Trade Unions Seek Closer Ties to ADB

Interview with Mr. Arumugam Sivananthan
Financial Secretary
Kongres Kesatuan Sekerja Malaysia
(Malaysian Trades Union Congress)
10 May 2001

Representatives of Asian country trade unions have been among those participating in the ADB Annual Meeting, including the consultations with nongoverment organizations. Below, a senior official of the Malaysian Trades Union Congress shares his views on how the international trade union movement contributes to development and improvement in the conditions of workers.

Q. How is the trade union movement contributing to poverty reduction in Asia and the Pacific?

A. When you talk about the trade union movement’s contribution to poverty reduction we can only think of where unions have been formed through the collective bargaining process. The collective bargaining process is the process where unions can improve the living and working conditions of people, and, as a result, poverty can be reduced. But for a collective bargaining agreement to come about, formation of unions is very important. Unions are democratic organizations, so there should not be any legal restrictions on workers to form unions, using this process to raise their standard of living.

Unions are very concerned about job security. If you ask unions in a crisis whether they want their job secured or an improvement, they will go for job security. So the main concern is to secure jobs. Job security itself will not reduce poverty. Let me give you an example. During the economic and financial crisis in 1997, many people lost jobs, and as a result these people were thrown jobless on the street. Poverty grew. So our main concern will be to secure the jobs.

We work very closely with the governments and even employers, because we look for the improvement of the situation of workers, who are the very producers of goods. They should be given their right to share. But we do not want the demise of companies. No, that is not an issue. If we go for the demise of the companies through our bargaining process, then it runs contrary to our principles, because then we are not giving job security and we are not looking after the welfare of workers.

We are also working very closely on labor market information. Governments bring in foreign direct investment – we are not against that. Through this investment, through some policies, we can create jobs. We are concerned about the sustainability of these jobs, so people can improve their living.

The other area we are concerned with is training and retraining, because if some sectors become very obsolete or on the verge of just sliding, then you can use resources to train and retrain workers so that they can be absorbed into other sectors. These are our major concerns, and this is how we contribute. We are an integral part of the overall development of any country and the development of the workers themselves. Our concern is to make sure that they are looked after, that they have been treated fairly. There must be a relationship between producers and owners, you know, between capitalists and labor. Trade unions support a balance of power between key players, which are governments, employers and trade unions.

Q. How would you like to see the ADB-Labor relationship develop?

A. I feel that development of the ADB-Labor relationship is something new as far as the ADB is concerned. I think ADB can move to involve trade unions in the consultation process, engagement process, and get trade unions involved. Trade unions represent the workers, and workers are also the working class, part of society, so they should be engaged right from the start. So that is one area where we can develop true involvement, participation and consultations.

When we talk about labor, the organization that represents labor is the International Labor Organization [ILO]. It is the only tripartite organization, because labor representation is there. ADB could work closely with ILO to influence the member states where loans are given, to ratify the core labor standards. Here I am referring to [ILO] Convention 87, which talks about freedom of association, and Convention 98, which talks about the right to collective bargaining, and conventions on child labor.

We must abolish child labor. Children are supposed to be in school, and the jobs done by children can be given to adults – that is also a form of poverty reduction. Adults are not working but children are used, that is very exploitative matter. And then we can also abolish forced labor and discrimination between the sexes, and ensure a safe working environment. So if we can work closely with ILO to ensure that Member Countries ratify these basic conventions, [we will contribute to] the betterment of society.

And then the other area ADB can develop is to have a focal point within the structure of ADB headquarters and also in the Resident Missions, whereby a labor desk could be set up. Then Resident Missions in countries could interact for the betterment of labor and also the country at large. These are the areas where I feel that ADB relations with labor can initially be developed.

Q. What aspects of the Annual Meeting have you found most useful?

A. To me, the most useful aspect of this meeting has been the consultations with NGOs, especially since we are now more concerned with poverty alleviation programs. We are more concerned about accountability, transparency, effectiveness and monitoring of the projects to see that things really filter to the people in the community. And good governance -- we must ensure that corruption is kept to a minimum. I can understand the role of ADB, which interacts with governments and gives loans to governments. But that does not mean that you can divorce other segments of society. You must ensure that this is done in a very transparent, accountable way with good governance.

Yesterday [in the NGO Open Forum] we came up with three basic topics, namely good governance, sustainable financing of NGOs and civil society’s involvement in ADB’s operations in each country. We talked about how civil society should be involved overall, from the beginning to the end, and regular meetings should be held with civil society either at the Resident Missions or at ADB Annual Meetings. The other things are formal, like the Board meetings, and don’t give us any impact.

We are more concerned with the consultations with NGOs because you can’t separate NGOs. ADB must be proactive and sensitive and responsive to the needs of NGOs, including labor. I am coming from the Malaysian Trades Union Congress, which is an affiliate of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, which has over 100 million members. Here my participation is under ALNI, the Asian Labor Network on International Financial Institutions. Labor now feels that we should make an impact in this part of Asia and the Pacific through ALNI, so we hope that we can establish good relations with ADB, and that ADB is sensitive to our problems. We look forward to better cooperation for all in society.

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Bart Edes, NGO External Relations Officer, ADB