Trade Unions& Development

Co-operation

Trade Unionsand Development Co-operationIntroduction

The trade union agenda has always been about advancing rights and welfare for members, whetherthey are poor people in rich countries or poor people in poor countries. Social justice and equality havealways been our concern.

In recent years, particularly with the spread of media images of disease, disaster and destruction, it hascome to seem as if poverty is more evident, more striking, in the countries of the Global South – inAfrica, Asia and Latin America – than in our own backyard. International Solidarity is one of the corevalues in the worldwide trade union movement. For us solidarity is built on the understanding that weare all equals, and that we stand together to defend human rights and core labour standards whereverthey are denied or threatened in the world. International development is therefore a major concern ofthe trade union movement in Ireland and the UK.

In the work for global equality and justice the most important task is to reform the world tradesystem. The developing world is in urgent need for fair international trade. In the recently collapsedworld trade negotiations in Geneva, the developed world bears the main responsibility for the failure.Both the European Union and United States have to be criticized. The General Secretary of theInternational Trade Union Confederation, Guy Ryder said: “developed country governments have toassume their responsibilities to contribute some fairness to the world trading system and not requirehuge sacrifices in return for minimal commitments on their side”. The General Secretary of ITUC,which represents 168 million workers in 155 countries, also made it clear that, “An agreement thatbrings more hardship to workers in developing countries is simply not acceptable.” But even if we arecritical to how our governments and the EU acted in the world trade negotiations, we can also seeanother and positive side of the Irish and British governments’ view on international development. Andthat positive aspect is their development policies expressed through Irish Aid and the Department forInternational Development.

This resource is designed to show how we can work in partnership with the official government aidagencies to support international development efforts, to work towards poverty reduction worldwide, andto promote progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – whilst always working towardsour own priorities of decent work, social justice in the work place, and a fairer globalisation for all.

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International Developmentand the Trade UnionAgenda

The priority for trade unions is Decent Work.With the worldwide support and co-ordinationof the International Labour Organisation (ILO)and of the International Trade UnionConfederation (ITUC), trade unions acrossIreland have been mobilised for a number ofyears around the theme of improving workingconditions and pay across the globe. A majordifference to past ways of promoting workplace improvements lies in the wider globalperspective that now informs much work placepractice. Unions are fully aware of theinterplay of markets around the world, as wellas of non-economic factors such asdemographics, politics, changing values,community movements, religious sentimentand many other factors. The pursuit of small-scale improvements in pay and conditions inspecific work places is now conducted in arapidly globalising world, and the trade unionmovement is keenly aware of the importanceof the international context in which wagebargaining takes place.

At the same time, if people in any given poorcountry are to escape poverty and help theircommunities and their families to achievebetter economic circumstances, there has tobe a distribution of wealth throughout thecountry. The best means to do that is to ensurethat most people have access to decent workthat is properly remunerated. So Decent Worklies at the heart of the trade union movementthroughout the world, in poorer countries aswell as in richer countries.

Decent Work is also what most developmentprojects and programmes seek to achieve, too.Nobody working in international developmentwants to oversee the distribution of charityforever; everyone wants to see individuals,families, communities and countriesdeveloping the capacity to create employmentthat offers dignified, decent conditions of workand proper, a living wage for employees.International development and trade unionsare fighting the same fight for the same goalsright across the world: social justice is thesingle common theme of both.

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Labour Standards andInternational Development

Employment section of the Resolutionadopted by the UN General Assembly in 2005:

“We strongly support fair globalization andresolve to make the goals of full and productiveemployment and decent work for all, includingfor women and young people, a centralobjective of our relevant national andinternational policies as well as our nationaldevelopment strategies, including povertyreduction strategies, as part of our efforts toachieve the Millennium Development Goals.These measures should also encompass theelimination of the worst forms of child labour, asdefined in International Labour OrganizationConvention No. 182, and forced labour. We alsoresolve to ensure full respect for thefundamental principles and rights at work”.

DfID has incorporated into its website a policypaper on ‘Labour Standards and PovertyReduction’ which, whilst written by its ownresearchers, draws heavily from work andrepresentations from the trade unionmovement. Even a brief glance at it shows theobvious overlap between what we are trying todo and some of the mechanisms by whichDfID is seeking to achieve improvements inpoor peoples’ conditions worldwide.

The International Labour Organisation (ILO)has defined Core Labour Standards (CLS) asbinding on all member states. These basicstandards are: freedom of association and rightto collective bargaining; elimination of allforms of coerced or compulsory labour;

effective abolition of child labour; andelimination of discrimination in respect ofemployment and occupation.

Socially, the case for labour standards isintegral to a human rights and freedomsperspective. Ending discrimination wouldimprove quality of life for all women - morethan half the world’s population. It would alsobe a vital positive change for disadvantagedgroups, such as people with disabilities andethnic minorities. A robust system of labourrights and standards can also contribute tosocial and political development. Freedom ofassociation is a fundamental political right, andlabour organisations can play a key role in thedevelopment of a responsive and democraticpolitics. The implementation of substantivelabour standards also has a role in public policyfor poverty reduction. Effective occupationalhealth and safety regulations, for example,protect households from being plunged intopoverty through injury or loss of workingfamily members.

The economic case for CLS as a means ofreducing poverty overlaps with the social case.Social and political stability, to which labourstandards can contribute, increase privateinvestment, including foreign investment.Freedom of association can enhance marketeffectiveness by increasing freedom of choice,equality of bargaining power and availability ofinformation. Freedom from discriminationreduces the risks of skills and capabilities beingwasted. Elimination of exploitative child labourimproves economic prospects by getting morechildren educated.

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A corollary to the flows of labour around theworlds has been the recent growth of relocationof manufacturing – firms being closed in onepart of the world only to be opened in anotherpart where labour costs (or other importantcosts components) are much lower than in thecountry losing the factory or firm.

Ireland has experienced the closure of manytextile firms as employers and shareholdersconsider the profitability that can be had frommoving the factory to a low labour cost countrysuch as Sri Lanka, Mauritius or Turkey. Ascompetition has become ever more brutal, eventhose three countries have seen manufacturersclosing down factories that are barely 20 yearsold, as they eye the prospects in countries –such as Vietnam and China – where labour lawsare weaker, where the workers are subject toever more difficult conditions.

ITUC and development cooperation

The creation of the ITUC (International TradeUnion Confederation) in November 2006, hasgiven new impetus for the work on trade uniondevelopment cooperation. The ITUC, born from

the unification of the two previous existinginternational bodies – InternationalConfederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU)and World Confederation of Labour (WCL) anda group of independent unions, has set specificobjectives both for the development ofcooperation programmes, as well as, forelaborating a common trade union policy ondevelopment issues. Congress has recentlyjoined a network which will respond to thespecific needs that have been gatheredthroughout a consultation process amongstthe national organizations in the North andregional partners in the South.

The Millennium Development Goals(MDGs)

Eradicate extreme poverty and hungerAchieve universal primary educationPromote gender equality and empower womenReduce child mortalityImprove maternal healthCombat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseasesEnsure environmental sustainabilityDevelop a global partnership for development

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The Millennium Development Goals(MDGs) – indicators

Goal 1 Reduce by a half the proportion ofpeople living on less than a dollar a dayReduce by half the number of peoplewho suffer from hunger

Goal 2 Ensure that all boys and girls completea full course of primary education

Goal 3 Eliminate gender disparity in primaryand secondary education preferably by2005 and at all levels by 2015

Goal 4 Reduce by two thirds the mortality rateamong children under five

Goal 5 Reduce by three quarters the maternalmortality ratio

Goal 6 Halt and begin to reverse the spread ofHIV/AIDSHalt and begin to reverse the incidenceof malaria and other major diseases

Goal 7 Integrate the principles of sustainabledevelopment into country policies andprogrammes; reverse loss ofenvironmental resources

Reduce by half the proportion ofpeople living without sustainableaccess to safe drinking waterAchieve significant improvement in thelives of at least 100 million slumdwellers, by 2020

Goal 8 Develop further an open trading andfinancial system that is rule-based,predictable and non-discriminatory,includes a commitment to goodgovernance, development and povertyreduction— nationally andinternationally

Address the least developed countries'special needs. This includes tariff- andquota-free access for their exports;enhanced debt relief for heavilyindebted poor countries; cancellationof official bilateral debt; and moregenerous official developmentassistance for countries committed topoverty reduction

Address the special needs of landlockedand small island developing States

Deal comprehensively with developingcountries' debt problems throughnational and international measures tomake debt sustainable in the long term

In cooperation with the developingcountries, develop decent andproductive work for youth

In cooperation with pharmaceuticalcompanies, provide access toaffordable essential drugs in developingcountries

In cooperation with the private sector,make available the benefits of newtechnologies— especially informationand communications technologies

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The Millennium Development Goals as amajor aid focus

The Irish and UK Governments have both putall their weight behind the MillenniumDevelopment Goals as a major focus ofattention for awareness-raising among thegeneral public. They also see them as a seriesof quantifiable targets that are realistic andachievable, so their success is likely to helpcitizens view development as a feasible andworthwhile venture. The fact that there arenow more poor people in Sub-Saharan Africathan there were in 1990 has been a stimulusto DfID which recognises that the MDGs havea crucial part to play in reducing poverty andencouraging progress in those poor countries.The Department argues that “where countriesare committed to working together, makingthe necessary changes and providing adequateresources, a great deal can be achieved in ashort space of time”.

Similarly, Irish Aid is focussed on the MDGs:

“The overarching objective of Irish Aid is thereduction of poverty, inequality and exclusion indeveloping countries.All of Irish Aid's policies andactivities are measured against their contributionto the reduction of poverty and against theprogress they achieve towards the developmenttargets set by the international community.

The eight Millennium Development Goals,agreed by the UN at a series of internationalsummit meetings, identify some of the maincauses of extreme poverty in today’s world andunderpin the poverty reduction policies andactivities of Irish Aid.”

It is interesting to note that the Irish positionstates that the MDGs identify some of themain causes of extreme poverty – some, butnot all. The trade union movement in Ireland,in common with a number of internationaldevelopment NGOs, has long been arguing forgovernments to address social injustice,inequality, discrimination, unfair trade rules, anuncontrolled arms trade, the race to thebottom, a skewed and unfair globalisation andmany other issues that contribute to theunacceptable levels of poverty in the world.But the focus on clear and quantifiable goals isa great way to mobilise public opinion infavour of development initiatives.

In the 1980s, the British Government oftengave the impression that internationaldevelopment was an example of “throwinggood money after bad” whereas the improveddistribution procedures of DfID, and the trackrecord of accountability and good monitoringand evaluation introduced since then, have ledto improved public perception of theusefulness of international development as asector of government expenditure.

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Ireland, too, has received nothing but praise forthe quality of its aid: unlike many richcountries – who insist that much of its aidmoney is spent on ‘experts’ and consultantsfrom their own country, or on the purchase ofgoods and services from the donor country –Ireland has a completely untied aidprogramme. It also channels a lot of its moneyinto budget support to national governmentsas well as to NGO or charitable projects.

There is an Advisory Board for Irish Aid, whichoffers advice on the strategic direction as wellas on operational details of aid projects andprogrammes. Congress is represented on thisboard by General Secretary, David Begg. Withinthe agency, there is an Evaluation and AuditUnit which attempts to embed ongoing reviewand assessment procedures within all sectionsof the agency’s work. Finally, of course, theAudit Committee is an Irish Government bodythat has the remit of investigating value formoney in any are of activities involving the useof Irish taxpayers’ funds in Government-managed or Government-approvedprogrammes.

Similarly, the UK Government has invested alot of money not only in the poorest countriesin the world as a part of its ongoingcommitment to achieving the MDGs but hasalso spent heavily to ensure that the quality ofits aid programmes is of the very highest.

Ireland and the UK – the officialdevelopment agencies

Ireland

International development aid in Ireland isspent in accordance with official governmentpolicy outlines in the latest White Paper on

International Development. As well as layingdown the Government’s intentions in terms ofspending, programme countries and prioritythemes, the White Paper specificallyemphasises the role of Irish civil society ininternational development efforts, andmentions the trade union movement as one ofthe “vital components” of the coalition it isseeking to mobilise in favour of development.The White paper also speaks positively of themodel of Social Partnership that Ireland isrightly proud of and suggests lessons fromsuch partnerships can be applied in developingcountries. So the movement is seen by theGovernment as a key player in efforts toconvince the Irish public that spending taxrevenues on international development is avalid form of public spending.

Ireland also sees trade unions as a playerinternationally: knowing that we have stronglinks across the globe with unions and civilsociety organisations seeking the same orsimilar visions of social justice as we do, theGovernment realises that aid money expendedthrough our networks can be more effective intargetting development goals in poor countriesthan if spent through large internationalbureaucracies. So – again – Congress and itsaffiliates are seen as an important partner forthe Government not only in promotingknowledge, understanding and commitment tointernational development as a ‘cause’ withinIreland, but also as partners in deliveringeffective development outcomes in poorcountries.

In Ireland, the main arm of internationaldevelopment is that provided by Irish Aid – anagency within the Department of ForeignAffairs. It is currently headed by a Minister ofState - Peter Power TD - who is responsible for

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Overseas Development, within theDepartment of Foreign Affairs. TheGovernment of Ireland had earlier stated itscommitment to meeting an internationallyagreed target of 0.7% GNI (gross nationalincome) as its contribution to internationalaid. After hesitations and budgeting difficultiesin the years following the new millennium, theGovernment dropped any time frame for thattarget.

The worldwide publicity that attended theMake Poverty History campaign throughout2005 - with the British Government using itspresidencies of the G8 and of the EU that yearto publicise the issue of internationaldevelopment, especially of Africa – made theadvocacy efforts of tens of thousands of tradeunionists and other campaigners in NGOs andchurches across the country very effectiveindeed. The Government of Ireland reinstatedits aim of giving 0.7% GNI to overseasdevelopment co-operation, and fixed a time

frame of 2012 for its achievement – with, forexample, 0.5% being the target for 2007 and0.6% in 2010.

The 2007 Irish Aid Annual Report showsIrelands Official Development Assistance(ODA) reached 870 million last year. In 1981,Ireland’s aid budget was just €22 million, sothe speed of growth of the aid budget hasbeen among the most impressive of anycountry. Some of this money goes to supportprogrammes and projects in Ireland’s keypartner countries - of which there are seven inAfrica (Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia,Mozambique, Malawi and Lesotho) and two inAsia (Vietnam and Timor Leste) – whilst therest is channelled through multilateral agenciessuch as the European Commission, the UnitedNations family of agencies, the World Bankand its related agencies, and so on.

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NelsonMandela addressed over22,000 people in Trafalgar Square onbehalf of theMAKEPOVERTYHISTORYcoalition. He hands a group of school

children his white band to bedelivered with thousands of others to

the leaders of the G8.

Irish Aid Key Programme Countries

AfricaEthiopiaUgandaTanzaniaMozambiqueZambiaLesotho

AsiaTimor LesteVietnam

In 2006, Ireland granted €140 million to Irish-based NGOs to promote the work ofinternational development, and this sum isexpected to grow as the Governmentencourages organisations to includeinternational development in their own activitiesor to deliver development benefits that theGovernment itself will not be able to offer.

Ireland channels about 50% of all itsdevelopment funds to the poorest countries,which is a higher proportion than any othercountry in the 22 donor countries regularlymonitored by the OECD (Organisation ofEuropean Co-operation and Development).Ireland also achieves a ranking of sixth in theworld in terms of money given per head ofpopulation. Even in overall cash terms, Ireland isthe fifth largest donor in the EU, even though itseconomic size is much smaller than many ofthe traditional rich countries of Western Europe.

United Kingdom

In the UK, development efforts follow a similarstructure. There is a Minister for InternationalDevelopment, Douglas Alexander MP, who is a

member of the Cabinet – the Department wasan agency of the Foreign and CommonwealthOffice for many years under the previousadministration. Like Irish Aid, DfID (theDepartment for International Development)has also agreed a time frame for achieving itscommitment to 0.7% GNI – 2013, a year laterthan Ireland.

In 2007, the Government claimed to haveinvested more than £7, 5 billion ininternational development. In calendar year2006, £6.770 billions were spent as OfficialDevelopment Assistance (ODA). TheDepartment claims that this makes Britain theworld’s second most generous donor – afterthe United States – in money terms. Largeamounts of this gross public expenditure ondevelopment are debt write-offs – for Nigeria,for example, who £1.649 millions wiped offtheir debts in 2006/7. Without debt write-offsand other development actions funded byother branches of central government (mainlyCDC [formerly the CommonwealthDevelopment Corporation] and Export CreditGuarantee Department [ECGD]), the DfIDprogramme amounted to £4.778 millions,which was 87% of all non-debt reliefexpenditures.

This figure puts the UK at 0.51% GDP/GNI andplaces the UK at 7th in the list of aid donorsby amount. This level of expenditure willrequire continuing increases in the aid budgetof about 12% per year for the next three yearsat least, if the target of 0.7% is to be achievedby 2013. An autumn statement from theChancellor of the Exchequer (or Minister ofFinance) indicated that the Department wouldbe receiving a full 17% increase in resourcesfor 2008, so there is some room for optimismin the future growth rate of the DfID budget.

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The UK contribution has undergone someinteresting changes in recent years. Bilateralexpenditure rose only by 2%, whilstmultilateral donations increased by 23% - tothe EU, the World Bank group, and to the UNfamily of agencies. Sectorally, health was themost strongly supported area (£490 m),followed by the economic sector (£394m) andeducation (£372m.).

Trade Unions andGovernment Aid Money

United Kingdom

DfID is keen to offer funds to many differentorganisations based in the UK so that they canhelp raise awareness of development issues inthe British public. Obviously there needs to bedifferent channels for different kinds oforganisation.

The main development charities (Oxfam, Savethe Children, Action Aid, Christian Aid, etc)have their own funding arrangements with

DfID and have developed especially close linkswith the Department. Churches, communitygroups and trade unions can access otherfunds.

The main source of funding for trade unionslooking for small-scale project funding fordevelopment education is the Mini Grantsscheme. This is a relatively unbureaucraticfund, administered in Northern Ireland by theCentre for Global Education. It requires anapplication in no more than 6 pages, and offersup to £10,000 a year for 1, 2 or 3 years at atime. There are a number of criteria to be met,and each project should attempt to show thatit meets at least some of the goals of DfID inits proposed activities. Applications need to besent in to the CGE before 31st October in anygiven year.

A source of funding for more ambitiousprojects is the Development Awareness Fund(DAF). This requires a more complex process ofapplication but offers up to £100,000 a yearfor up to 3 years. It does not require co-funding, so can be used to pay the entire costsof a development education project.

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The scheme is administered on behalf of DfIDthroughout the UK by Tripleline Consulting ltd,to whom a Concept Note – in no more than 3pages – should be sent by 30th September inany given year. If they feel the proposal hasmerit, they advise DfID accordingly.

If DfID concurs with this preliminaryassessment, the applicant is then invited tosubmit a more elaborate funding proposal byNovember 30th, with a view to awardinggrants for disbursement starting in April thefollowing year.

A third source of DfID funding for trade unions– if they are registered in the UK – is in theTUC-administered Strategic FrameworkPlanning Agreement (SFPA), which is a fundof £700,000 over a three year period to helpindividual trade unions fund activities indevelopment education, and in support of theBritish Government’s mobilisation of supportfor action on the Millennium DevelopmentGoals (MDGs). Again, there are specific criteriaand procedures to follow but the DfID-fundedProject Officer in the TUC is there to steer theunions through the application process andgive support and advice.

Currently, the main forms of support to tradeunions from DfID centre on developmenteducation – awareness-raising, information,communication, mobilisation and morestructured forms of education and training.Where unions wish to seek financial and otherforms of support for other activities related todevelopment – for example, volunteering,exchange schemes, direct financial support tocommunity groups and partners in poorcountries, etc – there may be other sources offunds: contact DfID directly or let the GlobalSolidarity project team in Congress help you out.

Ireland

Irish Aid has recently rationalised the manydifferent types of funding that were availableto different types of organisation, working indifferent fields and on different priorities. Now,there is essentially one central fundingmechanism which is the Civil Society Fund.This is a fund to which trade unions can applyfor funding of up to €200,000 per year in anyone funding round – and there are threerounds per year. Unions and other civil societyorganisations can make a maximum of fivesubmissions each year and Irish Aid will fundup to 75% of all project costs in eachsuccessful application.

The object of the Civil Society Fund is tocontribute to the achievement of theMillennium Development Goals by improvingthe livelihoods of disadvantaged communitiesin developing countries. The fund interpretsthis in regard to specific goals and objectives,which are listed in the background documentsfor interested organisations. So – unlike mostof the DfID funding streams – the applicanthas to show an impact of their developmenteducation work in the developing countriesthemselves, and not just in Irish society.

The fund also has a number of principles thatguide its administration and these include anemphasis on gender equality, environmentalsustainability, governance (and especially thepromotion of human rights) and the HIV/AIDSpandemic.

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Congress and Lesotho: acase study of trade unionsin developmentcooperation

In 2008 Irish Aid granted support for aCongress’ application for a Trade Unioncapacity building project in Lesotho. We hadearlier met colleagues from LECODU (theLesotho Confederation of Democratic tradeUnions) and discussed with them the severityof the problems they faced as trade unionistsand as citizens in a country ravaged by theHIV/AIDS pandemic. Lesotho also faces seriousdifficulties in a rapidly globalising worldeconomy and is seeing its relatively well-developed textile sector suffer fromprotectionist trends and other harmful traderules, especially in Europe.

The proposal aims at strengthening the tradeunion movement in Lesotho, at helping theConfederation build internal capacity throughskills training, and at helping trade unionofficers and members to prepare themselvesbetter for the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

Trade unionists inLesotho do notgenerally have muchtraining in thetraditional union issuesof collective bargainingand other areas but this projectaims to help them effect suchtraining – and to includeHIV/AIDS awareness training, as well as caringstrategies, into basic trade union training. Thatway, trade union representatives can askemployers, within their Collective BargainingAgreements, what steps they are taking tohelp employees cope with the health,employment and social issue that is HIV/AIDS.

Irish Government funding of this projectreflects the importance that the IrishGovernment places on choosing partners withexpertise and access to social strata that agovernment programme alone could neverhave. Congress is pleased to be working withIrish Aid to help Ireland contributemeaningfully to the Millenium DevelopmentGoals whilst also showing solidarity with thetrade union movement in Lesotho.

Organisations that have already receivedfunding from Irish Aid will have established atrack record and may be invited to apply forMulti-Annual Block Grant funds. Amounts onoffer from this source of funding range up to amaximum of €1.5 million per year, thoughDevelopment Education is specifically excludedfrom the activities that this fund can support.A trade union would have to envisage apartnership with a union or other group from apoor country, rather than conduct awareness-raising or advocacy work purely in Ireland.

Irish Aid has been a long term supporter of ourdevelopment education work – GlobalSolidarity. For many years now Congress hasdeveloped a good working relationship withthe development education unit of Irish Aidwho have been a co-funder of ourdevelopment education work. Congress looksforward to developing this relationship into thefuture and to facilitate the development oflinks between some of our affiliate unions andIrish Aid.

Irish Aid has recently opened a newVolunteering and Information Centre onO’Connell Street in Dublin where all arewelcome to come and explore more aboutIrish Aid and the issues they address in theirwork – www.irishaid.gov.ie/centre

Irish Aid and Decent Work

Irish Aid has a partnership agreement with theInternational Labour Organisation (ILO).Consistent with its philosophy of SocialPartnership, the Government of Ireland is keento support not only the freedom of employersto build business and its associatedinfrastructure but also to support workers intheir desire to see not only jobs available to

those who want them, but the creation ofgood jobs, with adequate wages, goodconditions of employment, and a recognitionthat a proper work-life balance is of greatsocial value in its own right. Decent Work isthus not only a trade union priority but also agoal of the Irish Government.

Since the first major agreement was signedbetween Ireland and the ILO in June 2001,successive agreements have replaced it but thepriorities and key themes have remainedbroadly consistent. Wishing to support theILO’s goal of creating decent workopportunities for women and men, theAgreement supports the creation of qualityjobs through women’s entrepreneurshiptraining, and the enhanced employability ofpeople with disabilities. Two other componentsof the earlier phases of the Agreementconcentrated on ‘Core Support for the SpecialAction Programme to combat Forced Labour(SAP/FL)’ and ‘Employment and VocationalTraining Opportunities and Migration PolicyMeasures to Prevent and Reduce Trafficking ofWomen in Moldavia, Albania and the Ukraine.’A ‘Youth Employment Network’ was includedin a subsequent Agreement, whichconcentrated much more on African states –especially Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia.

Over the first six years of the Agreements,Ireland provided close to €10 million for ILOprogrammes in these agreed areas. Congresshas consistently urged Irish Aid to extend itssupport to the ILO, particularly focussing onChild Labour and support to the IPEC(International Programme for the Eliminationof Child Labour) initiative.

This entire area of cooperation shows clearlythe many topics and targets which are key

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objectives of both the Irish Government andthe trade union movement tin Ireland. There ishuge potential for collaborative work betweenthe two partners, and Congress intends to usethe Global Solidarity project to encourageaffiliated unions to engage more robustly withIrish Aid to agree common goals and achieve acommon purpose in many different areaswithin the Decent Work campaign.

The Quality of OverseasDevelopment Assistance(ODA)

Both Ireland and the UK have established astrong reputation for offering aid that is asunbureaucratic and as unconditional aspossible. Even better, both countries haveinvested considerably in learning the lessons

from development aid – what works and whatdoesn’t. This is in marked contrast to thenumerous countries that see aid as a branch offoreign policy, as a means of exertinginfluence, or as a tool for promoting businessand other opportunities for the donor country.Working through the Development AssistanceCommittee (DAC) of the Organisation forEconomic Co-operation and Development(OECD), both countries have shown apragmatism and a flexibility in channellingtheir funds to those sectors which mosteffectively achieve their targets. And bothcountries have recently restated their globalaims in development aid in light of theMillennium Development Goals (MDGs) asbeing the reduction of poverty.

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Other Ways of Contributingto Development Efforts

Both Irish Aid and DfID actively encouragecitizens to become involved in as manyaspects of development as possible. As well asinforming people about the majorinternational programmes of aid anddevelopment, they support and promoteinitiatives such as linking with organisations inthe Global South (for example, trade unions inIreland linking with trade unions in poorcountries), or volunteering (encouragingemployers to allow an employee to take timeout of their work and to come back to aguaranteed job after a placement overseas as avolunteer), or joining the Rapid ResponseInitiative [RRI] to offer skills and experience foremergency deployment in situations of stressand crisis overseas, or through mission work(through its support of, for example, the IrishMissionary Resource Service [IMRS]).

DfID offers an equally impressive range ofservices to encourage people to become moreinvolved and engaged with development issueswherever they are. The Department offerssupport specifically to faith groups, to localcommunities, to the formal education sector,to the media, to research institutes andconsultancies, to public opinion firms, to co-operatives and the trade unions, in a numberof innovative and imaginative ways. Very fewpeople are “against” development but aconsiderable number of people feel thattaxpayers should only be giving money tooverseas governments and communities whenproblems and inequalities here at home arefully resolved. So the task of convincing peoplethat international development is in the long-term interests of us all is a huge one, and amajor part of DfID’s work in the UK.

Trade Unions and OverseasDevelopment Co-operation:what can we do?

Let us repeat: the agenda of trade unionism fortwo hundred years or so has been to combatdiscrimination, exploitation and injustice, bymeans of collective action in defence ofcollective rights. In that regard, the work oftrade unions embraces the work of internationaldevelopment because it is in the poorestcountries of the world that we see some of themost egregious examples of injustice andpoverty that we are bound to fight wherever wecan with whatever tools we can bring to bear.

Trade unions in Ireland bring together some800,000 affiliated members in a movement ofsolidarity. Our dues and fees pay for thepriorities that we collectively decide are themost important: organising, recruiting,lobbying, research, health and safety, equality,disability, learning and training, and so on. Aswe have moved in recent years towards therecognition of our international responsibilitiesand capabilities, so we have become aware ofthe need to mobilise resources to address someof the issues on our international agenda.

The Irish and British Governments have workedvery effectively to help build a consensus thatinternational aid and development must beseen as priorities, even when rising oil prices,rising interest rates, stagnant or falling houseprices, and other worries push citizens to anever narrower concentration on personalpreoccupations. The use of the G8 summit inGleneagles, Scotland, in July 2005, and the UKPresidency of the EU during the first half ofthat year, were essential tools – well handled –for raising the profile of issues that are an

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integral part of the trade unionist’s agenda: theelimination of poverty, the promotion ofdemocracy and human rights, and the fightagainst discrimination and exploitation.

Trade unionists prefer to campaign for DecentWork - the modern version of “a fair day’s payfor a fair day’s work” – but our concerns aboutsolidarity are very little different from theconcerns of Irish Aid or DfID and thegovernments behind them in their pursuit ofthe Millennium Development Goals as amechanism to help lift millions of people outof extreme poverty.

By establishing strategic partnerships withdevelopment agencies such as Irish Aid andDfID, the trade union movement in Ireland canimprove its own effectiveness as acampaigning body. If poor people in Lesotho,for example, can be helped to improve theirmaterial circumstances, they may well bemuch more favourably disposed to join a tradeunion because they would be no longer sodesperately preoccupied with questions ofbasic survival. Similarly, the more we canengage with trade unions in other countries,the more we can make a reality of thesolidarity that we believe is the hallmark of ourmovement. For far too long, we have remainedignorant of the situations and circumstancesof trade unionists in – for example – Iran,Vietnam, Bolivia, Romania or Lesotho. In aglobalising world, we need to be aware of whatis happening across the globe, why it ishappening, and what we can do to ensure thatpeople are in control rather than bigtransnational corporations.

When we work in partnership with the aidagencies of our respective governments, we

forge a synergy, a ‘value added’, that can makeus much more effective. Not only are they ableto offer us more financial resources – always ingreat need within the trade union movement!– but they also have the ability and capacity togenerate political will and commitment to thegoals that we both agree are essential. To havea partner in government – another partner,along with existing links with Departments ofEmployment, or Education, or Health, and soon – can only add to our stature, to thepublic’s perception of our movement, to therealisation by members of our effectiveness,and to our ability to influence the politicalprogrammes of those who govern us.

In a rapidly globalising world, the trade unionmovement in Ireland cannot afford to ignore apartner that is capable of enhancing ourstature and of equipping us more ably for thecampaigning work we are committed to do.Overseas Development Co-operation is thelabel that governments give to their work oninternational support to poorer countries andit is important that trade unionists get behindthe difference in labels between what we callcampaigning for social justice and what theGovernment calls its own work ondevelopment.

If we can make that transition from seeingIrish Aid or DfID as ‘mere’ branches ofGovernment and see them, instead, as partnersin a worldwide struggle for a fairerglobalisation, wed can become a much moreeffective movement, at home and abroad.More importantly, untold millions of our sistersand brothers would be helped to live a life atleast a little better than they otherwise would.

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Irish Congress of Trade UnionsCarlin House4-6 Donegall St PlaceBelfastBT1 2FN

t. 028 9024 7940t. 028 9024 6898

www.ictuni.org

ICTU31/32 Parnell SquareDublin 1Ireland

t. +353 (01) 889 77 77

www.ictu.ie