100,000 workers take to the streets

14 March 2002 - Protests press the EU Summit in Barcelona for better social and employment integration in advance of the Johannesburg Summit.

The resolve of trade unions to press for a new "Global Deal" at the WSSD for social and employment integration took a quantum leap here today as over 100,000 workers took to the streets, on the eve of the last European Government Summit before the WSSD scheduled for South Africa next August.

Affiliates of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) assembled in Spain yesterday to plan their sustainable development strategy for both the Barcelona and WSSD summits and they agreed to a unified and coordinated approach in the upcoming journey toward WSSD, including with environmental
and social NGO's.

In a joint statement, "Making the Economy Work for Sustainable Development" issued today by the ETUC and the European Environmental Bureau (EEB) trade
unionists and environmentalists pledged to "support activities [and] to give practical expression" to sustainable development issues. The statement calls for better tools to integrate the social dimension of sustainable development and new approaches toward government procurement, tax and fiscal policy, as well as pledging joint approaches toward integrated social and environmental indicators.

Representatives from ETUC and affiliated organisations from throughout Europe met with ICFTU/TUAC to develop a dual but common road map toward WSSD before joining what the Spanish police estimated as a 100,000 crowd of workers who came from across Europe to call for action on social integration; a fundamental precept of the trade union WSSD document "Fashioning A New Deal". Speaker after speaker at the rally called for better integration of the social dimension and for solidarity about these issues with workers in other parts of the world.

The worker rallies took place in light of initial proposals to the EU Summit for more market liberalization and labour flexibility, as well as suggestions for backward steps with regard to environmental protection and social integration. Workers and trade unions decided today to deliver a message to European and other governments that such steps would not be tolerated.

At the ETUC meetings trade unionists agreed to create special task force study groups on chemicals, fiscal policy, energy & climate change, as well as food security & agriculture, each of which would report to a Europe-wide trade union WSSD preparatory meeting next June 17-19 in Siville, Spain.

The Barcelona events come in advance of the world WSSD prepcom III, scheduled to being in 1 ½ weeks where a trade union delegation is expected to deliver the same message to national governments about the need to integrate the social and environmental dimensions as part of economic planning.