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On the involvement of social partners: collective bargaining or social dialogue

The European Commission is not yet very clear on how it wants to ensure the involvement of social partners.

Christophe Degryse explains how and what

You don’t have to be intelligent to become rich

But then, what is needed?

Highest earning men aren’t especially intelligent. Why? – Big Think

World Day of Social Justice

On this World Day of social justice, ILO Director general explains why social justice is crucial for our future:

ILO Director-General – why we need greater social justice | The Future of Work Podcast

Strengthening the World Health Organisation

New research paper from the South Center:

The World Health Organization (WHO) should act as the directing and coordinating authority in global health but it has been steadily marginalized over time by design, through criticism as an inefficient organization, the reduction of assessed contributions and consequent impoverishment, and the proliferation of “new” international health agencies to which WHO has been compelled to cede operational space. This paper discusses how such marginalization of the WHO is in the interest of the dominant actors in global health, and leads to the neglect of health as a development issue. Today the global health system is more fragmented than it was when the WHO was established in 1948.

Social Security and the Informal Sector: look at Africa

Ninety percent of global Small and Micro Enterprise (SMEs) business and more than fifty percent of all employment happens in the informal economy.

Often dismissed by the establishment due to its fluid and amorphous nature, it is clear that as South Africa and the continent battles high unemployment, especially youth unemployment, there is a huge opportunity for state and private sector support and investment into this sector.

Harnessing the energy that drives this thriving sector is a far more appropriate response than whipping it with punitive law enforcement. One of the best ways to begin would be to support the design of appropriate social security systems to enable enterprise owners and workers in the informal economy to build up financial security for the futures of themselves, their businesses and their families. Building social security builds Decent Work and better societies worldwide.

Read the article by Isobel Frye

Union Strategies for winning minimum living wages

An interesting ITUC report to learn about strategies for decent living wages

A World Fragmented by Inequality

A few weeks ago, the world’s power brokers — politicians, CEOs, millionaires, billionaires — met in Davos, the mountainous Swiss resort town, for the 2023 World Economic Forum. In an annual ritual that reads ever more like Orwellian farce, the global elite gathered — their private jets lined up like gleaming sardines at a nearby private airport — to discuss the most pressing issues of our time, many of which they are chiefly responsible for creating.

The 2023 meeting was organized around the theme of “Cooperation in a Fragmented World” and the topics up for debate were all worthy choices: climate change, Covid-19, inflation, war, and the looming threat of recession. Glaringly missing, however, was any honest investigation of the deeper context behind such an epic set of crises — namely, the reality of worldwide poverty and the extreme inequality that separates the poor from the rich on this planet.

Read the article found in Inequality.org

On Taxes: A Climate Finance Withholding Mechanism

The developed countries’ commitment to provide climate finance to the developing countries has remained unfulfilled. The Climate Finance Withholding Mechanism (CFWM) is a potential solution for addressing climate finance needs of the developing countries. The CFWM adopts the well settled “withholding mechanism” under the tax laws to provide a steady flow of funds to the developing countries.

Read South Center Proposal: NEW Tax Cooperation Policy Brief: Climate Finance Withholding Mechanism (mailchi.mp)

The EU Social Agenda in 2024 and beyond

Belgian Minister of Social Affairs Vandenbroucke outlines the possibilities for the European social agenda. Belgian will be EU-Council chair in first half of 2024

EU social agenda beyond 2024—no time to waste (socialeurope.eu)

New Report on Wealth tax and potential revenue

An annual wealth tax on the world’s richest could raise 1.7 trillion US$

Read the report

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