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Background Information on the Global Themes
> Social rights |
Social rights
A
glimpse of the European Social Charter |
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"When I think of work, it's mostly about having control over your destiny,
as opposed to being at the mercy of what's out there."
Gary Sinise |
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While the European Convention
on Human Rights guarantees civil and political rights, the European
Social Charter guarantees the economic and social rights of the
citizens of its state parties.
The Social Charter was adopted in 1961 by the Council of Europe
and three Protocols were added to it in 1988, 1991 and 1995. The
Charter and its 1988 Protocol guarantee a series of rights that
we can classify into two categories:
- working conditions, which include the prohibition of forced
labour, non-discrimination in work environments, trade union
rights, prohibition of child labour under the age of 15 and
protection of the 15- to 18-year-old workers, equal treatment
for migrant workers, etc.; and
- social cohesion, which includes the right to health, social
security, medical assistance, the right of older people to be
protected, etc..
The revised Social Charter was adopted in 1996. It entered into
force on the 1 July 1999 and will progressively replace the 1961
Charter. This new document guarantees: equality between men and
women, protection in case of dismissal, dignity of the workers
in the work place, protection against poverty and social exclusion,
the right to housing, and the enlargement of the right not to
be discriminated against, etc..
The Charter has a mechanism of control based on the presentation
of national reports by state parties (1991 Protocol) as well as
a system of collective complaint (1995 Protocol) which allows,
"inter alia", trade unions and non-governmental organisations
to present collective claims.
Do you think that social security systems should be private or
public?
The right to work
The right to work is guaranteed, as one of the social and economic
rights, in international instruments such as the Universal Declaration
of Human Rights (UDHR) (Article 23), the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Article 6) and the revised
European Social Charter (ESC).
When it recognises the right to work, a state is not committing
itself to guaranteeing a job for everyone who wants one; such
an obligation could be "unworkable" in practice. Rather,
it implies that the state has an obligation to develop economic
and social conditions where jobs can be created.
The right to work is important in itself but also insofar as
it is a basic condition to secure human dignity. Unless the right
to work is guaranteed first, the actual exercise of several other
basic rights may be inconceivable.
As a corollary of the right to work comes the right to just
(or fair) conditions of work. This right specifically includes
the guarantees not to be discriminated against, to receive a fair
remuneration and paid holidays as well as to have reasonable working
hours and a safe and healthy working environment that safeguards
a person's physical and mental well-being. These guarantees are
given in an attempt to make sure that workers begin and continue
their working life in decent conditions. Work should not become
an intolerable burden or an end to itself; it should be a means
to ensure that at least primary needs such as food, clothing,
housing and education, are met.
Do you think that unemployed people should receive support from
the state?
Employment: a youth perspective |
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"The
workers have nothing to lose in this but their chains. They have
the world to gain."
Karl Marx |
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Having a job implies a lot more
than having means to support oneself. It is also a tool for life
experience. Through employment, individuals (particularly young
people) develop many skills, ranging from basic technical skills
to personal skills.
Unemployment and bad working conditions are part of the complex
interrelated issues creating obstacles to people's full development
and to their maintaining their inherent dignity. Some examples
of these consequences include the inability of the unemployed
to afford adequate living conditions for themselves and their
dependants, the potential creation of a large number of black
market jobs decreasing workers' security and ability to protect
their rights, and the need for a large social security scheme
to be created in order to provide assistance to the unemployed.
The transition from school to work is a crucial stage for young
people in their personal and professional development throughout
adult life. The consequences of being unemployed at young ages
can be serious. Youth unemployment is often associated with social
problems such as violence, crime, suicide and abuse of alcohol
and drugs.
Unemployment rates amongst young people are often higher than
amongst adults. This difference can be wide or narrow, depending
on the specific context of the country. |
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| Unemployment rates in
some European countries44 |
| Country |
Youth
Unemployment (%) |
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| Croatia |
31.4 |
9.9 |
| Germany |
10.7 |
9.9 |
| Latvia |
25.5 |
13.8
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| Russia |
26.8
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13.3
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| Slovakia |
20.4
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11.1
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| Spain |
39.2
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20.9
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| Sweden |
11.2
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5.3 |
| The Netherlands |
5.1 |
3.8 |
| UK |
13.6 |
7.1 |
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"No one can arrive from being talented alone. God gives talent; work transforms
talent into genius."
Anna Pavlova |
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Various reasons explain the high
incidence of unemployment among young people: segmentation of
the labour market; technical and organisational changes that have
created a demand for higher qualifications; and the labour market
crisis which has meant tougher conditions for unemployed workers.
Trade unions, working for the workers
The history of trade unions is a very long one. The rights of
workers have undoubtedly improved even if only gradually and trade
unions have played a crucial role in this process. |
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| Labour Day: 1st
May |
May 1st, International
Workers' Day, commemorates the historical struggle of working
people throughout the world.
May Day was born from the struggle
for the eight-hour day. With workers being forced to work
ten, twelve and fourteen hours a day, support for the eight-hour
movement grew rapidly. The first days of May of 1886 were
marked by strikes and demonstrations in the United States.
As many as half a million workers took part in the May 1st
demonstrations all over the country. In Chicago, for example,
around 90000 people took part in a march.
The 1st of May quickly
became an annual event. Around the world workers in more
and more countries marked labour's day on May Day. May Day
was celebrated for the first time in Russia, Brazil and
Ireland in 1891. |
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Trade unions are associations
of employees (there are also associations of employers) and their
main objective is to represent the employees' interests to the
employers. The right to form and join a trade union is a fundamental
human right. A well functioning and respected trade union movement
is often a good indicator of democracy and standards of human
rights.
Besides playing a role in the fight for better working conditions,
trade unions have had (and continue to have) a key role in the
building of social movements and the developing of social changes.
The role of trade unions has been very varied across Europe.
In some countries, where fascist and communist regimes were in
place, trade unions were overtaken or created by state authorities
and the political elite and turned into a tool for their oppressive
regimes. As a result of this historical reality, many people are
sceptical of the role that trade unions can play, and only lately
have the workers from these countries started to recognize the
positive role of trade unions in the fight for protecting their
rights. Other differences exist across Europe, especially regarding
the role and organization of trade unions. In most countries,
trade unions are organised in confederations. |
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Solidarnosc (Solidarity) was a new national union movement which swept across
Poland during the 1980s.
The movement officially started
with the signing of the Gdansk Accords on August 31 1980,
which called for the right to form independent trade unions
and the right to strike among other things. In reality,
it started when the workers of the ship-building industry
decided to protest on December 14 1970, on a march from
the shipyards towards downtown Gdansk which was brutally
repressed by the police. Many strikes in the summer of 1980
showed that the Solidarity movement had taken root as a
force of social and democratic change. Solidarity membership
grew to over nine million members. The repressive policy
of the communist government became evident in the banning
of Solidarity, which was thus obliged to work in secret
for several years. |
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"The
work will teach you how to do it."
Estonian proverb |
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Youth and trade
union membership
Over recent years, trade unions in many countries have seen
a decrease in youth membership. Many trade unions have been slow
to respond to the changes experienced by young people and have
sometimes failed to formulate an agenda that attracts them in
sufficient numbers to replace the traditional membership that
has been lost. Consequently, many unions are now developing a
work agenda that takes into account the needs and the reality
of young workers as well as appropriate structures to deal with
this sector. Some have established youth committees, which is
the case of the ETUC and the ICFTU - the International Confederation
of Free Trade Unions.
Are you member of a trade union? Have you ever been? |
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- Between 1988 and 1997, unions affiliated to the Deutscher
Gewerkschaftsbund (DGB) lost no fewer than 609 407 young
members or 55.2% of youth membership.
- Between 1987 and 1999, in Sweden the membership of
youth in trade unions aged between 16 and 24 decreased
from 62.7% to 46.7%.
- In Greece, 70.1% of young people expressed no trust
in trade unions compared to only 22.9% who did not trust
the army and 40.6% who did not trust the judiciary.45
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The International Labour Organisation
(ILO)
has played a major role in the development
of and the fight for guaranteeing workers' rights and has contributed
to the training and promotion of proper structures to promote
workers' rights. www.ilo.org |
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Child labour
The issue of child labour today is receiving great attention.
Children are engaged in numerous kinds of work, from domestic
service to heavy industrial production. The number of children
involved is alarming.
It is hard to gather statistics on child labour because of its
illegal nature in most cases. It is estimated that some 250 million
children between the ages of 5 and 14 are working; 120 million
full-time, 130 million part-time.
Some 61% of this total (nearly 153 million) are found in Asia;
32%, (80 million) are in Africa, and 7% (17.5 million) live in
Latin America.
Child labour also exists in many industrialised countries and
is emerging in eastern European countries
The revised European Social Charter has reinforced the guarantee
for the protection of children and young people in the work environment
compared to the guarantees that were included in the 1961 Charter.
Article 7(1) provides that "with a view to ensuring the effective
exercise of the right of children and young persons to protection,
the Parties undertake: to provide that the minimum age of admission
to employment shall be 15 years, subject to exceptions for children
employed in prescribed light work without harm to their health,
morals or education". The International Labour Organisation
(ILO), the major labour standard-setting organisation, has long
dedicated its activities to eradicate child labour and to that
end, it has adopted recommendations and conventions. Two main
conventions deal specifically with child labour.
- The ILO Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention (1999) came
into force in 2000. Previous attempts to end child labour have
failed and the general situation for working children continues
to worsen. Therefore, the international community, within the
idea of taking "one step at a time", decided to abolish
completely the worst forms of child labour. As of November 2001,
108 countries have ratified this convention.
- The ILO Minimum Age Convention (1973) is another example.
Article 1 states "each Member (...) undertakes to pursue
a national policy designed to ensure the effective abolition
of child labour and to raise progressively the minimum age for
admission to employment or work to a level consistent with the
fullest physical and mental development of young persons".
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The percentages of children between the ages of ten and fourteen who work are:
30.1% in Bangladesh, 11.6% in China,
14.4% in India, 17.7% in Pakistan, 24% in Turkey, 20.5% in Ivory
Coast, 11.2% in Egypt, 41.3% in Kenya, 25.8% in Nigeria, 31.4%
in Senegal, 4.5% in Argentina, 16.1% in Brazil, 6.7% in Mexico,
0.4% in Italy and 1.8% in Portugal. |
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One of it's the ILO's major programmes dedicated to the eradication of child
labour is called the International Programme on the Elimination
of Child Labour. The Convention on the Rights of the Child in
Article 32(1) provides that "State Parties recognise the
right of the child to be protected from economic exploitation
and from performing any work that is likely to be hazardous or
to interfere with the child's education, or to be harmful to the
child's health or physical, mental, spiritual, moral or social
development".
Globalisation has started to impact heavily on social rights.46
Indeed, this process promotes practices that challenge social
guarantees that are generally considered to be minimum safeguards
of basic working conditions. With the establishment of a free
market economy, many companies consider the lack of social protection
as an "attractive" feature for investments and for low-cost
production of goods. Relocation of industries from countries where
labour guarantees are compulsory to other countries that do not
provide such guarantees to the workers is seen as a viable option
for lucrative ends.
In a context where the priority of most companies is to increase
their profits even at the cost of the social and labour rights
of their workers, the international and regional human rights
instruments that provide for social and economic rights are fundamental
to the protection workers' rights.
References
Endnotes
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