Director, Global Wood and Forestry Programme, International Federation of Building and Wood workers (IFBWW)
IFBWW is an international trade union secretariat established in 1934. It promotes international solidarity and is an active defender of human and trade union rights around the world. The IFBWW has 11 million members in the construction, wood and forestry sectors, and includes almost 300 trade unions in 124 countries. The headquarters is in Geneva with regional and sub-regional offices around the world.
IFBWW's policy is guided by a principle of sustainable development in our sectors. This development is based on three main pillars:
1. A sound production economy securing stable and long
term employment for workers
2. An environmental awareness that takes into
account the need for a sustainable environment
3. A social policy which
secures the rights of working people to decent working conditions, no discrimination, good training facilities and the rights to bargain collectively
As a trade union organisation IFBWW of course focuses on the social dimensions of sustainable development. And that's my focus today.
What does this mean for forest certification?
And what do we consider to be the elements of a credible forest certification system?
Today I want to raise two sets of issues:
1. What IFBWW wants in any certification system
2.
How we would like to see certification developing
What do we want? To be acceptable to us a credible certification system scheme must include the core ILO Conventions.
ILO is a tripartite organisation with government, employer and worker representation. Most governments are members. Using the tripartite system the ILO has developed Conventions which are then ratified by governments. The so-called "core Conventions" deal with the very basics of protecting working people. These are considered so fundamental that the membership of the ILO means that governments buy off on these through the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights of Work.
The core ILO Conventions are:
· Conventions 87 and 98 on the rights to freedom of association and to
bargain collectively,
· Conventions 29 and 105 on the abolition of forced labour,
· Conventions 111 and 100 on the
prevention of discrimination in employment and equal pay for work of equal
value, and between them,
· Conventions 138 and 182 on child labour
IFBWW has spent the last years campaigning to get this fundamental protection incorporated into certification schemes.
It is essential for us that the core ILO Conventions are included in all certification activity. In other words a certification scheme will not be credible for us if the core Conventions are not included into it.
In addition, in 1997, the ILO again using the tripartite process developed a Code of Practice on Safety and Health in Forestry Work. We were involved in the negotiations on this. We consider it to be a good comprehensive document that can be easily modified to fit local conditions and we strongly recommend its inclusion as a guide to certification activities.
While we see certification as a very positive development that has brought many improvements in forestry practices it does not go far enough.
For the future, there are two main issues that need to be addressed.
1. Coverage of the Whole Production Process
Certification only covers the conditions in the forest. It does not cover the production process or transportation. Our experience is that a product can be certified yet the conditions of workers in the mills, the energy used in transport, the efficiency of the mill, and the hazardous chemicals used in the production process may be far from adequate. For example I can show you certified operations where workers in the forest have good conditions, adequate health and safety and reasonable wages, but when this timber goes to the mill, also owned by the same company the worker conditions are not good.
I ask you this - are you content to support a certified product that has been produced in a mill where 40% of the log is wasted?
So for the IFBWW we have to move away from a single-issue label and towards a label that covers the whole production process right from the forest to the finished product.
2. Contract labour
Contract labour is another issue that needs to be addressed better in the future through certification. We have many examples of contracting and sub-contracting being used to avoid or reduce worker protection and erode wages. This can be particularly severe when migrant labour is used and the workers don't know what their rights are. We want forest certification systems to move effectively to address the problems of contract labour. Indeed we think certification can be a very effective way to ensure equality of treatment of workers.
Finally some process issues for future certification schemes.
Our experience at the field level demonstrates the need for:
· adequate
resources for quality implementation
· adequate resources for monitoring agreements and ensuring compliance
· ability within the system to
improve the system and incorporate new information as it becomes available
In summary, our major goal for workers is safe, stable well-paid jobs. There are clear, internationally negotiated and accepted standards, the ILO conventions, that we want included in certification agreements. And in the future we want certification to include all stages of the production process and all workers including contract workers.
