The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) is backing the campaign `Social Security for All’, launching on October 4, to build pressure ahead of the annual meetings of the International Financial Institutions (IFIs).
Social protection is one of the six key demands of the New Social Contract, which proposes an updated, fit-for-purpose economic model that centres on the interests of working people.
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will meet in Marrakech, Morocco between 9-15 October, and the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, of which the ITUC is a member, will make key demands to end the daily injustice that leaves 75 per cent of people in the world living with inadequate or no social protection. The demands state that:
- The IFIs commit to supporting states towards realising the right to social security by setting up or strengthening rights-aligned universal social protection systems, beginning with the establishment of social protection floors.
- The World Bank should immediately stop developing, and phase out existing, poverty-targeting programmes and replace them with universal programs. It should strengthen a fair distribution of resources by coupling universal social security with fiscal reforms that reduce inequality.
- The IMF should support equitable and sustainable public social security systems in accordance with international standards that include adequate employers’ contributions and ensure income security.
- The IMF should stop austerity policies that increase social spending in one sector at the expense of other rights, and end any demands for means-tested social security payments. It should redesign programmes to consistently promote universal social security and universal quality public services. It should ensure that spending on health, education, and social security meets, at a minimum, international benchmarks as a percentage of GDP and national budgets.
ITUC Acting General Secretary Luc Triangle said: “The right to social protection for all is enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and yet, 75 years later, global social protection falls shamefully short – with nearly three quarters of the global population lacking basic coverage, violating their human rights.
“The International Financial Institutions have a great role to play in achieving universal social protection, but they must shift away from an outdated economic model that often endorses austerity measures. The call from working people is clear: scaling up social protection financing is an investment in society that dramatically reduces inequalities while boosting employment, skills, productivity, demand for goods and services, and overall economic growth.”
