In a world replete with paradoxes, it is not unusual to witness big surprises. Despite the severe economic hemorrhaging that began almost eight months ago, workers have not stormed the streets. While they have got a raw deal from the worsening recession, the real culprits — the investment banks — are being fed with a silver spoon. So far, around $5 trillion have been spent on restoring these failed financial powerhouses. But no such big amounts are being talked about when it comes to rescuing workers ravaged by the recession.
The latest unemployment estimates prepared by the Geneva-based International Labour Organisation (ILO) suggest that unemployment is expected to increase between 39 and 59 million this year, with total unemployment likely to cross 239 million. Indeed, workers are silently absorbing all the shocks as recession-hit companies cut jobs and implement painful reforms. The situation is much worse when it comes to the poorest of the poor. According to the United Nations Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN), the number of poor people rose by 40 million, to 936 million.
These appalling conditions ought to have generated a chain reaction in various western capitals and in poor countries. But in reality, they provided ground-breaking political victories for ultra right -wing conservatives and fly-by-night liberals. “I think there’s an explanation for it,” Oxford historian Timorthy Garten Ash told the popular German newspaper Der Spiegel. “Voters apparently feel that the conservatives and liberals are more competent when it comes to economic policy and we are witnessing a return to nationalism as a reaction to the great crisis,” he said. “And when that happens, voters tend to move to the right rather than to the left, in some cases quite far to the right.”
These political victories are, however, not going to last if the recession persists and unemployment reaches unmanageable levels. Uptil now, policies revolving around ‘flexicurity’ — well-fed workers in rich Nordic countries don’t mind being fired provided they are offered secure social assistance — have insulated rich countries from facing bloodshed on the streets. Analysts say that the success of ‘flexicurity-related’ job-saving schemes will hinge upon, whether recession remains a short-lived phenomenon or continues unabated. If the latter were to happen, governments would find it difficult to sustain their social assistance policies in the face of mounting fiscal challenges. And that is when workers will hit the streets, it is argued.
The ILO’s 90th anniversary meeting ended last week with an unusual solidarity between political leaders and governments, between employers and trade union representatives. These included political leaders like Brazilian President Lula da Silva who is a former trade unionist and right-wing French President Nicolas Sarkozy — these political leaders, employers as well as trade union representatives endorsed, for the first time, a global jobs pact which they hoped would avert social unrest.
In varying tones, they all agreed that labour is not being treated with the same concern that capital is. President Sarkozy even denounced the growing commercialisation of all areas of human activity and pressed for a new bargain in which health, labour, environment and trade are treated equally. “The mismanagement of the financial sector which, in turn, affected the real economy has to be tackled on a war-footing with the Decent Work Agenda and the Declaration of Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation,” argued Juan Somavia, the ILO chief.
The eight-page ‘global jobs pact’ touches on all issues concerning decent work for workers. It sets out how governments must accelerate employment-creation, sustain enterprises, build social protection systems and strengthen respect for international labour standards. It wants a ‘fair and sustainable globalisation’ but not the demolition of capitalism.
It is a different story as to whether governments will adhere to such a pact when market-fundamentalists continue to call the shots in the economic policy regime all over the world. Apparently, when labour-related issues are discussed at high-level meetings in some countries, including India, economic policy czars turn a deaf ear. So, in reality, it does not matter if you have a jobs pact adopted by ILO’s 183 members. What matters is the political commitment to genuinely help the poor and unemployed workers. And that is woefully lacking in many countries.
