Development Programmes

HC Deb 25 February 1998 vol 307 cc351-2

3. Mr. MacShane

What recent contacts she has had with the Trades Union Congress about the role of trade unions in development programmes. [29612]

Clare Short

One of my priorities is to secure respect for the International Labour Organisation's core labour standards throughout the world. That is key to ensuring that the fruits of globalisation are fairly distributed, otherwise capital moves around the world chasing cheaper and cheaper labour. My Department is in frequent contact with the TUC to help to achieve that. We are working together on plans for a conference on trade unions, development and human rights, which I hope will generate widespread interest among union members.

Mr. MacShane

I am grateful for that answer. My right hon. Friend has answered my supplementary, so with your permission, Madam Speaker, I shall sit down.

Madam Speaker

Very sensible, too.

Mr. Garnier

Sadly, the right hon. Lady's reply did not answer my question. Can she be more precise? We listened with interest to her answer, but can she give us a little more detail and set out with greater clarity what she meant?

Clare Short

I am always happy to speak at greater length. The hon. and learned Gentleman will know that more and more major British companies are interested in working with my Department, with NGOs and with the trade union movement to get agreement on codes of conduct for sourcing produce overseas in order to satisfy the pressures from the ethical consumer movements that are growing and strengthening across society. One of the agreements involving people of good will, including employers, trade unionists and NGOs, is that respect for core labour standards—basically, the right of labour to organise, to protect health and safety and not to accept environmental degradation—is one of the fundamental principles of ethical sourcing. We agree with that. We support the work of the International Labour Organisation and we are working with various companies that agree with the principle. I agree with those who hope that there will be a human rights clause in the World Trade Organisation, which would mean basic rights for people worldwide and that capital will not be driven into seeking ever cheaper labour, with all the instability and the race to the bottom on environmental standards that that can entail.