Round table 1, Tuesday afternoon:
Meeting the challenges of offshoring
All over the world, trade unions and workers are faced with employers threatening to relocate and offshore production. This round-table discussion will address questions such as: - Creating links across TNCs’ global production chains are critical to trade union responses to offshoring. What activities do unions carry out to strengthen these links?
- We see precarious conditions for workers in Export Processing Zones. How can we best mobilise and act to meet this challenge? ^
- China’s growth impacts workers worldwide. How can trade unions most effectively address and respond to this challenge?
Round table 2, Wednesday morning:
Improving the work environment
Workers suffer 270 million occupational accidents annually. Against this backdrop, this session will consider strategies to overcome the following: - Governments and employers push towards safety schemes which rely on a voluntary approach to health and safety, as opposed to the regulation approach preferred by trade unions.
- New methods of working, such as lean manufacturing, have increased workload, work pace and work hours and encouraged understaffing.
- Asbestos kills 100,000 people a year. So far 32 countries have banned asbestos yet usage is increasing in developing nations.
Round table 3, Wednesday afternoon:
Fighting for social justice
The IMF Action Programme emphasises the need for a social dimension to globalisation. Here the crucial issue is how we mobilise to achieve this. Questions for panellists could be: •How can alliances with non-labour organisations strengthen our fight for fundamental rights? - What can be done by unions at a national level to ensure trade agreements address the needs of workers?
- The rise of unregulated employment is leading to a further deterioration of labour rights; how can this be arrested?
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