ACTRAV/WORKERS' GROUP MEETING ON THE POST-2015
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS
ILO - 25th November 2015
Report
The ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities (ACTRAV) called a meeting with the Workers Group
on the 25th November 2014 to discuss the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.
Several colleagues of the Office were also invited to provide information and assist with
their analysis. Below is a summary of the salient points raised during the meeting.
State of affairs regarding Decent Work in the proposed SDGs:
1. Generally speaking, the SDGs proposed by the Open Working Group (OWG) have placed
the ILO and trade unions in a far better situation that we were with the MDGs in 2000.
We have a stand-alone goal on decent work; tackling inequality is one of the goals; the
education goal is quite ambitious; targets dealing with social protection, rights, wage
policy and a host of issues of concern to workers, have been included. So the package
proposed by the Open Working Group offers both the ILO and unions a favourable
situation that can be built upon.
Gaps in the proposed SDGs:
2. Despite the rather favourable situation described above, there are many gaps and
deficits in the proposed targets. A key trade union demand was to have social protection
as a stand-alone goal. Under the current proposal, social protection has been reduced to
a target under the poverty, gender and inequality goals. Concerns also exist in the way
the targets have been formulated. In the area of rights, “freedom of association” and
“fundamental principles and rights at work” which were included in earlier drafts of the
OWG, have been dropped. Also missing from the list of targets is a reference to social
dialogue and particularly, collective bargaining. The term “Public services” is mentioned
only once under the Gender goal and the role of public services does not appear to have
been given the importance it deserves. The targets under the goal on inequality would
also need to include a reference to labour relations, in particular collective bargaining.
Teachers have been reduced to a means of implementation under the education goal
and there is a need to strengthen the teachers’ agenda. So while the proposed SDGs
offer a favourable basis for negotiations, they could still be greatly improved upon to
fully meet trade union aspirations.
State of play in New York:
3. Based on information from New York, the following elements are worth noting:
i. The UN Secretary General’s report for the intergovernmental negotiations which will
open in January is expected in the first week of December. This report is expected to
include a narrative on the SDGs, list the goals and targets proposed by the OWG, and
refer to the means of implementation. The report is not expected to take sides on
some of the more contentious issues like the number of goals;
ii. An outline document on the modalities for the intergovernmental negotiations has
been sent out by the co-chairs (Kenya and Ireland) with a set of dates and guidelines.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.
These modalities allow for inputs from the Major Groups along the same lines as the
working methods of the OWG;
There appears to be strong resistance to changing the targets proposed by the OWG.
A majority of governments would want to rather move the negotiations on to discuss
the means of implementation. Against this background, the best way to get new
ideas included would be to focus on the “framing of targets”, on how they are
measured (indicators) and on the “means of implementation”;
Indicators: in the light of the above, it is crucial that the ILO comes up with a list of
solid indicators that are based on the four pillars of the decent work agenda. Before
the indicators were considered more of a “technical issue” but it is becoming more
than that now. This means a great deal of thought has to go into determining the
right indicators which would best capture the complexity of industrial relations and
decent work.
Monitoring and accountability is another important element of the process. The
governance framework of the SDGs would include components at the national,
regional and international levels with the High Level Political Forum probably playing
an important role. The ILO supervisory system could be an element for monitoring
some of the targets under the SDGs. In this respect, the ILO’s Governance
Conventions could also be very useful. For unions, this may mean renewed calls for
an Economic and Social Security Council and for trade union involvement in the
governance framework.
This process is leading to a discussion on how to make the UN “Fit for purpose” and
to work as ONE under the new SDGs. It is envisaged that a group of agencies would
be leading work on each of the Goals. So if Goal 8 is retained, the lead agencies
would be the ILO and the World Bank.
Identification of future priorities for action:
4. Based on the discussions, the following priorities for action were identified:
i. Keep the gains achieved so far and ensure that Decent Work remains a stand-alone
goal of the SDGs in September 2015;
ii. Should the negotiations open up discussion on targets, advocate for the
improvement/inclusion of some key targets. Otherwise, ensure that the formulation
of the targets, indicators and means of implementation adequately reflect ILO and
trade union concerns;
iii. Given the importance of indicators, engage with the relevant ILO departments and
the intergovernmental negotiations to ensure indicators that cover the 4 pillars of
decent work;
iv. The “Means of Implementation” are crucial for the success of the SDGs and to that
effect, ensure an active trade union/ILO engagement in the Conference on Financing
for Development in July. Considering the limited possibilities of actually improving or
adding new targets, use this component of the SDGs to ensure that social dialogue
(and collective bargaining in particular), is considered as one of the means of
implementation of the SDGs;
v. Governance framework: engage in the discussion on the governance framework for
the SDGs based on some key principles: minimum binding commitments for all; trade
union engagement at all levels; strong rules of monitoring and accountability at the
national, regional and international levels;
vi.
Follow-up to the SDGs: develop a follow-up plan following the adoption of the SDGs.
The goal would be to ensure that trade unions know the SDGs, that they get involved
in national governance bodies for the SDGs, and that they use the SDGs in their
policy engagement with governments and in their campaigns. Similarly, the ILO has
also to be called upon to develop such a follow-up plan to be presented at the
November 2015 session of the Governing Body.
Future Opportunities for engagements:
5. Following a sharing of information, different opportunities for engagement in the Post2015 debate were identified. These include:
i. Group of friends of Decent Work for sustainable Development: this group of 29
governments operating in New York and maybe Geneva, offer an opportunity to
ensure that Decent Work remains a stand-alone goal;
ii. ECOSOC: the ILO has been invited to lead an ECOSOC meeting on “Achieving
sustainable development through employment creation and decent work for all”
from the 30th March to 1 April. Separate activities are also planned in Peru,
Indonesia and Ethiopia.
iii. Commission on Social Development in February 2015. The work of the
commission will be centred on the 20th anniversary of the World Summit for
Social Development;
iv. Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa in July 2015;
v. DAC-OECD: as this is the house of the major donors, engagement with the DAC is
crucial. The DAC is looking at issues such as the way to measure ODA,
remittances of migrant workers, financing for development and governance
issues. All this calls for intensified trade union engagement with them.
Next Steps:
6. Based on the above, the following steps were identified:
i. Coordination: this group would serve as a coordinating body to monitor progress
and to develop an action plan on implementation of the SDGs. A meeting could
be envisaged in the spring in Geneva or Brussels to discuss the progress of the
intergovernmental negotiations.
ii. Country-level work: as countries are in the process of determining their national
negotiating mandates, it is urgent that the ITUC, PSI and EI contact their national
affiliates to get them to influence the mandates that will be defended in New
York. Similarly, regional organisations of the unions have to engage with regional
bodies like the African Union. Some key governments that need to be contacted
include Ireland, Kenya, Indonesia, France, Sweden and South Africa.
iii. Secretary-general’s report: following the circulation of the Secretary General’s
report, there should be a public reaction of the unions and a critique should be
sent out to trade unions with orientations on positions that could be taken.
iv. Policy briefs: depending on the evolution of the negotiations, policy briefs could
be developed to help in the campaign;
v. Seminar: the Trade Union Development Cooperation Network (TUDCN) is
planning an advocacy seminar in March 2015 in New York. This will be the
occasion to get trade unionists to engage with different missions involved in the
negotiations.
vi.
vii.
On-line working group: The TUDCN is also setting up an on-line working group
on the SDGs. This on-line group should be active shortly.
Capacity building: following the adoption of the SDGs, a capacity building
programme should be put into place with the support of ACTRAV to assist trade
unions in knowing more about the SDGs and knowing how to use them in their
work.
ACTRAV/Workers’ Group meeting on the
Post-2015 Development Agenda
25th November 2014 - ILO Room 3-3
List of participants:
Workers’ Group:
Ms Raquel Gonzalez, Secretary of the Workers’ Group
Ms Alison Tate, Director, External Relations, ITUC
Mr Matt Simonds, Trade Union Development Cooperation Network, ITUC
Mr Jan Dereymaeker, Trade Union Development Cooperation Network, ITUC
Ms Sandra Vermuyten, Equality and Rights Department, PSI
Ms Odile Frank, Health and Social Services Officer, PSI
Ms Antonia Wulff, Coordinator, Education and Employment, Education International
ILO:
Ms Maria Helena Andre, Director, ACTRAV
Mr James Howard, Cabinet, Director General
Mr Shengjie Li, Cabinet, Director General
Mr Stephen Pursey, Multilateral Cooperation Department
Mr Vinicius Pinheiro, ILO New York (Video conference)
Mr Claude Akpokavie, ACTRAV
Ms Lene Olsen, ACTRAV
Ms Hilda Sánchez, ACTRAV
Mr Enrico Cairola, ACTRAV
Ms Beatriz Vacotto, ACTRAV
Ms Amrita Sietaram, ACTRAV
Ms Hilda Sanchez, ACTRAV
Mr Victor Hugo Ricco, ACTRAV