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Social Security for all. The Challenge The Vision The Concept The Obstacles The Role of the ILO. The social security deficit. 20 % (600 Millionen) people earn less than 1,25 $ a day 200 million people are unemployed
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Social Security for all • The Challenge • The Vision • The Concept • The Obstacles • The Role of the ILO
The social security deficit • 20 % (600 Millionen) people earn less than 1,25 $ a day • 200 million people are unemployed • Informal employment broadly defined comprises one-half to three-quarters of non-agricultural employment in developing countries • More than 15 Million people died in average per year because of poverty • More than 5 million children die every year under age 5 due to lack of access to health care and lack of income security • 80% of the world population has no adequate social security, 50% has none • 211 million children have to work for a living
Who owns the world Pogge
Labour Market Deregulation Capital Mobility Investment relocation Small Government Low Taxes Trade
Building a stronger, more globally consistent, supervisory and regulatory framework for the financial sector, so that it serves the real economy, promotes sustainable enterprises and decent work and better protects savings and pensions of people Promoting efficient and well-regulated trade and markets that benefit all and avoiding protectionism by countries. Varying development levels of countries must be taken into account in lifting barriers to domestic and foreign markets Capital Market & Trade Regulation Building adequate social protection for all, drawing on a basic social protection floor Governments should consider options such as minimum wages Promoting core labour standards and other international labour standards that support the economic and jobs recovery Social Protection & Minimum wages Labour Standards Increasing investment in infrastructure, research and development,, public services and “green” production Public Investment, Infrastructure & Services Progressive taxation In order to avoid deflationary wage spirals, the following options should be a guide: social dialogue; collective bargaining; statutory or negotiated minimum wages Trade Unions & Collective bargaining
The Vision • Extend and maintain compulsory solidarity in order to • reduce inequality • decommodify labour • achieve gender equity • overcome informality • empower workers • create opportunities • improve productivity • enable development • increase individual freedom
Only vertical extension Vertical and horizontal extension phase II Current coverage Vertical and horizontal extension phase I Voluntary social security provisions The concept Mandatory systems with guaranteed minimum replacement rates Horizontal extension through a universal tax funded social security floor
Global competition Weak goverments Weak social movements Neoclassical economic thinking Powerful vested interests The deserving rich The obstacles
Human rights Precondition for developmkent and formalisation Reducing inequality From worker to citoyen Equal opportunity Gender equality Market distortion Wrong Incentives Crowding out Reduces competitiveness Unaffordable Ageing societies require cuts in benefits Intergenerational justice The main arguments
Where are we today • Industrialised countries • Pressure on the welfare state under the conditions of austerity and slow growth • Middle income countries • Extension of coverage through basic schemes under the conditions of high growth • Low income countries • Limited progress, financial resources, administrative capacities
$ FEAR Empowerment ¥ INSECURITY Individual rights € Inequality Income guarantee £ Market power Governance
Informal employment/underemployment Precarious employment Solidarity with whom? Standard Employment TU members
What can the ILO do for us? What should we do at the ILO?
A recurrent item discussion on social security The Organization will introduce a scheme of recurrent discussions by the International Labour Conference so as to: • (i) understand better the diverse realities and needs of its Members with respect to each of the strategic objectives, respond more effectively to them, using all the means of action at its disposal, including standards related action, technical cooperation, and the technical and research capacity of the Office, and adjust its priorities and programmes of action accordingly; and • (ii) assess the results of the ILO’s activities with a view to informing programme, budget and other governance decisions.
Social security is a powerful tool for the prevention and alleviation of poverty. It is a basic human right and it constitutes an essential part of the Decent Work Agenda. The mandate of the ILO in social security, being anchored in the Declaration of Philadelphia, the 2008 ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, the Decent Work Agenda and relevant ILO social security standards, calls for programmes that will achieve, inter alia, “the extension of social security measures to provide a basic income to all in need of such protection and comprehensive medical care”. In 2003, the Global Campaign on Social Security and Coverage for All was launched, with a view to achieving concrete improvements in social security coverage and placing social security at the top of the international policy agenda. However, the persistent coverage gap and growing insecurity worldwide, as well as the fundamental changes of the role and shape of social security systems and its perception in national policies, require an in-depth assessment of the global developments in social security. In light of this, in the context of the recurrent discussion, the International Labour Conference would review existing experiences and policies and develop a plan of action to support countries in providing social security to all in need as part of an integrated Decent Work Agenda.
How could this discussion be useful for us • Receiving a state of the art report about social security (data, facts and arguments) • Making the extension of social security a global trade union topic for social justice • Presenting social security plans to governments and the public • Mobilizing for the ratification of convention 102 • Mobilizing for a social floor recommendation
Going beyond the ILO • Convention 102 is a political compromise • Good on identifying contingencies, setting replacement rates and governance issues • Weak on redistribution and inclusivity • too much Bismarck and too little Beveridge • A social floor is an urgent absolut minimum • On its own it could become a liberal concept • What is the labour vision of fair social security in the 21st century
Only vertical extension Vertical and horizontal extension phase II Current coverage Vertical and horizontal extension phase I Voluntary social security provisions The concept Mandatory systems with guaranteed minimum replacement rates Horizontal extension through a universal tax funded social security floor
A labour vision for universal social security in the 21st century? • 19th century Bismarck • 20th century Beveridge • 21st century Lula, Gandhi, … • Bolsa familia • National rural employment gurantee scheme • Expanded public works programme • 30 bath health insurance _ ???
What needs to be done • Policy brief on the needs and benefits of social security • Policy brief on Convention 102 • Policy brief on Social Floor • Pushing a global debate for empowerment and redistribution • Research on the financial sustainability of social security • Best practice of trade union campaigns and involvement in social security • Identifying potential winners • Support national campaign and organizing teams?