In Depth back to UNI In Depth home page 07/26/2002 Fashioning A New Deal: Workers and Trade Unions at the World Summit for Sustainable Development, South Africa, August/September 2002 The World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) in Johannesburg, South Africa in September 2002 will mark the culmination of an extended process of discussions involving all nations of the world, and major Agenda 21 groups. In effect, trade unions agree that the WSSD must serve to negotiate “A New Deal”, one that will take the hopes and aspirations of Agenda 21 into a second decade. This “New Deal” will define the future role for the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) itself, as well as other international bodies that have been in-volved. Trade unions are determined that the process should be open and inclusive, allowing all Major Groups to bring their priorities and positions to the preparatory meetings and the Summit itself. Since Rio, workers and trade unions have developed their own position on sustainable development, as contem-plated in Chapter 29 of Agenda 21. They have been represented in this process by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC), which represent over 155 million members in 148 countries and territories, as well as by the Global Union Federations, which repre-sent workers in specific sectors. Through these efforts, trade union participation has grown steadily since 1992, when “Workers and Trade Unions’ were first designated as a ‘Major Group’ for Agenda 21. Since then, trade un-ionists from around the world have taken part in sessions at the CSD, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Food & Agricultural Organisation (FAO), the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and the United Nations Envi-ronmental Programme (UNEP), as well as in a number of other conferences and fora organised for specific pur-poses (e.g., the Bonn Water Conference, December 2001). In this document, trade unions summarise their experience since Rio, and provide recommendations for the next ten years. Research and writing have been underway since the first WSSD World Prepcom in April, 2001 in New York, and some of the issues and challenges proposed here have already begun to appear on the ‘New Deal bargaining agenda’ of preparatory meetings. We invite response to the items and positions it proposes from government representatives, trade union members, and Major Groups. Download this file (.pdf) ______________________ Union Network International http://www.union-network.org - contact@union-network.org