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	The right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment by Human Rights Watch, agencies   Governments should prioritize ratification of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Violence and Harassment Convention, Human Rights Watch said in a report on the eve of its first anniversary.   The treaty, adopted June 21, 2019 by government, employer, and worker members of the ILO, sets international legal standards for preventing and responding to violence and harassment at work.   The 31-page report, “Dignity and Safety at Work: A Guide to the 2019 ILO Violence and Harassment Convention,” highlights the main obligations for governments set out in the treaty and elements of national laws and policies that reflect promising practices.   “No one should have to tolerate violence and harassment, but for many workers – especially women – it is often an inevitable part of getting or keeping a job,” said Nisha Varia, women’s rights advocacy director at Human Rights Watch.   “The ILO Violence and Harassment Convention provides critical guidance to governments on how to prevent this violence and how to protect workers from stigma and retaliation so they can speak up and get the justice they deserve.”   On June 12, 2020, Uruguay became the first country to ratify the convention, which will enter into force with the second ratification. Argentina, Belgium, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Namibia, the Philippines, South Africa, Spain, and Uganda have signaled their intention to ratify. Countries that ratify agree to align their national laws to the treaty’s standards and will be periodically reviewed for compliance by the ILO.   The #MeToo movement and attacks on health workers in the context of the coronavirus pandemic have highlighted the urgency of strong measures to prevent work-related violence and harassment and to ensure that survivors have access to services and remedies.   Human Rights Watch has documented violence and harassment at work around the world, including in agriculture, domestic work, education, fishing, the garment industry, health, journalism, mining, public office, and the military.   The ILO has found that many existing laws exclude the workers most exposed to violence, for example domestic workers, farmworkers, and those in precarious employment. A 2018 World Bank report found that 59 out of 189 economies had no specific legal provisions covering sexual harassment at work.   The treaty sets out minimum obligations for governments, including ensuring comprehensive national laws against harassment and violence at work and prevention measures such as information campaigns and identifying high-risk sectors.   It also requires enforcement – such as inspections and investigations – and access to remedies for victims, including complaint systems, whistleblower protections, services, and compensation.   The treaty covers workers, trainees, workers whose employment has been terminated, job seekers, and job applicants, among others, and applies to both formal and informal sectors, public and private. It also includes a requirement to address violence and harassment involving third parties, such as clients, customers, or service providers.   The treaty recognizes that violence and harassment go beyond the physical workplace and includes other activities related to work, such as commutes and offsite work events.   It also obliges governments to ensure employers have workplace policies and prevention measures addressing violence and harassment.   The treaty addresses gender-based violence specifically, including the intersection of domestic violence and work, and the steps governments should take, including protections so that domestic violence survivors can seek help without losing their jobs.   Several global workers’ and women’s rights organizations are campaigning to promote these standards and urging governments to ratify the treaty quickly. These include global trade unions such as the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Domestic Workers’ Federation, and several other global unions as well as the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign and Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing.   “Workers who are marginalized – because of their sex, race, ethnicity, disability, or migration status, among other characteristics – are often at greatest risk of violence and have the least access to any help,” Varia said. “Ratifying the convention and carrying it out is a major opportunity for countries to end these abuses and promote safety and dignity at work.”   http://www.hrw.org/news/2020/06/18/end-violence-harassment-work   * Avaaz: Protect Women at Work. To world leaders and governments across the world:   'As citizens from across the world, we call on you to do everything you can to eliminate gender-based violence in the world of work. We urge you to ratify and effectively implement the ILO Convention on Violence and Harassment and its accompanying Recommendation, and carry out related domestic reforms'. To date over 650,000 people have signed the petition: http://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/ilo_loc/   June 2019   A new Convention and accompanying Recommendation to combat violence and harassment in the world of work have been adopted by the International Labour Conference (ILC).   The Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019, and Violence and Harassment Recommendation, 2019, were adopted by delegates on the final day of the Centenary International Labour Conference, in Geneva. For the Convention, 439 votes were cast in favour, seven against, with 30 abstentions. The Recommendation was passed with 397 votes in favour, 12 votes against and 44 abstentions.   The Convention recognizes that violence and harassment in the world of work can constitute a human rights violation or abuse is a threat to equal opportunities, is unacceptable and incompatible with decent work.   It defines violence and harassment as behaviours, practices or threats that aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm. It reminds member States that they have a responsibility to promote a general environment of zero tolerance.   The new international labour standard aims to protect workers and employees, irrespective of their contractual status, and includes persons in training, interns and apprentices, workers whose employment has been terminated, volunteers, job seekers and job applicants.   It recognizes that individuals exercising the authority, duties or responsibilities of an employer can also be subjected to violence and harassment.   The standard covers violence and harassment occurring in the workplace; places where a worker is paid, takes a rest or meal break, or uses sanitary, washing or changing facilities; during work-related trips, travel, training, events or social activities; work-related communications (including through information and communication technologies), in employer-provided accommodation; and when commuting to and from work. It also recognizes that violence and harassment may involve third parties.   ILO Director-General Guy Ryder welcomed the adoption. The new standards recognize the right of everyone to a world of work free from violence and harassment, he said.   The next step is to put these protections into practice, so that we create a better, safer, decent, working environment for women and men.   Manuela Tomei, Director of the ILO's Workquality Department, said: Without respect, there is no dignity at work, and, without dignity, there is no social justice. This is the first time that a Convention and Recommendation on violence and harassment in the world of work have been adopted. We now have an agreed definition of violence and harassment. We know what needs to be done to prevent and address it, and by whom.   This is the first new Convention agreed by the International Labour Conference since 2011, when the Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189) was adopted. Conventions are legally binding international instruments, while Recommendations provide advice and guidance.   Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) said: More than 800 million women have experienced some form of violence and harassment, ranging from physical assault to verbal abuse, bullying and intimidation. #MeToo and similar movements have helped expose the scale of the problem in the world of work, encouraging women to speak out and demand justice.   Whilst women are overwhelmingly and disproportionately affected, men are not immune. And discrimination against certain groups exacerbates violence and harassment. No sector, whether formal or informal, public, private or voluntary is untouched.   Violence and harassment at work can come from managers, supervisors, co-workers, customers and clients. It can happen at the physical workplace, at work-related social events or training, whilst getting to and from work, or anywhere the worker is required to be because of her or his work. Abusive workplace practices can also contribute to the toll of violence and harassment, with work-related stress and mental illness at an all-time high.   The new Convention places clear responsibilities on employers and governments for tackling the scourge of violence and harassment in the world of work. Workers, too, will have responsibilities to refrain from acts of violence and harassment and to comply with any policies, procedures or other steps taken by their employers to prevent it.   Violence and harassment in the world of work is a global problem, requiring global solutions. Trade unions were campaigning for this new law long before the painful revelations of #MeToo. Our governments and employers must now play their part. No one should go to work in fear of experiencing violence and harassment.   Governments, workers, and employers have made history by adopting a treaty that sets standards for ending the scourge of violence and harassment in the world of work, said Rothna Begum, senior women's rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. The women who bravely spoke up about their #MeToo abuses at work have made themselves heard at this negotiation, and their voices are reflected in these important new protections.   Governments that ratify the treaty will be required to develop national laws prohibiting workplace violence and to take preventive measures, such as information campaigns and requiring companies to have workplace policies on violence. The treaty also obligates governments to monitor the issue and provide access to remedies through complaint mechanisms, witness protection measures, and victim services, and to provide measures to protect victims and whistleblowers from retaliation.   The treaty covers workers, trainees, workers whose employment has been terminated, job seekers, and others, and applies to both formal and informal sectors. It also accounts for violence and harassment involving third parties, such as clients, customers, or service providers.   Previously there was no international standard specifically addressing violence and harassment in the world of work. The Women, Business and the Law 2018 report found that 59 out of the 189 countries studied had no specific legal provisions covering sexual harassment in employment.   The ILO has found many gaps in legal protections relating to violence and harassment in the workplace. These include a lack of coherent laws, a lack of coverage in laws and policies for workers most exposed to violence, and an overly narrow definition of 'workplace' in existing laws and regulations.   The new ILO convention and recommendation affirm the right to freedom from violence and harassment in the workplace. They provide for an integrated, inclusive, and gender-responsive approach for the prevention and elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work.   The convention defines violence and harassment as 'a range of unacceptable behaviors and practices, or threats thereof, whether a single occurrence or repeated, that aim at, result in, or are likely to result in physical, psychological, sexual or economic harm, and includes gender-based violence and harassment'.   The treaty recognizes that violence and harassment go beyond just the physical workplace. Many workers face violence not only in the four walls of an office or factory, but on their commutes to work, at social events, or while dealing with customers or other third parties, Begum said.   The convention requires governments to take measures to prevent and protect people from violence and harassment, and to provide enforcement mechanisms and remedies for victims, including compensation. These include adopting legal prohibitions of violence and harassment at work, and ensuring effective inspections, investigations, and protection from retaliation.   Governments should require employers to have workplace policies addressing violence and harassment, appropriate risk assessments, prevention measures, and training. Employers should address violence and harassment in their occupational safety and health management.   The convention also recognizes that vulnerable groups may be disproportionately affected by violence and harassment at work, and calls for states to ensure the right to equality and non-discrimination in employment and occupation.   States will also be required to identify high-risk sectors or occupations and take measures to effectively protect those workers.   The convention also sets out standards for how governments should mitigate the effects of domestic violence in the world of work, including by having flexible working arrangements and leave for domestic violence survivors.   The #MeToo movement showed us just how pervasive violence and harassment is in many workplaces, but now we have a treaty that spells the beginning of the end to such cruelty, said Begum. Governments should now ratify this treaty and seek to make a safe world of work a reality.   Sexual harassment and abuse should never be part of a job description for a woman, said Michelle Nunn, president and CEO of CARE USA. This is a global crisis that requires a global solution.   This convention means that we now have an international legal standard to specifically protect women at work from harassment and abuse. While this is a great starting point, the next step will be to put this standard into action for women everywhere, where governments ratify and domesticate the ILO Convention.   The landmark ILO Convention is the first-ever global treaty on violence and harassment in the workplace and follows years of campaigning by trade unions, civil society and women's organizations.   Over the last two years, CARE's global #March4Women campaign saw rallies and marches take place across almost 50 countries, with over 200,000 men and women standing up for gender justice in the world of work.   The ILO Convention is a historic step toward holding governments and employers accountable for ensuring that every single woman around the world has the right to work free from violence and harassment, said Nunn.   This is a testament to the power of our collective voices and those who spoke up and said: this is not working. Those who have worked tirelessly for over a decade to see this outcome and ensure real, measurable change happens for women in every profession across the globe.   There is an obligation for governments to now ratify and implement this Convention and for employers to prevent and remedy violence and harassment in a way that advances the human rights of women workers, and does so in consideration of their intersecting identities and broad range of work realities, said Krishanti Dharmaraj, Executive Director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL).   Despite the prevalence of violence and discrimination faced by women in the world of work globally, none of the ILO conventions adopted in its 100 years of existence have a specific focus on gender-based violence and its direct link to gender-based discrimination.   It is important to recognize the inextricable link between discrimination and violence. Preventing violence and harassment requires employers and governments to address gender-based discrimination against women, Dharmaraj said. This new Convention establishes a uniform set of minimum standards to prevent, identify, and provide redress in cases of gender-based violence in the world of work.   It is a milestone for women's rights from the efforts of women workers themselves, and a necessary step to ensure women's right to work in addition to decent conditions of work, and ultimately to achieve equality.   It is essential that gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work be recognized and addressed as a human rights violation. This link has already been established, and since 1993 been acknowledged by governments as women's human rights.   We now call upon States to ratify this new Convention and ensure national implementation that is compliant with existing human rights standards as expressed in the new convention, international treaties and regional instruments in order for all women to achieve dignity at work.   http://www.ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/108/media-centre/news/WCMS_711321/lang--en/index.htm http://bit.ly/3765gew http://bit.ly/3f43P4E http://www.ituc-csi.org/gender-based-violence-at-work-583 http://www.hrw.org/news/2019/06/21/ilo-new-treaty-protect-workers-violence-harassment http://www.care.org/newsroom/press/press-releases/win-for-women-worldwide-historic-global-treaty-to-end-violence-and http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/beyond-trafficking-and-slavery/are-countries-fulfilling-promise-violence-and-harassment-convention/ http://womenlobby.org/EWL-calls-on-the-adoption-of-the-international-standards-to-end-violence http://16dayscampaign.org/2019/06/21/center-for-womens-global-leadership-welcomes-new-ilo-treaty-to-end-violence-and-harassment-against-women-in-the-world-of-work/   Apr. 2019   Rewriting the Rules on #MeToo Globally, by Nisha Varia - Advocacy Director, Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch   I have been working to protect the rights of women workers for 25 years, and whether I speak to domestic workers, election workers, farmers, or activists, their experience of sexual harassment and violence has been a common thread. The other commonality? The almost complete absence of redress in any of those cases, spanning Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and the United States.   This May Day, workers around the world are continuing the fight to be free from sexual violence and harassment. The #MeToo and #Time'sUp movements continue to expose the ubiquity of sexual harassment and drive public debate, scrutiny of workplace protections, and legal reform.   Discriminatory social norms and major legal gaps enable sexual violence and harassment at the workplace. A 2018 World Bank report found that 59 out of 189 economies had no specific legal provisions providing protection from sexual harassment in employment.   The International Labor Organization (ILO) found that when laws do exist, they often exclude categories of workers most exposed to abuse, for example, domestic workers, and have an overly narrow definition of workplace. In other cases, legislation imposes criminal penalties for the worst forms of violence, but neglects preventive measures or remedies for the wide spectrum of abuse that can make a workplace hostile.   When the #MeToo hashtag exploded in October 2017, Facebook reported more than 12 million posts, comments, and reactions in 24 hours. Since then, women and girls in countries including France, India, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, and the United Kingdom have come forward with personal stories.   Public attention has primarily focused on allegations against famous figures in politics and the media. But workers, activists, and donors have rallied around supporting workers out of the limelight, especially those in low-wage, women-dominated sectors where power dynamics can be especially distorted, sexual harassment may be rampant, and redress can feel and be out of reach.   This mobilization has spurred many businesses and governments to consider or introduce change. There is also an exciting initiative to create international legal standards on workplace violence and harassment.   In June, labor ministers and other government officials from countries around the world, national and international trade unions, and employers associations will convene in Geneva to negotiate and finalize new standards on workplace harassment and violence. This tripartite process will hopefully conclude with the ILO adopting a Convention Concerning the Elimination of Violence and Harassment in the World of Work, a legally binding international treaty that will be a powerful norm setter for countries that ratify it and even those that don't.   The proposed treaty, and an accompanying, non-binding recommendation, would provide clear and specific guidance on the steps governments should take to protect workers from harassment and violence. It will integrate the role of anti-discrimination laws, labor laws, occupational safety and health laws, and other civil laws in protecting workers from sexual violence and harassment. Civil laws can ensure prevention, monitoring, and remedies, to complement criminal law provisions that impose punishment for severe forms of workplace abuse.   The ILO negotiations are also thrashing out contentious issues that governments, workers, and businesses have grappled with at national and local levels, such as how a workplace is defined, who is a worker, what protection should look like, and how far responsibilities extend.   This includes the rights of workers in the informal sector, and the scope of employers responsibility, for example toward job-seekers and current employees sexually harassed on their commutes. Another discussion has been what type of protections should be extended to domestic violence victims who might be stalked at work by their abuser or need time off to pursue legal redress.   Will yet another international treaty actually make a difference? Not overnight.   But real change is within reach with the groundswell of public outrage and mobilization, media scrutiny, high-profile champions, potential alliances across diverse movements, and extensive evidence. If harnessed, these elements can translate into new international standards, ratifications, national law reform, implementation campaigns, and pressure on companies to adopt workplace policies to prevent and respond to harassment.   This type of change has happened before. Advocacy by domestic workers groups and labor unions around the 2011 ILO Domestic Workers Convention bolstered national campaigns and has helped spur reforms in dozens of countries, even among those that have not yet ratified the convention.   This has included new labor laws on domestic work in Argentina, Chile, Qatar, the Philippines, and the United Arab Emirates, incremental reforms in Bahrain, India, and the United States, and collective bargaining agreements in Italy and Uruguay.   While exploitation of domestic workers remains a widespread and entrenched problem, significant and groundbreaking advances have taken place in the past eight years.   This could be the year that longstanding women's rights and labor rights activism, along with the energy of the #MeToo movement, translates into new rights for workers under international law and a major global push to enforce those rights.   The ILO negotiations deserve the same attention and enthusiastic support as the brave survivors of abuse who continue to speak up all over the world.   http://www.hrw.org/news/2019/04/30/rewriting-rules-metoo-globally http://www.business-humanrights.org/en/how-to-fight-sexual-harassment-at-work-empower-women-workers-through-trade-unions http://www.devex.com/news/q-a-ilo-expert-on-new-workplace-harassment-and-violence-treaty-93370 http://www.womenatworkcampaign.org/   * Ending Violence and Harassment at Work - Human Rights Watch: http://bit.ly/2seOzcR   * Violence against women in the world of work, by Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights: http://bit.ly/304YBf9   * Proposed ILO treaty aimed at protecting workers from violence and harassment in the workplace (130pp): http://bit.ly/2OhvrqJ   Stopping gender-based violence at work - International Trade Union Confederation   Gender-based violence blights the lives of millions of women. It excludes women from the world of work and often stigmatises them within their communities.   Globally, 818 million women have experienced violence and harassment. This is quite simply unacceptable. The situation is even worse for women who are further marginalised and discriminated against because of race, class, caste, disability, gender identity, migrant status, indigenous status, or age.   Gender-based violence also costs businesses billions in terms of lost productivity, reputational damage and litigation. European Union estimates put the productivity cost of sexual harassment alone at 26 billion euros - or 1.5 per cent of its GDP.   The revelations of #MeToo and similar movements have put the issues of gender equality, sex discrimination and gender-based violence firmly in the public eye and on the political agenda.   Yet we are seeing a determined backlash, with discriminatory and misogynistic populist movements challenging democratic societies, whilst discrimination and inequality continue to characterise and even shape our world of work, relegating women to lower positions of power and authority, lower pay, low quality jobs and precarious working conditions.   Every woman should have the basic right to a working environment free from violence and harassment, whatever the form of her contractual relationship, whether she works in the formal or informal economy, or in a rural or urban setting.   The world of work can also play a key role in supporting victims of domestic violence to stay in work and to have the financial security and independence to enable them to leave abusive relationships.   An international labour law to address violence and harassment in the world of work is urgently needed. Such a law could transform working conditions for women by ensuring that violence is not part of the job.   Join the demand for an international labour law to call time on gender-based violence and harassment in the world of work.   http://www.ituc-csi.org/gender-based-violence-at-work-583 http://www.unwomen.org/en/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women Visit the related web page
	The world depends on public services and public services require political will by David Edwards, Rosa Pavanelli Public Services International, Education International   It is time for a fundamental overhaul of global investment policy to build for the future. That future depends on public services and the people who provide them.   Crisis has brought recognition to “front-line” workers, public and private, who are both visible and essential. However, all workers are essential.   In public services, they include workers in health, care and education who make things happen despite COVID19 as well as those who keep communities safe and clean, make fair elections possible, provide transport and clean water and millions of other people who make things work.   They do not profit remotely from the work of others. Rather, they enhance and enrich the communities in which they live and work.   In much of the world, long before the pandemic, austerity measures and structural adjustment programmes have been promoting cuts in real investment in public services and fostered privatization.   One of the primary reasons that the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals was already off track was that badly needed investments were not being made.   Public investment was further diminished where it was not properly managed and controlled. Unsound policy and practices diverted it to other purposes and places, including to dividends for private investors in companies working to profit from public services and often into tax havens.   Addressing Inequality   Inequality, already a global social injustice, accelerated with the pandemic. Millions lost jobs and became impoverished in a massive upward re-distribution of wealth. The net worth of billionaires went up by 33 per cent while the tax base shrunk, and economic activity plummeted. The market has never fairly distributed opportunities, but that becomes more evident in times of crisis.   Much hard-won if slow progress on gender rights and equity has slipped away. Advances in the education of girls has slowed or been reversed. Women have again shouldered the increase in unpaid work caused by confinements and the economic status of women has declined. Violence against women has skyrocketed.   School closures have meant that many children have returned to work. It may be difficult to get them to go back to school. Progress on eliminating child labour has been rapidly reversed.   The underfunding and understaffing of health systems left them unprepared to confront the pandemic and is now precluding access to essential care for millions of patients.   The virus and its effects have disproportionately hit marginalised groups including migrants and refugees, indigenous peoples, and ethnic minorities. Hostility towards those same groups has often grown. Fears of “outsiders” has been exploited by authoritarians and used to weaken support for democracy.   Not only have long-standing inequalities been deepened by the pandemic, but they have been aggravated by cuts in public services. Boosting budgets and access to quality public services will help reduce inequality and open up opportunity.   In the multiple crises of inequality and bigotry, economic catastrophe, and erosion of democracy, public services are a counter-cyclical force.   Ensuring that access to quality public services, especially health and education, is available for all and not just for those who can afford to pay for them is crucial to any workable exit strategy and to building a better, fairer, and more sustainable future.   Furthermore, the pandemic is exposing how public services are essential to the economy, to support local businesses, to ensure a social and economic sustainable development. We reject the idea that recovery plans have to choose between the social or the economic approach. We need both, as one enhances the effectiveness of the other.   The post-pandemic recovery requires a new vision for an inclusive society. During the COVID 19 pandemic, several governments took extraordinary initiatives to sustain the health systems, hire nurses and doctors, to subsidise business and families.   Billions and billions of taxpayers money have been injected into the economy, often for the benefit of big corporates. This shows that it is above all a matter of political will, and when there is an urgency hard decision can be taken quickly.   Now it is time to show such a resolution for a deep change. Investing in public services and rebuilding our communities cannot be short-term. The urgency will not disappear in six months or a year depending on the performance of stock markets. That means:   Resources need to be made available for public investment. Fair corporate, individual, wealth and other forms of taxation can raise considerable revenue if they are collected. That requires regional and global coordination by governments to protect against tax evasion and avoidance, including eliminating tax havens and introducing a global minimum corporate tax rate. It also means ending the competition among governments to reduce taxes on corporations and wealthy individuals.   Global solidarity. The pandemic and related crises have taught us that global challenges cannot be met at national level alone and that viruses respect no borders.   Just as the well-being of all citizens depends on progress for those on the margins, our global well-being depends on progress for poor countries.   The global recovery will require public investment in developing countries that cannot be generated by domestic sources. Vaccines against COVID-19 are also a question of global solidarity. They are being developed with enormous public investment, but in a nationalist, competitive, and proprietary way.   Vaccines must be widely and freely available if the global pandemic is to be overcome.   Transforming international financial institutions. Large debt burdens and anti-social conditionality force countries to choose between the mandate of their citizens and the conditions of the IFIs.   The 76 poorest countries are obliged to pay 106 billion dollars in debt-service costs over the next two years. Creditors should forgive those payments and ensure that those resources are reallocated to education and health care.   In the case of SDG4 on education and SDG3 on health, it would only partially finance the resource gap to meet those goals for 2030. The roles of the IMF and the World Bank should be re-examined. In the light of the many failures of the market driven policies of recent decades and break the habit of repeating the same mistakes.   Extreme climate events are already creating human suffering and damaging the planet. Action is of the greatest urgency. The skills and dedication of first responders have been repeatedly put to the test. They are backed up by workers in health care and other public services. The climate crisis cannot be ignored.   Educators should be encouraged and free to teach about it and equip students to act. Governments and public employees need to enable this transition. Recovery planning and development should incorporate the reduction of carbon emissions and public participation in that process, including through social dialogue.   Ensuring that new jobs are good, and stable requires that workers in new industries are free to exercise their rights to organise and bargain.   Strengthening public services. This means stopping the privatization of public services, excluding the funding of public services from the definition of the public debt, allowing government the fiscal space to own and manage them as public goods.   Effective public investment in health and education and other services requires investment in the workers who provide those services.   There are massive shortages of workers in public services, particularly in education and health care. Crises, but also staff shortages, are sapping well-being, creating dangerous stress, and undercutting standards. Workers need to have access to quality training and development.   But they should also be treated with respect and properly compensated. One may not “live by bread alone”, but one cannot put food on the table or pay the rent with loyalty and dedication.   Previous rounds of austerity have gutted governments capacity to provide high quality independent policy advice. COVID has revealed how many countries now depend on advice from corporate interests – with devastating consequences. Democracy and quality public services for all require that we rebuild this capacity inside government.   Public Services International and Education International sectors are different but they are interdependent. Healthy schools, education for health, good education and training for health care and other workers in the public sector are among the obvious ties.   We share the values of public service and treasure the public good. Community is important to nurture and support individuals and maintain decent societies. A sense of community should be based on what we are for and not who we are against.   The same is true for a global community bound together by common and universal values. We do not believe that a world driven by individual gain or special interests can be healthy or coherent or sustainable.   Governments must act with a sense of urgency. They should understand that tinkering around the edges will not work and will sabotage the future. The profound and fundamental challenges we face demand far-reaching solutions that will mend our global community.   We need to build a consensus and reform global institutions so that they will enable us to resolve conflict, respect others, move closer to justice, and live and work together better. That means public investment on a scale without precedent in peace time. It also requires summoning and sustaining political will for progress.   Only that can vanquish dangerous cynicism, provide collective hope, free our better natures, and set a new course for the future. As Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “We shall overcome because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”   http://bit.ly/3p0BIq8 http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/imf-paves-way-new-era-austerity-post-covid-19   June 2021   Advancing public ownership as an answer to the concentration of wealth and power in the hands of the few, by Ted Howard - President of The Democracy Collaborative   Because much of our work at The Democracy Collaborative is focused on the structural underpinnings of what is wrong with our political economy, it flies under the radar of day-to-day headlines. But at propitious moments, our impact ripples through the landscape in profound ways. Our work on public ownership is an excellent example.   Alternative models of ownership and control have always been a cornerstone of our work and theory of change. But especially in the last couple of years, there has been a meteoric rise in interest in public ownership around the world—and that interest has only intensified as the global economy emerges from the wreckage of a historic pandemic.   Our research director, Thomas Hanna, has been leading our work on advancing public ownership as an answer to the concentration of wealth and power under neoliberal capitalism. In particular, we have become known globally for Hanna’s work developing our concept of democratic public ownership (DPO).   Developed in conjunction with partners and allies around the world, DPO is the idea that we do not simply want to recreate traditional forms of public ownership—often overly top-down, managerial, and disconnected from communities.   Instead, DPO is built on governance structures that give communities authentic power and uphold environment-sustaining values. It combines the distributional benefits of broad-based ownership with the individual and communitarian benefits of increased agency and participation. It also makes public services and assets more resilient and harder to privatize.   Hanna, along with Mathew Lawrence of our UK ally Common Wealth, spent more than a year developing a series of reports on “ownership futures,” the next frontiers of public ownership as technology, data, and knowledge become even more central to the economy.   “By presenting the goals, principles, and proposals of a new democratic public ownership agenda for the 21st century, we hope we have contributed new ideas and new energy to the critical process of collectively reimagining how our economies should be owned and controlled for what new purposes,” Hanna and Lawrence wrote in their recently released concluding report.   Our public ownership work is now budding in myriad ways. There are now dozens of municipal and state-level public power campaigns across the United States, many of which use our ideological and strategic framing and come to us for advice and support.   Similarly, there are myriad active public banking campaigns, most notably in California, where the state legislature has passed a public banking bill. As with public power, we are widely recognized as experts and have strong relationships with public banking groups.   Just this week, we released a report, working with such groups as Public Bank LA, detailing a governance structure for a truly “democratic public bank” for Los Angeles.   Internationally, we helped the UK Labour Party develop its popular proposals on public ownership and have influenced discussions in several other countries around remunicipalization and reinvigorating public services.   In the coming months, we will be pushing public ownership even more aggressively into policy discussions in such areas as healthcare, banking, energy, broadband, and technology platforms.   It is becoming clearer to more and more people that the serious crises that confront us, not only in the US but globally, are not solvable in a system that concentrates ownership and power in the hands of the few.   http://democracycollaborative.org/ http://community-wealth.org/ http://ourworld.unu.edu/en/global-health-and-human-rights-for-a-post-pandemic-world Visit the related web page
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