ASIA
01 June 2014
Trade unions must save Asia's economy and society
Trade unions must lead the fight to save Asia's economy and society, argued UNI Global Union's Philip Jennings at a conference yesterday of finance sector trade union officials.
Trade unions must lead the fight to save Asia's economy and society, argued Philip Jennings, in his keynote address yesterday to a meeting of trade union officials from Asia's financial sector. Jennings is General Secretary of UNI Global Union, whose Asia-Pacific wing, UNI-Apro, is meeting this week in Bangkok, Thailand.
Jennings celebrated the great march of freedom in Asia and elsewhere. In recent decades, we have seen freedom spread in central and eastern Europe, Africa, Arab countries and also in Asia, with Burma being the most recent example. There is still much to do to consolidate and strengthen freedom. But the progress is impressive.
While the advance of freedom is improving our societies, inequality is weakening them. Today, the US has become just as unequal as it was in the 1920s.
And as the Asian Development Bank has warned, inequality is undermining the Asian miracle. Strong trade unions are necessary to lead the fight against inequality by pushing for more collective bargaining and social safety nets, Jennings insisted.
The global financial crisis has accelerated the widening of inequality, and resulted in the loss of 40 million jobs. So trade unions must continue the fight for changing the culture of financial institutions, and strengthening financial market regulations.
These financial institutions created and sold toxic assets to innocent citizens, who became innocent bystanders when the crisis struck. Managements and boards did not even understand the nature of these toxic assets.
But the culture of Western financial institutions has not changed, Jennings added with regret. They would like to forget the past. They just want to go back to business as usual. So they are using their financial power to influence political processes and oppose new, tighter financial market regulation.
We are now in the midst of the great "quantitative easing" experiment. What does it mean, and how will it unfold? Large amounts of money have been put into the system and have softened the effect of the crisis.
But all this money must eventually come back home. And recently we have seen the financial market panic which followed US Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke's comments on "tapering". Asia is still very vulnerable to financial contagion and instability.
As central banks and governments are now in a struggle with the private sector over financial market regulation, trade unions have an ever more important role to play. Fortunately, trade unions have now secured seats at the table in many international organization, and are influencing and shaping policy -- at the G20, IMF, World Bank, Financial Stability Board, European Central Bank and now at the Asian Development Bank. It is critical to maintain the fight against excessive risk taking, and inadequate financial supervision and regulation. But for trade unions to be effective and credible in this fight, they must be strong, especially in the financial sector.
Trade unions must also keep working to improve labor standards in Asia, Jennings continued. Insecure and precarious employment is spreading through the Asian workplace, especially in the financial sector. Before, when there were more good jobs, employees could work in partnership with management. Now that we have "fast-food" style jobs, we are witnessing deskilling, with adverse effects on productivity. Inequality is also weakening the domestic demand.
In short, as the "social contract" between workers and management is being shattered, the health of the economy is being adversely affected, and inequality has become unsustainable in Asia. Asian workers must continue their efforts to stop this race to the bottom.
Jennings reminded the conference of UNI Global Union's successful efforts to pressure more than 80 brands and retailers, covering 1500 factories, to sign onto the legally binding Accord which aims to improve factory safety in Bangladesh’s $20 billion garment sector. The Accord came after the Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka claimed the lives of more than 1,100 workers in April this year.
More recently, Fast Retailing, Asia's largest clothing retailer, became the latest big name to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord. The Japanese company, is the owner of the popular clothing brand UNIQLO.
In conclusion, for an Asian Century to have any meaning for the region's working men and women, Asia needs to find a new development path based on decent work and inclusive growth. And in this context, trade unions have a critical role to play in shaping a new social contract to secure an Asian Century for all Asians.
Executive Director
Asian Century Institute
www.asiancenturyinstitute.com
Jennings celebrated the great march of freedom in Asia and elsewhere. In recent decades, we have seen freedom spread in central and eastern Europe, Africa, Arab countries and also in Asia, with Burma being the most recent example. There is still much to do to consolidate and strengthen freedom. But the progress is impressive.
While the advance of freedom is improving our societies, inequality is weakening them. Today, the US has become just as unequal as it was in the 1920s.
And as the Asian Development Bank has warned, inequality is undermining the Asian miracle. Strong trade unions are necessary to lead the fight against inequality by pushing for more collective bargaining and social safety nets, Jennings insisted.
The global financial crisis has accelerated the widening of inequality, and resulted in the loss of 40 million jobs. So trade unions must continue the fight for changing the culture of financial institutions, and strengthening financial market regulations.
These financial institutions created and sold toxic assets to innocent citizens, who became innocent bystanders when the crisis struck. Managements and boards did not even understand the nature of these toxic assets.
But the culture of Western financial institutions has not changed, Jennings added with regret. They would like to forget the past. They just want to go back to business as usual. So they are using their financial power to influence political processes and oppose new, tighter financial market regulation.
We are now in the midst of the great "quantitative easing" experiment. What does it mean, and how will it unfold? Large amounts of money have been put into the system and have softened the effect of the crisis.
But all this money must eventually come back home. And recently we have seen the financial market panic which followed US Fed Reserve Chairman Bernanke's comments on "tapering". Asia is still very vulnerable to financial contagion and instability.
As central banks and governments are now in a struggle with the private sector over financial market regulation, trade unions have an ever more important role to play. Fortunately, trade unions have now secured seats at the table in many international organization, and are influencing and shaping policy -- at the G20, IMF, World Bank, Financial Stability Board, European Central Bank and now at the Asian Development Bank. It is critical to maintain the fight against excessive risk taking, and inadequate financial supervision and regulation. But for trade unions to be effective and credible in this fight, they must be strong, especially in the financial sector.
Trade unions must also keep working to improve labor standards in Asia, Jennings continued. Insecure and precarious employment is spreading through the Asian workplace, especially in the financial sector. Before, when there were more good jobs, employees could work in partnership with management. Now that we have "fast-food" style jobs, we are witnessing deskilling, with adverse effects on productivity. Inequality is also weakening the domestic demand.
In short, as the "social contract" between workers and management is being shattered, the health of the economy is being adversely affected, and inequality has become unsustainable in Asia. Asian workers must continue their efforts to stop this race to the bottom.
Jennings reminded the conference of UNI Global Union's successful efforts to pressure more than 80 brands and retailers, covering 1500 factories, to sign onto the legally binding Accord which aims to improve factory safety in Bangladesh’s $20 billion garment sector. The Accord came after the Rana Plaza building collapse in Dhaka claimed the lives of more than 1,100 workers in April this year.
More recently, Fast Retailing, Asia's largest clothing retailer, became the latest big name to sign the Bangladesh Fire and Safety Accord. The Japanese company, is the owner of the popular clothing brand UNIQLO.
In conclusion, for an Asian Century to have any meaning for the region's working men and women, Asia needs to find a new development path based on decent work and inclusive growth. And in this context, trade unions have a critical role to play in shaping a new social contract to secure an Asian Century for all Asians.
Author
John WestExecutive Director
Asian Century Institute
www.asiancenturyinstitute.com