“Let me highlight your distinctive sense of policy coherence. Since 2007, you have
regularly convened in Berlin the heads of the IMF, World Bank, WTO, OECD and the ILO,
and urged us to strengthen our cooperation, and this with a view to building a strong
social dimension of globalization and greater policy coherence among our mandates.
These dialogues, under your guidance, have been followed up actively by the ILO with
important joint initiatives with all of them, whose leaders have all addressed the Governing
Body of the ILO. You have been a strong voice for a fairer, more balanced globalization
in which much needs to be done by all international organizations.”
“Universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based on social justice.”
This is the first sentence of the Constitution of the ILO and I also wish to start my speech
with these words, as they clearly express what the ILO is all about and what it
is trying to achieve: universal peace. From its very inception, the International Labour
Organization showed its commitment to serve humanity by placing itself at the service
of social justice. This is why I underline yet again how important
I deem this principle of social partnership that is guiding you in your work, and that
Governments and Workers’ and Employers’ representatives are shaping policy together.
Obviously this will inevitably lead to situations in which one or the other side will claim
that their interests are not being sufficiently represented. You must take this seriously
but not stray from your course – the one of dialogue between the social partners.
The International Labour Conference strives to integrate and not to separate, and this
is what lends a high degree of legitimacy to your Conventions and ensures they are binding.
If we stop to consider the sheer diversity of the situations that you have to contend
with – the situation for example in the industrialized countries, the situation in
the emerging economies, and also the situation in the developed countries – we get an idea
of the enormity of issues you have to handle. But we must never lose sight of the fact,
as stated in our Constitution in Germany, that human dignity is inviolable. This should
be a guiding principle all over the world, irrespective of the situation on the ground
in the respective countries. In Germany we have had a very positive experience
with social partnership, and I should like to tell you something about this. Mr Somavia
has already said that “short-time work” (kurzarbeit) is fast becoming an international
word, and I am pleased that we are not talking about German angst for once, because kurzarbeit
is at least productive. And I would like to tell you how we approached the crisis on the
basis of our long-term experience of the social market economy. In 2009, our economy contracted
by almost 5 per cent because we are so heavily dependent upon exports. As our country basically
does not have any natural resources, we had to pause and consider what it is that makes
Germany strong. What is the treasure that we have? And it was clear that, on the one
hand, our strength lies in our employers – not only our large companies but also our small
and medium-sized enterprises – and, on the other hand, our workers, who have often been
with a company for a long period of time. We understood that it was vital to keep this
bond between employers and employees during difficult times, because we were dealing with
very highly skilled workers, and we would have incurred an enormous loss if we had not
retained them by extending them a hand. As I have just been discussing with Mr Somavia,
it is therefore vitally important in this connection that you have now adopted this
Convention on domestic workers. This is an area which has often lain in the shadows of
official employment and for which standards are now being established, step by step, which
fully uphold the principle that all human beings have an equal right to protection of
their dignity. I wish you every success as an Organization with the application of this
Convention; it is bound to take quite a while for it to be ratified by all countries. This
can be a milestone for the ILO in establishing fair and equitable conditions of work in whole
new areas. The Decent Work Agenda is a universally recognized
instrument that now has to produce results, and it is particularly in the emerging economies
where we have tremendous dynamism with people’s working environment changing every day. I
just think of the sheer numbers of people every
year in India and China moving from rural to urban areas to work under completely new
conditions. In the interests of social and economic peace in these countries, it is crucial
to establish the concept of social partnership from the outset to ensure that peaceful and
equitable development is sustained. In recent months the headlines have been filled with
the situation in North Africa, which has undergone colossal upheaval and enormous suffering.
This has also been the experience of people in other countries, including Syria and Yemen.
Naturally we want these countries, too, to enjoy freedom and democracy. This will be
inextricably linked to creating reasonable prospects for the many young people who want
to work. Especially in the context of the G20, we must
ensure that discussions do not simply become an abstract debate on the rules of the financial
markets, important though these are. We need to show people throughout the world that this
is about them, about their future and their destiny. That is why, as Mr Somavia has also
said, it has been a long-standing wish of mine that international organizations – such
as the IMF, the ILO, World Bank, the OECD and the World Trade Organization – should
cooperate more closely because they exist, after all, for the people of the world and
they are the institutions that are shaping globalization and giving it a structure.