Launched at the World Social Forum 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya, the “Decent Work for Decent Life,” campaign advocates for workers’ fair wages, security, right to dialogue, and protection of workers’ rights. Find out more about this campaign.

A campaign launched at the World Social Forum in January 2007, “Decent Work for Decent Life,” lobbies for Decent Work worldwide, which entails equal access to employment, wages, social protection, freedom from exploitation, and union rights at the centre of development, economic, trade, financial, and social policies at both the national and international levels.

According to Bart Verstraeten of Social Alert International, “...global institutions such as the IMF [International Monetary Fund], WTO [World Trade Organisation], and World Bank must recognise that their policies are leading to more insecurity, irregularity, and informality for most of the world’s workers.”

As such, “...the achievement of decent work for all should be the object and the outset of increased policy coherence between the main actors of global economic and social governance,” Verstraeten said.

In the developing world, around 1.4 billion workers receive less than $2 a day. As the standard of living is measured by one's purchasing power, $2 a day is insufficient for a person to live a decent life. Furthermore, a large number of the population is working in unstable work environments.   And hundreds of thousands of workers lose their jobs merely for attempting to organise a trade union or to carry out trade union activities at their workplace.

The concept of “Decent Work” is shaped by the work and employment itself, the rights at work, security, and representation and dialogue—most of which are not enjoyed by the global workforce.

Women are also at the losing end of the labour issues. For one, women, on the average, only earn two-thirds of what men earn. Women continue to be in certain types of occupations in the service sector, informal economy, and in agriculture. They are concentrated in low-paid, low-skilled jobs, and are more likely to engage in part-time or casual employment, leaving them more susceptible to poverty.  Women also participate less in decision-making since most of the higher positions are occupied by men.

The “Decent Work for Decent Life” campaign targets trade union activists, young people, NGOs, and decision-makers in industrialised as well as in developing countries. It aims to build awareness of Decent Work amongst citizens, decision-makers, and key institutions as well as to show that Decent Work is the only sustainable way out of poverty and is essential in building democracy and social cohesion.

“Decent Work for Decent Life” is a joint campaign led by the International Trade Union Confederation (the main international trade union organisation representing the interests of working people worldwide), the Global Progressive Forum (a global space for the creation of a global, progressive community for a fairer, more inclusive globalisation), Social Alert International (an international coalition of social, human rights, and workers organisations), and Solidar (an international alliance of social and economic justice NGOs working in development and humanitarian aid, social policy, social service provision, and lifelong learning).

Visit <http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?rubrique69> to learn more about this campaign.

Definition

“Decent work means productive work in which rights are protected, which generates an adequate income, with adequate social protection. It also means sufficient work, in the sense that all should have full access to income-earning opportunities. It marks the high road to economic and social development, a road in which employment, income, and social protection can be achieved without compromising workers' rights and social standards. Tripartism and social dialogue are both objectives in their own right, guaranteeing participation and democratic process, and a means of achieving all the other strategic objectives of the ILO [International Labour Organisation].”

Source:
Decent Work: Report of Mr. Juan Somavia, ILO Director-General, 87th Session of the International Labour Conference, 1999, <http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc87/rep-i.htm>.

Sources:
“Decent Work Campaign Launched in Nairobi” from International Trade Union Confederation,  <http://www.ituc-csi.org/spip.php?article583>.
“Decent Work for Women: An ILO proposal to accelerate the implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action” from the International Seminar on Gender Mainstreaming in Technical Cooperation Projects: For the Labour and  Social Spheres, 2000, <http://www.ilo.ru/other/event/gendsp2k/decwork1.pdf>.