Invest in research and capacity, say labour bodies

Labour federations from the Brics bloc have called for investment in policy and research capacity to advance industrial, scientific and technological innovations in a bid to enhance workers’ skills and create jobs.

The union federations from Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA held the 12th Brics Trade Union Forum in Durban on Tuesday and Wednesday to deliberate on issues aimed at advancing social justice, peace and dignity for the working class.

The forum also dealt with targeted investment in people for inclusive development, job creation, elimination of income inequalities, and advancing social protection for workers and their communities.

It was held on the back of the Brics summit in Johannesburg in August, which agreed to invite Argentina, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to become full members of Brics on January 1 2024.

The Brics expansion was viewed as creating a way for the bloc to assume a forceful voice in global politics, with the power to reshape global institutions and financial systems.

In its declaration, the forum noted the fast-paced global transformation processes under way, which are driven by major scientific breakthroughs that had changed economic and workplace skills.

“However, these developments leave many workers, communities and societies behind. The struggle for inclusivity, participation and shared benefit require deliberate integration, capacity and strategies,” the forum said.

“Industrialisation and development are crucial for creating jobs and attracting investments into the developing world, particularly the African continent and the rest of the Global South.

“The continent has vast untapped potential and abundant natural resources, making it an attractive destination for economic growth and investment opportunities, but still suffers chronic underdevelopment and exclusion from key processes of global value chains development.”

The current Brics trade bloc accounts for 42% of the world’s population, 27% of global GDP and about 20% of international trade.

The Brics economies accounted for about 21.3% of SA’s total trade with the world in 2022, of which China accounted for 67.6%, India 26.5%, Brazil 4.2% and Russia 1.7%, according to data from the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC).

SA’s overall trade with its

Brics partners increased by an average 10% between 2017 and 2021.

The trade union forum called for urgency in the effective implementation of the Brics decision to end the stranglehold of the US dollar on the marketplace.

“This is particularly so on the right to use national and/or different currencies for settlements of our transactions and those of our partners and beyond,” it said.

“But this must be understood exactly for what it is: a struggle for a new and fundamentally progressive economic system, not just change of currencies,” the forum said.

“Our struggle should be guided by the premise that the current model of development has dismally failed many people and workers throughout the world.”

Speaking on behalf of the forum at the employment & labour ministerial meeting in Durban on Thursday, Cosatu president Zingiswa Losi said: “Brics has an important role to play in geopolitics, but we need it to evolve as a forum for economic development, infrastructure investment and job creation.”

This, she said, must include the expansion of tourism and transport connections, and the promotion of trade and investment, and educational exchange programmes.

“We must be sensitive to the differing economic needs of our countries and find ways to complement each other.”

THE FORUM ALSO DEALT WITH TARGETED INVESTMENT IN PEOPLE FOR INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT