Speech at the ICTU’s Ethical Workplace Initiative Liberty Hall, Dublin
Liberty Hall, Dublin, Thursday, 30th April 2015
Dear friends,
Tá áthas orm a bheith anseo libh i Halla na Saoirse don ócáid cheiliúrtha seo chun comóradh a dhéanamh ar chríoch “Ethical Workplace Initiative” Chomhdháil na gCeardchumann. Is mian liom mo bhuíochas a ghabháil libh as ucht bhur fíorchaoin fáilte agus as ucht bhur gcuid oibre ar son Tionscnamh Eitice Uachtarán na hÉireann.
It is a great pleasure to be here in Liberty Hall to hear and share with you all some of the fruits of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions’ “Ethical Workplace Initiative.” May I thank Patricia King for her presentation to me, on behalf of Congress, of this beautiful handcrafted box, enclosing as it does a valuable treasure – the voices of hundreds of workers on what an ethical workplace means to them.
I look forward to examining the material contained in this box, and I thank all of the participants, some of whom are here this afternoon, for their contribution, whether it was in the form of a postcard, a tweet, an online comment, or a video message, as in the short film we have just seen.
“The Ethical Workplace Initiative” is the trade unions’ response to “The President of Ireland’s Ethics Initiative”, which I launched over a year ago with a view to encouraging debate across all sectors of Irish society on the values and principles we deem fundamental to our living together in harmony and cohesion – values and principles around which a consensus might emerge, of an inter-generational kind.
It was, and remains, my belief that such a reflection on ethics must constitute the base – the necessary groundwork – for any serious reconstruction of our economy and society, in the wake of what was not only a dire financial, economic, social and political crisis, but also a moral one.
The question of what we consider as decent work is, of course, absolutely central to such a reflection. Work, involving as it does the expression of the energy of mind and body in differing degrees through the life-cycle, is an intrinsically human activity. What we experience, define, or even recognise, as work takes place in contexts of power, as conveyed in gender relations, in conditions of hierarchy and sometimes in an atmosphere of authoritarianism.
Our definition of the rights and obligations of employers and employees towards one another as well as towards society; the manner in which we conceive of and cultivate the relation of work to human flourishing – these are issues that are essential, not just to our present coexistence as citizens, but to the type of society we will hand down to future generations.
I am very happy, therefore, that ICTU and its 44 affiliated unions embraced the opportunity afforded by this National Initiative to spark discussions amongst their members on ethics in the workplace. The words of the men and women captured in the film we saw earlier, and the postcards and other messages shown in this exhibition, all point to a vision of labour that is so much more than a tradable commodity, a resource amenable to the fluctuating needs of the market; these words sketch out a conception of good work that goes way beyond material survival. As philosopher Simone Weil put it,
“To strive from necessity and not for some good – driven not drawn – in order to maintain our existence just as it is – that is slavery.”
The voices of workers convey a rich and holistic understanding of work as a source of personal dignity and freedom, family stability, prosperity in the community, democratic flourishing, and solidarity with other workers, in Ireland and abroad.
The terms “respect”, “equality”, “trust”, “honesty”, “transparency”, “security”, “effort” and “creativity” recur in many of the collected messages, outlining a vision of the good workplace as that where workers are enabled to pursue their material well-being and personal development in conditions of dignity, economic security and equal opportunity, and also that where workers are enabled to participate, as citizens. Such a sense of well-being and involvement is to the benefit of society as a whole, and thus it is also, in a broad sense, highly productive.
Trade unions have an essential role to play in defending and advancing such a conception of the good workplace, in a global context characterised by a huge and increasing concentration of wealth in the hands of financial capital, and an overwhelming tendency to measure the worth of large companies primarily in terms of their ability to maximise shareholder value. These shareholders, whose interests are defended by executives, usually incentivised and rewarded by bonuses, are often removed from the workforce. Tracing decision-making and achieving accountability in such a context become labyrinthine.
The task facing trade unions, then, is far from an easy one. Nor is it a task for which they alone can or should take responsibility. The state and our democratically elected representatives have an important role to play in ensuring that citizens can earn a decent living wage, and that no company can overtly or covertly feel justified in shifting its social responsibility onto the state’s welfare system.
Ultimately, these issues have an intrinsically political dimension and should be treated as such, rather than as some inexorable consequence of the natural order of “The Market.” By saying so, I am not disputing the relevance of the market per se, a social institution which long predates contemporary capitalism. Rather, I am seeking to address the assumptions associated with a specific brand of economics that recast “The Market” – with a capital M – as a general principle for regulating the economy, treating labour, land and money as if they were pure commodities. I am also suggesting that the scope, reach, and processes of today’s market should be made transparent.
Accordingly, if I may highlight just one dimension amongst the many challenges facing collective action today, I would emphasise the urgent need for widespread economic literacy amongst our citizens. Indeed I believe that, just as surely as modern democracy needed literacy to be experienced by all for its promises to be vindicated, today economic literacy, supported by a pluralist scholarship, is essential if we are to move beyond the illusions at play in so many parts of the worlds of production, consumption and finance.
In order for labour to organise itself in the face of the heady pace of global production, trade and financial speculation, workers must first feel confident that no financial or economic matter is ever so complex as to be lifted out of the frame of democratic debate and public understanding. Workers must be enabled to apprehend with clarity the new world of work of which they are part.
I understand that several Irish trade unions have been running training courses in political economy so as to equip their members with a conceptual framework allowing them to grasp more clearly power dynamics and the increasing inequality, throughout our world, in the division of wealth and resources. That is a valuable contribution to active citizenship. I was also delighted to learn of a very popular training course on global finance and banking, which shows, for example, how processes such as ‘creative accounting’ or ‘securitisation’ directly affect workers’ wages.
Another important development has been the establishment, by Irish trade unions, of the Nevin Economic Research Institute, where I was invited to give the inaugural lecture in May 2013. The Nevin Institute has become a respected voice in the Irish economic debate – a voice that enriches the public discourse by outlining alternative perspectives and economic policy options geared towards the achievement of a more just society.
All these developments form a very positive movement, which, I hope, will continue to grow as we craft, together, a new era for human work. It is a movement that can be an important element in a wider, comprehensive strategy enabling workers – including the mass of the precarious workers, those who are not members of trade unions, and the unemployed – to be part of the economic discourse, gain control over their professional lives, acquire social and economic security and access a fairer share of vital social assets.
It is also my hope that ICTU’s “Ethical Workplace Initiative” can be a meaningful step in the trade unions’ wider endeavour at seizing back the lead in the debate on what constitutes decent work. I understand that ICTU intends to build upon this Initiative by drafting an “Ethical Workplace Charter” over the next year or so. The ‘raw material’ presented in today’s exhibition thus constitutes the genesis of this Charter, and it will be interesting to see how the voices of the workers find their way into the final text.
May I thank all of you, once again, for your contribution to the “Ethical Workplace Initiative”, and wish you all the very best in your future endeavours. I look forward to the rest of today’s programme: what better way to celebrate work, as defined in its broadest and most creative form, with its rich connections to all the other spheres of human achievement, than through poetry, music and song!
Go raibh míle maith agaibh go léir.