How the International Trade Union Confederation contributes to the implementation of the SDGs

Through the leadership of the International Trade Union Confederation, trade unions from across the globe produce shadow reports on how their governments are meeting their commitment to plan and put into action national sustainable development plans. The action of the governments is measured against three main benchmarks:

1. The level of transparency they are applying to ensure access to information in the process of designing, planning and carrying out the national SDGs plans;
2. How much governments are regularly consulting social partners and the civil society in this process; and
3. To what extent the government involves employers and trade unions in the designing, planning and carrying out the national SDGs plan, putting social dialogue into action

Each year, the summaries of the SDGs country reports are compiled into a larger edition called A Trade Union Take on the SDGs. The importance of this work has been increasingly acknowledged by international organisations such as the European Commission: “This work of trade unions is strategic work for the European Commission. It is important to have trade unions, with their connections at grassroots level, in the global conversation on the 2030 Agenda,” said Félix Fernández Shaw, Director for International Cooperation and Development Policy, DG DEVCO, European Commission.

Trade unions are giving a special attention to the Sustainable Development Goal 8 (SDG 8) on decent work and sustainable growth. More specifically, the ITUC has launched the glocal campaign Time for 8 – the clock is ticking for a New Social Contract (#timefor8). At the local level, #timefor8 aims at informing affiliates and workers about the linkages that SDG 8 has with the labour-related benefits but also struggles they face on their daily life. And at global level, the campaign wants to make decision-makers aware that sustainable development will not be possible without including the decent-work agenda and workers’ voice in the designing and implementation of any sustainable development plans.

Links:

A trade union focus on the SDGs: https://www.ituc-csi.org/2030Agenda

A trade union take on the SDGs: https://www.ituc-csi.org/a-trade-union-take-on-the-sdgs-2019

Time for 8 – the clock is ticking for a New Social Contract: https://timefor8.org/

#timefor8 (join the conversation): https://twitter.com/hashtag/TimeFor8?src=hashtag_click&f=live