A Trade Union Vision for APEC

A Trade Union Vision for APEC

Asia Pacific Labour Network of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

Proposals to the 1996 APEC Leaders' Meeting in the Philippines by the Second Regional Conference of the Asia Pacific Labour Network of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (Icftu)


*Trade unions aim to harness internationalization of markets to improving living and working conditions*	1. The ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network was established in 1995 to support and promote the work of trade unions of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) region in their dialogue with governments, business and other groups involved in the APEC process. Our aim is to harness the APEC objective of the internationalization of markets to the improvement of the conditions of work and life of the citizens of our populous region. The reality of economic globalization requires a strategic response reaffirming the human-centred purpose of all growth and development.

*Recognition of Asia Pacific Labour Network by Prime Minister of Japan*	2. In 1995, the ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network adopted a statement on "The Role of Labour in the Asia-Pacific Region" . A delegation then held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Japan, host of the 1995 APEC Leaders’ Meeting, on 7 October 1995. The Prime Minister agreed that the benefits of economic growth in APEC needed to reach ordinary citizens and he undertook to do his best to reflect the trade unions' proposals in the APEC Leaders' Meeting in Osaka. This approach confirms the need for the governments of APEC to make the APEC process accessible and to be fully accountable to their own societies.

*Osaka Action Agenda maintains emphasis on shared prosperity*	3. The Osaka Action Agenda adopted by the APEC Leaders' Meeting on 19 November, 1995 stated that "The people of the Asia-Pacific region are its most important asset." This maintained the emphasis of earlier APEC Leaders' Meetings on the need to enhance the prosperity and living standards of APEC citizens, as indicated by the objective set in Seattle in 1993 and confirmed in Bogor in 1994 of ensuring "that our people share the benefits of economic growth". The ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network would endorse these views while further emphasizing that the very purpose of economic growth and development must be to benefit the people.


*APEC’s potential for higher growth and employment*	4. The ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network strongly believes that the programme to extend and deepen cooperation between members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, through the enlargement of markets, provides the potential for substantially higher economic growth, employment creation, higher living standards and poverty alleviation for workers throughout the APEC region. However, in the absence of respect for human rights, labour standards, social programmes and redistributive measures, these benefits are not guaranteed. Increased competition can drive down wages and living standards. The key to achieving a sustainable and stable system for the management of economic change is the involvement of trade unions - the freely chosen representatives of APEC's working people - in the APEC process.

*Need for partnership of unions, business and government*	5. Modern enterprises require highly skilled, innovative, committed employees with responsibility and decision-making capabilities. Unions have a significant stake in the development of best practice/high performance industries and enterprises, working in conjunction with the infrastructure provided by high quality public services. Research by the World Bank, ILO and OECD has demonstrated the positive contribution that strong, independent trade unions make to investment, productivity, human capital and income distribution. We therefore seek an equal partnership with socially responsible employers and governments in delivering the key objectives of APEC, at both the APEC regional level and at national levels and on the basis of the commitment to tripartism and respect for basic ILO Conventions which is incumbent on all member states of the ILO.

*Social stability founded on participation of workers*	6. The trade unions of the ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network see themselves as extending the logic of a social contract which emerged with the Bretton Woods institutions in providing the vision of full, decent, voluntarily chosen employment with benefits secured through collective agreements and national legislation and with the provision of sufficient safety nets. In the context of APEC, this is envisaged to lead to a policy climate in which workers, through legal rights to form and join their own freely chosen organizations, are able to work with employers and the government to establish a sound system of industrial relations in which progress for working people is achieved. Trade unions wish to pursue change through a social stability founded on the participation of workers in the decisions which affect their daily life and with full respect for freedom of association and collective bargaining. Progress on these core issues will lay the foundations for the progressive extension of industrial relations and social security systems in APEC members in a manner which reinforces and strengthens political democracy, economic growth and social advancement in the APEC region.

*Poverty alleviation and sustainable development*	7. Poverty alleviation and the introduction of sustainable development parameters in the governance systems of the members of APEC is an attainable medium-term objective in all APEC members and would in itself contribute to higher economic growth and increased social stability in a democratic environment. The key to sustainable development and poverty alleviation is the provision of more employment, education and training and an improvement in the quality and remuneration of employment. This requires tripartite discussions on a whole range of measures - including re-skilling and retraining, job counselling and social safety nets - to provide a dynamic and fast-reacting economy capable of providing growth and achieving full employment. Trade unions contribute to an equitable and sustainable distribution of income through their negotiations to attain for workers a fair return for their labour: the right of workers to organize freely and bargain collectively is therefore at the very centre of poverty alleviation. In the rural and urban areas, the extremes of poverty call out for integrated programmes led by government in partnership with rural workers' organizations, cooperatives, trade unions and other groups. Women are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of market-driven policies that ignore prevailing social inequalities. Policies to promote social integration, poverty alleviation and job expansion therefore need to incorporate a gender perspective which takes account of their needs.

*Unlocking the productive potential of the work force*	8. Successive APEC Leaders' Meetings have recognized that human resource development is critical to the intensification of APEC cooperation and the strengthening of an open and multilateral trade and investment regime. The success of the APEC endeavour will, therefore, be directly linked to unlocking the productive potential of the one billion strong workforce of the region. The process of human resource development will entail the training of unskilled workers to enable them to acquire employable skills; continuous training for serving employees to enable them to acquire the latest employable skills that are consistent with the most recent trends in technology; and providing job placement services for skilled workers in line with their skills and experience. Alongside improved access to education and training, APEC should fully commit itself to eliminate exploitation, discrimination and repression in the workplace which continue to hold back the contribution that working people and their trade unions can make to growth and improved international cooperation. Unions, employers and government should work together to address safety and health at the workplace, in view of the increasing numbers of occupational deaths and injuries experienced by workers. Creating a secure and stable environment for the relationship between workers and employers, based on respect for fundamental internationally accepted workers' rights whose importance was endorsed by the 1995 World Summit on Social Development, is central to improved human resource development, including maximizing the returns on investment in education and training.

A joint approach to the elimination of child labour

PECC endorses value of trade union involvement

9. Child labour is rampant in many countries. APEC needs to undertake a comparison of the strategies that have been implemented for reducing child labour in view of its dramatic social and labour costs. A three-pronged approach to the elimination of child labour is needed. Labour laws must be adopted and implemented to ensure that children, who should in their own, their families’ and their economies’ interests be at school, are not at work. The problem of family poverty which can drive parents to send their children to work needs to be addressed. And the availability of school places needs to be increased. The priority must be to get rid of all blatant forms of commercial exploitation of children.

10. Since the Osaka Leaders' Meeting, there have been some important signs of recognition of a trade union role in APEC. ICFTU affiliates were invited, generally as part of government delegations, to take part in the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Human Resources Development (Manila, 10-11 January 1996) and the 13th and 14th APEC Human Resources Development Working Groups (Wellington, 21-25 January 1996 and Brunei, June 1996). The meeting of APEC Human Resource Development Ministers in Manila on 11 January adopted a "Call for Action on Human Resource Development" which stated that the Ministers "recognized that government, employers and workers have their respective role to play" - a challenge which APEC Leaders’ Meeting should now take up by including a representative of the ICFTU/APLN in the future work of APEC on human resources development. The ICFTU/APLN further presented a paper and chaired a session at the Human Resources Development Working Group of the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council (PECC-HRD) (Brunei, 7-8 June 1996). The conclusions, entitled "Future Directions - the PECC-HRD Task Force Work Plan 1996/97", stated "In view of the importance that PECC-HRD places on dialogue between all parties interested in human resource development, PECC-HRD would like to encourage each member economy HRD Task Force to extend an invitation to their apex trade union organization to become a member of the Task Force."

A Trade Union Vision for APEC Benefits of Trade

Union Expertise at APEC meetings

Annual Meeting with Host of APEC

Leaders’ Meetings

11. The trade unions of the ICFTU Asia Pacific Labour Network organized a second high-level APEC trade union conference from 29-31 October 1996 in Manila, hosted by the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP), in order to prepare the trade union statement to this year's Leaders' Meeting, entitled "A Trade Union Vision for APEC". We believe that trade union concerns need to be increasingly reflected in APEC's work. This submission to the 1996 APEC Leaders' Meeting is a further step in what we hope will become a regular and constructive exchange of views, information and proposals. We propose:-

- continued and enhanced participation of trade union experts drawn from the ICFTU/APLN at selected APEC committees, working groups and ministerial meetings, building on the successful experience of trade union participation in the 1996 calendar of APEC and PECC meetings described above;

- further involvement through maintaining the precedent set in Japan in 1995 of an annual meeting between the host of the Leaders' Meeting and a high-level delegation from the ICFTU Asian Pacific Labour Network to discuss issues of mutual interest for the APEC agenda.

Need for an APEC Labour Forum

12. In conclusion, the ICFTU/APLN would reiterate that we believe it essential to secure a formal recognition of the trade union role in APEC. It is our conviction that trade unions are able to bring a uniquely valuable perspective to the wide-ranging examination of policies needed to maximize the contribution that working people, and their freely-chosen trade unions, can make to growth and improved international cooperation. The Asia-Pacific region is breaking new ground in finding ways to address the challenges of increased international economic cooperation. The 1996 Leaders' Meeting should continue this innovative trend by inviting trade unions to get involved and contribute to the dynamism and vision that is a character of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. APEC needs an opportunity for dialogue with trade unions in view of its existing consultations with the formally-established APEC Business Advisory Council. The ICFTU/APLN hopes, therefore, that APEC would endorse the principle of an APEC Labour Forum and engage in discussions of how to bring this about.