NEW STRATEGIES TO TACKLE THE JOBS EMERGENCY The investment needed to rebound from COVID-19 could accelerate our path to a net zero carbon world. But a new Social Contract is an essential component of the plan for changes.1
What if we had buy-in from governments at all levels, social dialogue partners (unions and companies – at workplace, industry and national levels), investors and international financial institutions to work together and plan for, deliver and be accountable for ensuring both climate action and social progress?
What if we had a genuine commitment to harness the disruptive potential of transition that is impacting our economies, workplaces, communities and our hopes for the future in proactive ways by exploring and supporting new enterprises and industries that generate social, ecological, and economic benefits?
What if the world aligned around delivering the Paris Agreement – ahead of time, and was even more ambitious than 1.5 degrees, and acted consistently with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. What if our multilateral institutions aligned to deliver what was committed to, 5 years ago, when the Paris Agreement and the SDGs were imagined?
Much of the world’s population is facing devastation – high unemployment, underemployment, even greater precariousness on the back of low wages, no paid sick leave, huge gaps in access to social protection, with 4 billion people excluded from any coverage before the COVID-19 pandemic. Job creation is nowhere like it needs to be as a priority.
The G20 Labour and Employment Minister’s Declaration1 in September 2020 acknowledged: “The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on national and global labour markets. Working hours declined by around 14% in the second quarter of 2020, equivalent to the loss of 400 million full-time jobs. People employed in the informal economy, representing 1.6 billion workers, and under-represented groups, such as youth, women and persons with disabilities are among those in the labor market who have been disproportionately affected. We acknowledge that job losses, reduced working hours, suspended employment relations and income loss are likely to leave more people vulnerable to poverty, informality and different forms of exploitation. We recognize that young people have been acutely impacted and there is a risk that, without effective recovery plans at the national and, where appropriate, international level, their longer-term labor market outcomes may be negatively affected.”
So here is multilaterialism’s chance. Connect the dots between the intersection of crises – of economic and social injustices and inequalities exacerbated by climate impacts. Our global challenge is to drive a fast, deep and fair transition to a low carbon economy, whilst addressing the reality for the majority of workers who survive on low wages and insecure jobs.
International financial institutions should focus on job creation and support to active labour market policies that support unemployed and recently displaced workers into decent jobs, not simply providing retraining. International and multilateral development banks should use this moment to invest in industrial policy that drives low- carbon innovation. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) global surveys and World Investment Reports expose a shocking picture of the deficits of investment in developed and developing countries alike.
Part of the package of solutions is to invest in care, in health infrastructure – health care, aged care, child care; in quality job creation; in industry policy that can drive a just transition for both aspects of climate as well as technological deployment and digitalisation, addressing the reshoring and repurposing of global supply chains, on the scale and speed that is necessary; in social protection as a foundation for transition; on the repair of ecosystems; and on digital connectivity for all. These are investments that genuinely respond to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
This package also provides the foundation of a new social contract.
Social protection is a proven mechanism that both fulfills a principle of respect for human rights and ensures support for a pathways for retraining and reskilling, life-long learning (and “education for life”) as well as better health and wellbeing.
Some governments get it. A number of governments, including Scotland, New Zealand, Iceland and Wales have joined a partnership of Wellbeing Economy Governments2 founded on the recognition that “development” in the 21 century entails delivering human and ecological wellbeing.
There is demand and an impatience in communities and at workplaces to ‘make it happen’. What has been missing thus far in too many places is the demonstration of the commitments promised which resulted in a lack of trust. Of governments, institutions and democracy itself.
Investing in a just transition would be a catalyst for regional and industrial transformation
Many local regions are facing many of the same concerns, where they are substantially reliant on legacy industries that face uncertain futures, coal mining being the oft quoted example. Local communities are concerned about future employment, options for younger and next generations, and the ongoing viability of their towns and cities. These concerns have been exacerbated by the impact of the devastation of climate related extreme weather events such as floods and fires, and the impact of COVID-19 on lives and livelihoods.
Decarbonisation of entire industry sectors and regional economies will not happen without the planning and implementation of Just Transition measures. For all workplaces and industries and all countries.
Heavy industry supports many decent jobs. Workers in these sectors have historically had strong unions and won good jobs through collective action. For these workers and their communities, it is important to retain good jobs in heavy industry or create new quality jobs as sectors lower their emissions. Decarbonization should not be accompanied by the weakening of labour rights or making jobs less decent anywhere in the world. Investing in good social dialogue processes is important to support workers, employers, governments and other stakeholders to manage change through the implementation of Just Transition measures. Just Transition is necessary in this transformation to ensure that workers continue to have good quality jobs, and to avoid increasing informality and the de-industrialization of regions and its resulting political instability.
The willingness of all economic actors to leverage new technologies requires training and reskilling to ensure that people can remain in and/or return to employment. Already radically changing patterns and relations of work associated with digital transformation needs to be underpinned by workers’ rights.
2020 has exposed the serious deficits in how many institutions and decision makers have not understood the importance of these intersecting elements for providing pathways to zero carbon and for supporting economic diversification. Nor that all communities are climate vulnerable.
The world of work continues to undergo extensive transformation. Globalization, the shift in global production and distribution channels, digitalization and technological developments are major drivers of change and, whilst some benefit, huge inequalities means that these changes can also pose significant challenges to labour markets, societies and policy makers alike, particularly when coupled with the enormous and uneven impact of COVID-19.
It has taken a global pandemic for many people to connect the causes and consequences of not addressing social justice along with climate action. Not of creating climate interventions to then address inequality. This has often been the result of policy prescriptions of past decades that do not connect the dots.
In 2015 the International Labour Organization’s “Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all”3 negotiated between workers, business and governments, which, along with the Paris Agreement provide the foundation for the (negotiated) international architecture for Just Transition, in terms of processes as well as outcomes.
IFIs have thus far not recognized the importance of a strategy based on agreements and plans founded on social dialogue. That always includes social partners, with trade unions representing workers. Indeed a third requirement of IFIs is to support and promote social dialogue.
As the ILO Guidelines state: “Strong social consensus on the goal and pathways to sustainability is fundamental. Social dialogue has to be an integral part of the institutional framework for policymaking and implementation at all levels. Adequate, informed and ongoing consultation should take place with all relevant stakeholders.”
Otherwise whatever pathways are recommended to reduce carbon emissions, do not meet the internationally recognized definition of a Just Transition, as they neither include the relevant economic actors in the planning, nor take people with them, nor have the possibility of raising ambition.
We need innovative and timely measures to help policy makers meet these challenges, most particularly for vulnerable and excluded groups, if we are to manage to build a recovery from the economic crisis caused by the pandemic.
The ITUC’s global 2020 poll4 shows the urgent need to repair the social contract.
- 66% of people want their government to put in place new rules for multinationals to end the abuse of workers through their supply chains.
- 61% of people want their government to regulate the digital economy to promote employment and workers’ rights.
- 61% of people would trust their government more if they held companies to account for how they treat workers and the environment.
- 50% of people said they would trust their government more if they planned for a Just Transition to a zero-carbon future.
The demand for change with the call for quality jobs, climate action and justice across many fronts is no longer a slogan. Government leaders and policy makers should have the confidence to commit to a New Social Contract.
Implementing a New Social Contract for recovery and resilience would ensure that that people’s rights are respected, jobs are decent with minimum living wages and collective bargaining, social protection is universal, due diligence and accountability are driving business operations, and that social dialogue ensures just transition measures for climate and technology.
This article is an extract taken from the Parliamentary Network publication ‘Just Transitions’. You can download a pdf version of the full document here.