The Danish government?s Disruption Council is gathering these days to discuss how international trade affects our working lives.
This is an important discussion that I look forward to participating in, because there is no doubt that Danish workers are affected by international trade.
This is not least the case when Danish companies must compete with countries where environmental standards and working conditions are far below ours.
Danish workers are generally positive towards international trade. This is what LO?s extensive globalisation survey shows. This is, not least, due to the fact that, from a historical perspective, we have been good at adjusting to change. We have performed well in the face of international competition because we have invested in one another: in education, innovation and a social safety net.
We have redistributed the gains from trade, ensured decent working conditions and created more and better jobs.
In this way, trade has benefited everyone and we must continue this development. The Danish government should therefore abandon further cuts to education and welfare. We need to invest in one another so that we can continue to face the changes without fear.
Using trade agreements actively
In many other countries, workers are far more concerned about the changes brought on by international trade.
This is quite understandable because, in many places, more competition is used as a pretext for worsening working conditions. LO therefore believes that we should use trade agreements more actively to improve working lives.
We don?t want to buy hand lotion, garden gates and hoodies that are produced under poor working conditions and for wages that are not enough to live on.
This is, sadly, the case for 84 % of the earth?s population, according to the most recent report from the International Trade Union Confederation, “ITUC Frontlines and Priorities 2018?.
LO has therefore prepared a number of specific proposals that are intended to contribute to a closer trading cooperation between the EU and other countries. A cooperation that not only benefits businesses but also the workers who toil at the textile factories, in the cotton fields and in the steel shipyards, for example.
It is, of course, up to the countries themselves to decide on the extent to which they want to redistribute wealth and invest in training, education and welfare.
However, we can insist that if other countries want to trade with us, they must observe fundamental workers? rights.