Capitalism in crisis:Challenges for the transport sector ITF
Capitalism in crisis:Challenges for the transport sector ITF
http://www.itfglobal.org/transport-international/ti36crisis.cfm
Capitalism in crisis
The scale and scope of the global financial crisis is unprecedented. According to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) the developed world economy is in the midst of its deepest and most widespread recession for more than 50 years. Output has declined in almost all OECD countries in the past six months and, with non-OECD countries slowing sharply, world growth has turned negative.
Viewpoint: the big rethink
Elizabeth Cotton outlines her view of the global labour movement's role during the crisis. continue readiing ...
The results for workers are potentially disastrous: job losses, pay cuts and the prospect of more precarious working and unemployment. Labour markets are weakening throughout the OECD area, according to its data, in some cases dramatically. In the United States, this process has been under way since early 2008, with the unemployment rate rising at an accelerating pace to its highest level since the early 1980s. In the euro area, job losses are now becoming widespread.
So what does this mean for the labour movement? At first glance, there is little to be cheerful about. But the massive shift in the global economy presents opportunities as well as challenges for trade unions.
The Global Unions came together in April to present a unified statement for the G20 meeting in London. Their demands included:
coordinated international recovery and sustainable growth plan to create jobs, ensure public investment and tackle world poverty;
nationalisation of insolvent banks and new financial regulations;
action to combat the risk of wage deflation and reverse decades of increasing inequality;
far-reaching action on climate change;
a new system of global economic governance, involving reform of the global financial and economic institutions (IMF, World Bank, OECD, WTO), and a central role for the International Labour Organization.
Following the G20 summit, The Global Unions gave a cautious welcome to its results, recognising its growing commitment to effective global regulation, and to a coordinated package of financial aid. Although the G20 statement still referred to the market, it also committed to “a fair and family-friendly labour market” for women and to put the “needs and jobs of hard-working families” at the heart of the recovery plan. Overall, it was felt that the statement could be more progressive and that World Bank and IMF governance was slow. The statement did emphasise the need for greater policy coherence between international bodies.
It’s a step in the right direction, at least, towards a society where workers are given the credit they deserve and big business is no longer allowed to dominate the agenda.
Challenges for the transport sector
By David Cockroft, ITF general secretary
In air transport there have been alarming falls in passenger and cargo markets. In cargo, for instance, the Asia-Pacific region, which has the biggest market share, has seen a decline of 28.1 per cent in cargo traffic over the past year, according to transport industry figures.
Passenger business is also falling. The US airline industry in November 2008 saw the worst drop in comparable monthly passenger figures since January 2002 and passenger numbers at British airports fell last year for the first time in 17 years.
The transport industry by numbers
90%
drop in the Baltic Freight Index, which covers the key bulk sea freight sectors, from mid-2008 to January 2009.
17 million
individual journey’s made on Sydney’s CityRail from December 2007 to December 2008, a 5.7 per cent increase in patronage.
UK£1
is the price of a cruise from MSC, part of a promotional deal being offered last December. Cruise line bookings seem to be holding, but only in response to last-minute deals, two-for-one pricing, shorter cruises and other packages.
49%
of ITF-affiliated dockers’ unions are reporting job losses. This sector appears to be one of the worst hit by the global crisis.
23.3%
year-on-year demand drop in the air cargo market, according to the International Air Transport Association, which they called an “alarming collapse”.
US$250
is a new low for container rates, and a drop from US$400 the previous year.
The crisis is also biting in shipping, with a drop in bulk sea freight, plummeting volumes in the container shipping sector and declining freight rates leading to a “slashing of capacity and services” – put simply, jobs are being cut and conditions worsening.
One area where there should be a glimmer of hope is public transport, given that effective and cheap public transport becomes even more important in a recession and is essential to economic recovery. Potentially, this could be seen as an opportunity for public, sustainable transport.
For example, it was reported in February that commuters in Sydney, Australia, were abandoning their cars in favour of trains and buses due to economic and environmental concerns and that experts were predicting the start of a fundamental, long-term shift in travel behaviour.
Even so, the trend is that investment in public transport has become more dependent on private financing over the past decade, potentially leaving existing essential services, as well as funding for improved transport infrastructure, vulnerable. The UK’s network rail, for example, has announced a reduction in investment in infrastructure maintenance by 30 per cent in 2009.
Transport related to tourism is also set to fall. The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has reported in the latter half of 2008 that global tourism shrank by 1 per cent and prospects for 2009 look bleak. But it’s not all gloom. According to UNTWO: “Tourism can play a critical role in the recovery process as a sector with a unique resurgence capacity.”
A snapshot of the effects of the downturn shows there is huge pressure on jobs and pay. As a result, renewed efforts to organise workers is essential. The role of the union in protecting jobs and conditions is likely to have new appeal – it’s an opportunity for growth and organising non-union workers can also prevent or lessen wage competition between workers.
Women are predicted to suffer disproportionately from the economic downturn. Recession is expected to increase the number of unemployed women by up to 22 million as the global job crisis could “worsen sharply” this year, according to the International Labour Organization. The ITF aims to combat this threat and to ensure union presence in areas where women are employed.
The ITF and its members are under no illusions about the painful effect of the crisis, but we recognise there are also opportunities for our unions. It is too much to say that capitalism has been entirely discredited, but the laissez-faire capitalism of recent decades is off the table.
Instead we must promote regulation of markets, the promotion of new forms of socially responsible business practices, and state investment in infrastructure. A space has opened up for the labour movement to argue for decent, sustainable jobs and for core values of solidarity, equality, freedom and fairness.
The ITF is working hard for its affiliates to assist them in this double challenge of arguing for new ways of doing things and of building membership. Unions must act now in their political, lobbying and communications campaigns if they are to influence future developments.
In the search for solutions, the ITF is promoting education, research, policy and communications strategies across all sections and in all regions to find answers that will work in each area and to put them into effect. This involves research, education, lobbying, and communicating a message to the public that lifts the image of unions and carries a simple but emphatic message – that transport workers are vital to the global economy.
The ITF also aims to step up its monitoring and gathering of data on job losses and union strategies to combat them, including the setting up of an ITF web.
At the heart of the strategy under consideration is a “union assistance” element, geared to support for unions hard hit by the crisis. This could coordinate between different unions in the same multinational companies.
If unions are to answer the global call for action to build a recovery worthy of the name, they have to review their work and activities and bring fresh energy into the process of union-building and job protection. Just as important will be the need for a combative approach to putting workers’ jobs and their rights at the heart of the agenda for recovery.
For more on the economic crisis: www.itfglobal.org/policy This article originally appeared in “Getting the World to Work: Global Union Strategies for Recovery”; available from www.global-unions.org