Building a just economy post pandemic

How do we build a just economy post COVID? How do we seize the moment and emerge stronger from the crisis?

That was the subject of the discussion I just moderated with some leading voices from inside and outside the labour movement to mark the 20th anniversary of UNI Global Union – a union of 20 million workers in the skills and services sector.

Many experts fear that we are heading into a world of more inequality. In its report “Virus Inequality” Oxfam points out the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer. The Executive Director of Oxfam International, Gabriela Bucher, expressed the concern that “when the pandemic comes into this neoliberal model, the inequality is more deadly than ever.”

Speakers agreed that the pandemic had fed off and increased existing inequalities in many countries. COVID, said author and labour party activist Owen Jones, had acted “like a flare”. He said in the UK “we applauded key workers from our windows, but claps do not pay people’s bills”.

Unions said Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of UNI Global Union had proven their value to society during the pandemic by “fighting for PPE, a safe return to work, vaccines and hazard pay”. However, she said to build a just economy, there needed to be an expectation that workers will be able to engage in collective bargaining no matter where they are in the world.

Strengthening and expanding workers freedom to organise and collective bargaining was one of many recommendations made by the ILO Commission on the Future of Work. Professor Atsushi Seike, a member of that Commission said its recommendations were more relevant than ever.

“We have more diversified workers and more nontraditional and atypical workers, who are not covered by labour regulations”, he said. “And unions must organise their workers so their conditions can be negotiated.”

 Polls from across the world show overwhelming support for action to build a more equal and sustainable world. A progressive wealth tax said Gabriela Bucher would “enable investment into a green and sustainable future.

“We should seize this moment”, said Christy Hoffman, “as workers are not getting their fair share and the time to change that is now.”