Why? Trade unionists throughout the world are organising and fighting hard to defend workers’ livelihoods and rights against an unprecedented attack from financial markets, corporations and governments, in the context of economic, ecological and political crisis. There are some causes for optimism – a new international agenda for strong industrial organisation, evidence of increasing corporate vulnerability to well-organised and targeted campaigns, and a new generation of activists emerging from movements for democracy and climate justice.
Yet there is a political vacuum. Union members want an international political alternative to neo-liberalism and corporate capitalism, but little emerges beyond rhetoric. Many of the formal institutions of the international labour movement have retreated into a bland lowest common denominator of politics, shy of even basic principles of social democracy, let alone any mention of democratic socialism. Yet this is the time when radical political solutions are required, a new sense of political direction for the international trade union movement.
Hence the idea of a political summer school – an opportunity to debate and question what are, and what should be, the politics of the international trade union movement.
Aim: To stimulate discussion on democratic socialism, radical democracy, and the political agenda of the international trade union movement, in the context of the global economy, of the general attack on the labour movement, financial crises and environmental destruction.
Venue: Northern College, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK (one hour by road from Manchester airport).
Participants: Trade union activists, labour movement researchers and educators. Perhaps 50-80 people in total, including 15-25 from the UK unions, the remainder from overseas – all dependent on funding, of course. Strong emphasis on attracting younger participants. Strict gender balance (as near as possible to 50:50)
Approach and Methodology: The school will be delivered through a mixture of participatory debates and discussions, interspersed with high quality stimulating and provocative interventions from speakers and presenters from a wide range of labour movement political perspectives.
Regrettably, the school will be in English only, unless substantial funds are raised to enable some simultaneous interpretation.
Programme: The summer school will include a rich and varied programme of discussion over four days (Monday lunchtime to Friday lunchtime).
Main themes will include:
The Big Picture
How did we arrive here? 100 years of democratic socialism in the trade union movement, and now this…
The new capitalism – financialisation, the banks and the state
The Fall and Rise of Labour: What will the international labour movement look like in 2020?
Global Unions – Global Politics
The political challenge for global unions
Precarious and informal work – the politics of the “precariat”
International democracy and rank & file participation
Unions, Freedom & Democracy
China – Has the international democratic trade union movement lost the plot?
Unions in the Arab Spring
Recapturing labour democracy? Unions in Eastern Europe
Unions & social movements for political and economic democracy
Emergency Exit
What do we do with the global corporations?
Public Services – Public Ownership
Facing finance capital
Going Green – unions, climate change, green jobs and a post-carbon economy
Political education in trade unions – time for a new wave?
Prospects for a new political agenda for the international trade union movement
Conclusions and Next Steps
Opportunities for political refreshment
Reflections conclusions and proposals
GLI International Summer School 9-13 July 2012
Participating Global Union Federations:
International Union of Foodworkers
International Transport workers Federation
Building & Woodworkers’ International