ITUC calls for immediate action on HLPF declaration on new social contract

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has expressed support for the Ministerial Declaration issued at the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), which reflects key aspects of the workers’ call for a new social contract.

The ITUC emphasised the urgent need for meaningful engagement with trade unions to transform these commitments into practical outcomes at the national level and advance the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The HLPF Ministerial Declaration includes several notable commitments: decent work for all, promoting decent work and ensuring equal pay for equal value to strengthen social protection systems, support the UN Global Accelerator on jobs and social protection for Just Transitions, reforming the international financial architecture to address SDG-related financing gaps, improve international debt mechanisms, prevent illicit financial flows and ensure effective international tax cooperation.

Despite these commitments, however, ITUC General Secretary, Luc Triangle, highlighted the declaration’s failure to address key governance tools essential for effective SDG implementation, such as social dialogue and international labour standards.

Triangle attributed the oversight to the exclusion of non-state actors from the negotiation process.

“It is imperative to reverse the shrinking of democratic spaces and for governments to take immediate action to implement the SDGs in collaboration with trade unions,” Triangle stated.

The ITUC went on to call for global collaboration towards enhancing policies and practices through social dialogue and collective bargaining, actionable implementation to translating the HLPF commitments into concrete national actions.

The ITUC also urged governments to prioritise these actions to ensure that the commitments made at the HLPF translate into real, positive change.

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