do.

Last century’s pact between business and labour enabled economic development in the Western industrialised countries through long-term private investment, public investment in social and physical infrastructure, and the welfare state.

But agreements were only reached because workers were organised industrially and politically.

Securing an environment for growth required employers to reach agreement with a confident international workers’ movement.

Thus, the values underpinning the foundation of the ILO, expressed in the cornerstones of social dialogue and collective bargaining, were necessary conditions for the Western development model last century.

Yet, today’s prevailing economic model generally treats those values as obstacles, rather than assets.

In his report the Director-General makes a strong business case for international labour standards as a development imperative.

However, a renewed commitment by ILO constituents, and in particular those who contravene its basic tenets, requires our intellectual belief in the importance of labour standards, social dialogue and collective bargaining to be demonstrated in practical terms.

That, in turn, requires much more support for workers’ collective organisation.

We want an equal voice at the workplace, industry and national policy-making levels, as well as in this Organisation.

Labour market deregulation in New Zealand in the 1990s has had a sustained negative impact on workers’ power at the workplace level.

This problem remains despite industrial relations law reform based on the promotion of collective bargaining and improved workplace organising rights.

Decent jobs in the manufacturing sector have increasingly been replaced with precarious, low-paid jobs in a growing domestic services sector – including in areas previously dominated by the unpaid work of women – like caring for our elders.

To restore and improve on the decent work won through industrial and political struggles last century, in New Zealand we will have to overcome three related obstacles.

First, the limitations of enterprise-based collective bargaining. With more  workers employed by companies that compete viciously for market share in the domestic services sector, we need to extend collective bargaining to whole industries.

Second, and despite the organising rights provided by law, the diminished capacity of unions to reach out to the vast majority of workers in the private sector who are neither union members nor covered by collective agreements.

Third, the continuing hostility of employers to unionisation and collective bargaining.

A genuine tripartite commitment to decent work, underpinned by social dialogue and collective bargaining will assist us in overcoming these obstacles.

Each of the constituent groups and the ILO has a duty to assist:

• Government, through its regulatory, public sector employment and service procurement roles;
• Employers’ organisations by building support for worker participation  and overcoming resistance to collective bargaining among their members;
• Unions by reaching beyond the traditional industrial workforce and sharing our resources to organise the new workforce in today’s industries and across the globe;
• And the ILO by promoting worker participation and helping to build the capacity of workers to engage in all relevant forums.

We particularly hope that Governments will accept the challenge put down here by the President of Chile to demonstrate commitment to the ILO principles by actively rebuilding union capacity and influence.

The ILO commitment to social justice is timeless.

However, history tells us that building the power of workers to organise is the best tool we have for achieving this ideal.

Ends. (To read the other worker delegate presentation from Ross Wilson, click here [1].)