International

  • International

    Finally, some good news from Europe

    24th May 2013 — Filed under: International, Pensions & Investment

    Craig Berry Craig Berry

    Pension stakeholders in the UK breathed a collective sigh of relief yesterday when the European Commission abandoned its plans to apply Solvency II-style insurance regulations to defined benefit pension funds.

    Trade unions had strongly opposed the Commission’s plans – as had employers, the industry and the government. We opposed the plans in principle, because the Commission had seriously misunderstood the nature of UK pensions provision, and our protection regime, and over-estimated the feasibility of cross-border provision. And we opposed them on practical grounds after an initial impact study by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) indicated possible solvency requirement costs of £400 billion for UK pension funds.

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  • International

    Europe: while Tories burn, unions must do more than fiddle

    19th May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    One-time FT journalist Stefan Stern recently blogged some advice from Napoleon about how to respond to the Conservative implosion over Europe. “Do not interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake,” was the broad thrust, and it is wise advice. As someone who started referring to “swivel-eyed” europhobes way back in January when Cameron made the European speech that his coterie crowed over but which may turn out to be his biggest error, I am well aware of the dangers of entering the Conservative-UKIP ‘debate’.

    But unions need to beware of standing on the sidelines. The stakes are too high. We need to shift the terms of the debate back from Britain’s relationship with Europe to the economic crisis. As ATL General Secretary Mary Bousted put it last week “I wish they’d obsess about jobs, instead of Europe!”

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  • International

    Dhaka deaths: what made companies sign up for change?

    16th May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    Our development arm, TUC Aid, has today launched an appeal for funds to help the families of victims of last month’s disastrous factory collapse in Dhaka, Bangladesh (please give generously). Over at Stronger Unions, Rosa Crawford has set out why, having pressurisised the companies, we’re now moving on to humanitarian relief.

    But it’s worth reflecting on why 34 of the world’s biggest retail and textile companies have finally agreed to sign the global union Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. And why so many of the companies signing the deal are British, rather than from the USA or continental Europe. In part at least, it’s because of years of engagement with corporates on supply chain strategies, eg through the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI).

    Of course, one grisly prompt for action has been the deaths of at least 1100 ready-made garment workers (that’s the point at which the authorities stopped counting – in fact, it’s likely that over 2,000 died). But even that horrific statistic hasn’t been enough yet to persuade Wal-mart or the Gap to sign up. Piles of corpses alone don’t seem to be enough for some companies. We should look at why there have been more sign-ups in the UK than in the two other main textile markets – the US and the Eurozone – although there are significant signers there like Inditex (Zara) and H&M, and more may follow eventually.

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  • International

    Labour’s international development scorecard – how are they doing?

    16th May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    I blogged on Tuesday about what I wanted to see in Ivan Lewis’ major speech on international development, and now that it’s been delivered, I thought I’d assess it against the targets I set for it (see below for detail). The four issues against which I thought the TUC and unions would want to judge his speech were global leadership; structural change; putting people rather than governments first; and decent work.

    The speech addressed all those issues (and more) and I think that what Ivan set out on those issues was pretty much exactly what we’d want to see. There is still work to be done on how some of the challenges he acknowledged are addressed (such as tackling inequality within emerging economies, ensuring decent work is deeply embedded in DFID priorities), but I think Ivan has made significant progress in identifying how a Labour-run DFID would be different from the current incarnation, especially how he would deal with consultants and business, as was trailled in the Daily Telegraph (online only, unfortunately.) He needs to flesh out Labour’s response to Tory policies on promoting private sector development, the numbers game on things like bed nets, and how DFID should address fragile and conflict-affected states. On the latter point he announced a positive new initiative led by Lord McConnell which the TUC welcomes and will engage with.

    I think he has done enough to demonstrate a cross-party consensus on aid volumes (even if the Tory right aren’t comfortable with being in that consensus) although I also think that more needs to be done to flush out Liberal Democrat differences with the Conservatives over development policy. That may not really be Ivan’s job though!

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  • International

    What would a progressive international development policy sound like?

    14th May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    Labour’s Shadow International Development Secretary, Ivan Lewis MP, is giving a keynote speech later today setting out what he’d want to do if he replaced Justine Greening as Secretary of State after the next election. I’ll be tweeting as he gives it (@TUCGlobal – why not follow?) but I thought it might be a useful exercise to set out in advance what the TUC would like to hear him commit to:

    • global leadership;
    • structural change, not just sticking-plaster aid and peacekeeping;
    • putting people first, rather than concentrating on countries or political elites; and
    • decent work - simply, a world where the Rana Plaza factory disaster won’t happen again.

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  • International

    Consumers aren’t to blame for poverty in Bangladesh – it’s the multinationals

    9th May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    Ever since the disaster at the Rana Plaza textile factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh, some commentators have been trying to guilt-trip cash-strapped western consumers for the terrible conditions of workers in Bangladesh’s Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector, where wages are as low as £27 a month. We’ve been told that our insatiable desire for cheap clothing is what keeps wages down, and working conditions so poor that factory fires are endemic and corners cut so badly that buildings collapse, as Rana Plaza did. But we think cash-strapped consumers aren’t the problem, and we’ve researched and published a quick graphic to explain:

    T-shirt graphic

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  • International

    Queen’s Speech confirms overseas aid law pledge has been broken

    8th May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    The Queen’s Speech failed to contain one particular law that has been promised ever since the Coalition was formed – a firm commitment to spend 0.7% of gross national income on overseas aid. That’s the level at which UK overseas aid should be spent this year (a promise that does seem to be being met, although lots of people are worried about what the aid total is spent on and whether there will be persistent underspends, like last year), but what about the future? Without the legislative commitment, any future Chancellor will be able to chop the aid budget at will.

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  • International

    Online freedom & decent work matter, not just overseas aid

    7th May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Richard Darlington Richard Darlington

    The past week has seen a row over whether the UK should continue to fund aid to South Africa. By pure coincidence, I’ve been in Johannesburg at the time, so am probably the only alumnus of both TUC & DFID staff in South Africa to watch the reaction. Here is my take on the real issues behind the headlines. 

    Aid isn’t just about money. It’s also about supporting developing countries as they make their own unique transitions. In South Africa, inequality, corruption, free speech and what we can loosely call ‘civic space’ are challenges on a part with HIV/AIDS, maternal health and child poverty.  

    But the development community grapples with the question of what should be in or out of the UN’s post-2015 framework, one overarching issue is emerging. It is becoming increasingly clear that if more is not done to promote an enabling environment for civil society, efforts to reduce poverty, tackle inequality and resolve conflict will be fatally undermined.

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  • International

    European unions begin to chip away at austerity

    3rd May 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    European trade unions’ leader Bernadette Segol this week became the first ETUC General Secretary to address the European Commission (when they all get together they’re called “the College of Commissioners”), and she made the case against austerity, for growth and workers’ rights. Commission President Barroso said after the meeting, where employers were also represented, that “the social dimension of the EMU” (economic and monetary union) ”is crucial for its sustainability.”

    Unions across Europe are concerned that this is just words – an attempt to deflect our criticisms of the failures of austerity and moderate our demands for a change of course based on higher wages, sustainable investment and stronger workers’ rights. It wouldn’t be the first time that a Commission nearing the end of its term of office and European Parliamentary elections has promised a new dawn for social Europe.

    So we know that the battle certainly hasn’t been won. Barroso said after the meeting that “the Commission will soon make proposals aiming to further strengthen the social dimension,” but he couldn’t resist adding “without creating new burdensome procedures.” Nevertheless, a combination of union demands, social unrest and the continued failure of austerity is forcing the Commission – like the IMF – at least to take our criticisms seriously. Hence the invite to the College.

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  • International

    UK unilaterally announces a ‘bilateral’ decision to end aid for South Africa’s poor

    30th April 2013 — Filed under: International

    Owen Tudor Owen Tudor

    Oops! This morning Justine Greening, hapless International Development Secretary, announced that Britain and South Africa had agreed that direct British aid to South Africa’s poor and disempowered would end by 2015. Shortly afterwards, the South African international relations and co-operation department announced that it was news to them, and that it certainly wasn’t an agreement they were part of. There were moody warnings that this would affect UK-South African relations. I’m discussing with my opposite number in South African trade union giant COSATU what to do about it.

    It’s all about what in international aid terms is a pretty small sum of money – £19m a year out of a DFID budget set this year to rise above £10bn. And the UK will continue to fund multilateral institutions which are working on issues like HIV/AIDS in South Africa. But it demonstrates yet again that Greening is heading in the wrong direction on international development, and throws into sharp relief the way the UK Government currently sees international aid as a one-way street rather than about solidarity and partnership.

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