This is a great example of trade unions and civil society coming together to push for better working conditions and environmental standards globally.
The TSD platform, consisting of trade unions, human rights defenders and environmental organisations, has this week published a joint statement on the review of the Trade and Sustainable Development (TSD) chapters in the new communication of the European Commission on trade partnerships.
The statement follows the release of the European Commission’s Communication on ‘The power of trade partnerships: together for green and just economic growth’ on 22 June, which aims to make EU trade greener, fairer and more sustainable.
The statement welcomes the Communication as a step in the right direction and sets out demands for further actions to ensure that fair trade is not just a label but fair in practice. Demands include, among others:
- proper sanctions to give free trade agreements real clout
- binding provisions concerning the implementation of ratified International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other Human Rights conventions
- multilateral environmental goals including climate agreements
- applying the new TSD approach to existing trade agreements
IndustriAll Europe is proud to stand with civil society organisations in support of stronger human rights and environmental standards in free trade agreements. For trade unions this means defending workers’ rights as core human rights.
Judith Kirton-Darling, industriAll Europe Deputy General Secretary:
“This is a great example of trade unions and civil society coming together to push for better working conditions and environmental standards globally. After months of advocacy work, we are happy to see the Commission’s communication with some improvements we have long been calling for. This coalition will remain vigilant, and industriAll Europe will continue to insist that trade union rights are workers’ rights.”
Contact: Andrea Husen-Bradley (press and communication), Elspeth Hathaway (policy adviser)