What is Globalisation and why does it concern us?

1. What is Globalisation and why does it concern us?

2. The working of the world economy is changing in a number of ways • Multinational investment • Capital markets • Technology • Trade • The IMF and the World Bank • The WTO

3. These changes have different impacts on different players • Companies • Consumers • Workers • Governments

4. Impacts on the different players : Companies • Wider markets • Increased competition • Outsourcing and sub-contracting • mobile production • set the terms • exploitation in epz’s

5. Impacts on the different players : Consumers • Cheaper goods • Choice : more or less? • Lack of information

6. Impacts on the different players : Workers • Better reward for high skills • first target of cost cutting • threat of shifting production • competitiveness means NO union • wealth is not shared fairly • rights violated and standards drop

7. Why are so many workers not benefiting? • Low skilled jobs lost or moved • unemployment keeps wages low • attractive to investors

8. How governments attract investment • allow child or forced labour • ban unions • prevent collective bargaining • Export Processing Zones • turn a blind eye to discrimination

9. How are governments allowed to do this? • Weak national laws • international rules are silent

10. Who do international rules protect ? • WTO rules and member countries • protecting the money • developing vs. industrialised • nothing to protect consumers, workers, or the environment

11. What can workers do about this ? • Know the issues • Make our voices heard • Solidarity with the most vulnerable • Educate others • Know what we are buying • Transparency • Democracy • New Rules

12. What kind of rules are needed? • Fair comparative advantage • protect health and the environment • protect public services • sharing the wealth

13. www.global-unions.orgdayofaction@icftu.org …and what is Global Unions? • International Confederation of Free Trade Unions • The Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD • The 10 International Trade Secretariats

14. Multinational investment • more and more investment in businesses and production comes from foreign investors

15. Capital markets • Money is moved around the world more easily, making currencies and economies more vulnerable to financial speculation

16. Technology • technological innovation leads to structural change (such as losses of low-skilled jobs, goods produced through production processes in several countries, and so on) in manufacturing and other industries

17. Trade • increasing proportion of the products bought, in virtually any country, come from overseas, and more of countries' own products are sold abroad

18. The IMF and World Bank • rules are being made which force developing countries to open up public services to the private sector, even in areas like public health, education, and public utilities

19. The WTO • the capacity for national governments deciding on subsidies, investment controls and environmental standards is being greatly diminished or lost entirely

20. Increased competition • Increased competition from overseas competitors makes it harder for any business to make a profit and they are forced to cut costs as a result

21. Outsourcing • Outsourcing / subcontracting certain parts of the production process to cheaper suppliers in other countries (to increase profit margins) becomes far easier

22. Mobile production • Investors can always take their money elsewhere, if it's cheaper and gives them better profit margins

23. Set the terms • Poorer countries, desperate for investment, have no choice but to comply with whatever criteria investors lay down for investment. Even with industrialised countries, it is often the investor that sets the terms

24. Exploitation in EPZ’s • Workers in an increasing number of developing countries are being exploited in export processing zones(particularly women workers) where they often have no right to join trade unions

25. Choice : more or less ? • Some argue that there is more choice than before. Others say that globalisation allows big global players to knock out small local producers, in effect, limiting consumer choice

26. Lack of information • When goods are produced, it is often hard to know where they are made, where the components are made, how they were produced or the working conditions under which they were produced

27. Better reward for skills • Highly skilled workers can, in some cases, get better jobs due to more demand for their skills

28. Cost - cutting • workers tend to be the first target of company cost cutting

29. Shifting production • Investors and big companies can shift production quickly to where costs are lower. They also threaten to move in order to refuse workers’ demands or union organising drives

30. Competitiveness • Employers often use "international competitiveness" as a pretext to fight union organising and refuse to negotiate at the bargaining table

31. Wealth not shared • Workers often sacrifice wages and benefits when companies act to protect or increase profit margins - they rarely share equitably in the wealth which is generated

32. Rights violated • Worker rights are being violated and standards lowered in the name of achieving higher productivity for export sales (such as when women workers are exploited in export sweat-shops)

33. Jobs lost or moved • Lower-skilled workers tend to be replaced by technology or find their jobs transferred to other countries

34. Unemployment • If unemployment levels are high, it's easier for companies to find others willing to work for less

35. Attract investment • Governments (especially, but not only, in poor countries) are desperate for investment - and since foreign and local investors prefer a "docile" workforce which has no collective voice, governments are often willing to suppress the basic human rights of workers

36. Child and Forced labour • In the name of low labour costs, some governments allow the use of child and forced labour, even in production for export markets

37. Ban on Unions • Some governments advertise their ‘non - union’ workforces as proof of a good investment situation

38. Collective bargaining • Some governments will either obstruct collective bargaining mechanisms or set wages themselves, in order to keep wages and conditions down

39. EPZ’s • Some governments create EPZ’s to attract investors • labour laws are often much weaker in EPZ’s, and trade unions are outlawed in many

40. Discrimination • Some governments ignore discrimination that keeps labour costs down, for example: • women in EPZ’s • migrant workers in agriculture or other hazardous occupations

41. Weak national laws • Often national legal protections for workers are too weak to be effective or are not enforced

42. No global rules • International rules on trade and investment do not penalise those who undermine worker rights

43. WTO rules • Different agreements, such as TRIPS, TRIMS, Food Safety...

44. Protect the money • These rules protect the party with the resources, ie. • The investor • The patent owner • The exporting company

45. Rich vs. Poor • In theory, these rules protect developing countries' equal rights, but in practice, long-established loopholes make it easier for industrialised countries to benefit. • Also, special privileges for developing countries have been agreed, but not delivered

46. No Protection • The rules do nothing to protect workers, consumers or the environment • In some cases, it is against the rules to try and protect workers, consumers, or the environment

47. Solidarity • Show solidarity with workers in other countries, especially in the poorest countries • The Global Unions Day of Action aims to do just that

48. Right to know • Was it made with child labour or forced labour ? • Was it made in a sweatshop where no unions are allowed ? • Does it contain toxic ingredients banned in other places ? • Did its production pollute the environment ?

49. Transparency • Much of the WTO process goes on behind closed doors • IMF and World Bank lending programmes are often drawn up and agreed without even the knowledge of the national parliament

50. Democracy • A seat at the table for trade unions - our future is at stake, and we have a right to be consulted on it