ETUC Stability Pact Forum: trade unions and the process of the democratisation of Balkan societies

Transcription

1 ETUC Stability Pact Forum: trade unions and the process of the democratisation of Balkan societies 1. Introduction The Stability Pact for south-east Europe was signed in early June 1999 in Cologne. Less than a month later, at the 9 th ETUC Congress in Helsinki, a special statement was adopted which supported the establishment of the Pact and pointed to the significance of democratic trade unions in the democratisation and reconstruction of the region. The ETUC Congress statement particularly emphasised the need for trade unions, both at the national and the European levels, to engage in the reconstruction of the region. At the same time, the ETUC undertook to develop dialogue and co-operation between trade unions in south-east Europe, including a series of expert meetings in the countries of the area aimed at preparing a conference at which the ETUC, together with the trade unions of the region, would present to the institutions of the European Union their views on the promotion of the social dimension of the Stability Pact. After that, the ETUC Secretariat set up a separate task force composed of trade union experts from the region which held its first meeting at the beginning of September 1999 in Macedonia, followed by a series of working meetings in Bulgaria, Montenegro and Macedonia (at the border with Kosovo). Since the text of the Stability Pact did not devote adequate attention to social issues and the role of trade unions, the task force undertook to define trade union views concerning the implementation of the Stability Pact. The task force particularly elaborated four areas: democratisation, labour and trade union rights economic reforms, privatisation, the shadow economy and corruption economic reconstruction, regional co-operation and integration trade union participation, social partnership and social dialogue The aim of the work on these documents was, on the one hand, to prepare materials for the ETUC conference on the Stability Pact and, on the other, to define a global trade union strategy for working towards the development of the social dimension necessary in building a stable and long-standing peace in south-east Europe. In the meantime, the ETUC Executive Committee, at its session of 17 th September, supported the activity of the task force and defined its own responsibility in the area of strengthening the influence of trade unions in the reconstruction of south-east Europe. The initiative of the task group for the establishment of a specific framework the ETUC Stability Pact Forum was approved with the view of providing co-ordinated trade union support for the Stability Pact. The establishment of the Forum, as defined by the ETUC Executive Committee, is necessary to co-ordinate and monitor joint policy, activities and initiatives among ETUC members, observers and partner organisations from south-east Europe, as well as among other trade union organisations. 1/2000 South-East Europe Review S

2 The ETUC Conference on the Stability Pact was held in early December, followed soon afterwards by the first session of the ETUC Stability Pact Forum. Members of the Forum are trade union organisations from Hungary (MSZOSZ, SZEF, ASZOK, LIGA, MOSZ, ESZT); Slovenia (ZSSS); Bulgaria (KNSB, PODKREPA); Romania (CNSLR-Fraţia, Cartel-ALFA, BNS, CSDR); Turkey (TURK-Is, DISK, HAK-Is, KESK); Croatia (SSSH); Bosnia and Herzegovina (SSBIH, SSRS); Serbia (UGS Nezavisnost ); Montenegro (SSSCG); Kosovo (BSPK); Macedonia (SSM); Albania (KSSH, BSPSH); and Greece (GSEE, ADEDY). Membership of the Forum is open to additional members. At the first session, the Forum discussed the documents prepared by the task force and adopted the text entitled For the Strengthening of Social Rights in the Balkans, which represents a kind of social charter for trade unions concerning the Stability Pact. 2. Political reform The outburst of popular will in 1989 forced democracy on the political agenda of societies in central and eastern European countries. Trade unions were either in the lead or were a major driving force in the endeavour to dismantle the old system. Political reforms and the exercise of power have been, and remain, the key factor for success in the process of the transition to pluralist democracy and the market economy in the Balkans region. The Stability Pact can make a significant contribution in this area, both with the European content of the initiatives undertaken and through the direct demonstration of the democratic management of diverse political interests, efficient patterns of conflict resolution and consensus building within societies and across the region. The state of the political development of the region is marked by a range of different situations. The current diversity of strategies and modes of political behaviour in itself constitutes a source of tension which exercises direct influence on the results of transition in each country of the region. Undoubtedly, to trigger a convergence process, special attention must be devoted to facilitate the changes that will guarantee the real exercise of human, social and civil rights. It is the joint efforts of EU practices and local experience in political reforms that can accelerate the gradual elimination of accumulated differences, create a sound base for democratic development and prevent discrimination and social exclusion. Steps in this direction can be especially helpful in the process of institution building, ethnic conflict resolution and crisis management. The implementation of the Stability Pact will inevitably face at least two crucial challenges on the way to effective and democratic political transformation: first, the necessity of rethinking the political concept behind the transformation strategies of the last ten years. Too often the unconditional belief that a group of devoted reformers, insulated from the constraints of political competition and social pressure, could guarantee the success of the reforms has failed to deliver the results. It has given rise to a persistent tendency of a closing in of the decisionmaking process within the political elites and the attempts of political parties to monopolise the political process. The inevitable result has been the marginalisa- 110 South-East Europe Review 1/2000

3 ETUC Stability Pact Forum: trade unions and the process of the democratisation of Balkan societies tion of civil society structures and the social partners as the active political voices of the public. the second challenge will encounter reform initiatives within the Pact with the web of the informal networks of power which lay under the surface of democratic political and market institutions. The widely used terms corruption or organised crime are often insufficient to explain the complex and rational system of interlocking political and business structures with hidden power which, in many cases, can have a formative impact on formal decision-making. Addressing these challenges, the Pact can provide an efficient first barrier to the development of obsolete nineteenth-century industrial relations and lay the basis for the implementation of the values and standards of the European social model in the region. Thus, the traditional role of trade unions as managers of discontent can be supplemented with a new one the agents of change, which will contribute to maintaining social peace and public support for reform initiatives. 3. Social dialogue The introduction and proper functioning of a regime of dialogue and a culture of respect for the interests of the other in societies in the Balkan region forms probably the crucial civilisational advance in which the Stability Pact is bound to make a big difference. Even in countries invited for the EU enlargement negotiations, i.e. those which have achieved acceptable progress in political reforms, different sections of society find it difficult to talk to each other: governing parties to the opposition; political elites to the public; authorities to civil society and minority groups; producers to consumers; employers to workers. As a result, inevitable tensions from the transformation process tend to accumulate on top of each other, to merge from different fields and to erupt as complex clashes of interests, often with severe political and human implications. Intensive development and consolidation of genuine social dialogue can offer the implementation of the Stability Pact an effective tool for conflict resolution, crisis management and a stable social peace through which to give chance to the reform efforts. It carries a significant potential for making the systems in the economic and social spheres more transparent, predictable and manageable, and in strengthening the stability efforts. The practical interaction of truly independent representatives of workers and employers can serve as a specific school for tolerance a demonstration of the advantages of the pursuit of interests through consensus with pressure, yet avoiding violence and unnecessary human and material losses. The pattern of management of the Social Pact and its attitude towards social dialogue and the partners involved itself constitutes a major source of positive dynamics. The practical involvement of the competence of the social partners in decision-making and the clear positions of the EU institutions on the issue emit powerful signals which have already brought positive results in a number of cases. 1/2000 South-East Europe Review 111

4 4. The role of tripartism Unlike the political or economic sphere, there was not much to revive after 1989 as a basis for developing modern industrial relations compatible with European systems. The current pattern of tripartite arrangements was borrowed from outside and introduced with the active assistance of the ILO, the ICFTU and the ETUC. The idea found initial support in the international financial institutions as a tool for facilitating the start of economic reforms. Tripartite arrangements did make a crucial contribution to the success of the first waves of shock therapy and, in some countries, have been established with their own framework and practices. At the same time, due to the limitation of the action field within the IMF reform model, tripartism has a quite poor record on the main directions of its functioning: tripartite arrangements could not deliver a reward for the participation of each partner and constitute a positive sum game. At best, they served to distribute the negative results of the reforms more equally they could not settle, even less prevent, major labour conflicts in key sectors of the economy, which sometimes brought about political crises institutionalisation in the conditions of reforms created rather hollow structures instead of strengthening the positions of the social partners. In fact, throughout the region, industrial relations systems are still in an embryonic stage. Therefore, options to develop are still ahead and the recent increase of activity of and around economic and social councils in the region also indicates the diversity of opportunities available. 5. Economic reform, privatisation and the shadow economy a) Economic reform Ten years of reform have brought remarkable changes in the economies and societies of the countries in central and eastern Europe. Yet, despite unquestionable achievements in certain areas, it is already obvious, even for the international financial institutions, that the situation in the transition countries in the Balkan region does not register substantial progress towards efficient market economies. The social costs of the transformation are steadily increasing and, more often than not, public opinion is interpreting the changes in terms of injustice, social exclusion and a deficit of political legitimation. In this sense, it is difficult to expect that policies which failed to deliver in normal conditions would perform miracles in the war-devastated Kosovo and the whole region of former Yugoslavia. To achieve the objectives of the Stability Pact, at least two crucial steps have to be undertaken in the period of preparation: first, to ensure the stable and long-term economic involvement of the international community in the recovery and further integration of the region into European and global economic processes second, carefully to reconsider the overall philosophy of the current approach to economic reforms, as well as the strategy and structure of the management of the 112 South-East Europe Review 1/2000

5 ETUC Stability Pact Forum: trade unions and the process of the democratisation of Balkan societies transformation process. This requires to place under close scrutiny the key concepts of the model of economic transformation and the inflexibility of the instruments employed. It is important that the Stability Pact takes into account the accumulated experience of reforms and the legacies in place. Transition turned to be a longer, much more complicated and controversial process than expected at the start. Its direct dependence on the uncertainties of the political process and often on the networks of the hidden power structures cannot be overestimated. New strategies for reform have to go beyond a sole reliance on classical monetarist dogma, focusing on the anchors control over inflation and the exchange rate, and the practice of shock therapy. The inherent rigidity of this approach has clearly demonstrated an inability to translate the achievement of macroeconomic stability into the dynamics for restructuring and economic growth in the conditions of the region. The current combination of policies of tight financial constraints, a heavy tax burden and restrictive incomes policies tends to create a vicious circle which, over time, begins to undermine the basis of financial stabilisation itself. In the conditions of ineffective capital and financial markets, growing external trade deficits and marginal interest from foreign investors, these policies tend to depress business initiatives, tighten the grip on SMEs and starve enterprises even of working capital. This situation is further complicated by the persistent trend of the shrinking of formal employment which, in turn, fuels a growing pool of the labour force at the disposal of the shadow economy. b) Privatisation The processes of restructuring and the privatisation of state assets undoubtedly form the cornerstone of transformation policy. In this vital role, privatisation has exposed most acutely the main contradiction of transition policies: the necessity to build capitalism without capital. The result clearly shows that it has been largely a hectic operation without systematic strategies for the development of sectors, industries or regions. Cash and voucher privatisation have dominated the process and the main results involve: the appearance and operation of network capital the combined interests of political and business groups from governmental level down to the shadow economy new companies have often produced unclear ownership structures and complicated management systems, with questionable positive change in overall performance close connections to the ruling power remained vital for securing resources and/or preferential conditions for operation and survival in the post-privatisation period the inefficient post-privatisation control system and slow court proceedings permit the new owners easily to avoid obligations in privatisation contracts, especially in the employment and social spheres. Foreign investment, especially bigger enterprises, have played and will continue to play a key role in the process, with a much lower level of mismatch between expec- 1/2000 South-East Europe Review 113

6 tation and outcomes. Ownership participation schemes, mainly management employee buy-outs (MEBO), have been on the rise as a result of mounting difficulties in finding bidders for enterprises. Such ideas directly clash with the tight financial and fiscal policies imposed by the IMF. In the current conditions of a lack of free capital, MEBO schemes are in danger of being intercepted by network capital from the beginning and need targeted assistance to become an efficient pattern of changing ownership. c) Shadow economy The size of this phenomenon has already reached or even exceeded 40-50% of GDP of the economies of the countries of the region. However, the key characteristic is the stable growth tendency, despite the fluctuations and decline of the formal economy. Obviously, reforms and restructuring programmes tend to produce results first in the twilight zone of society. The output of the shadow economy is tacitly integrated in the expectations of governments and, as it provides people with survival options, it buys time for reforms to take root. This attitude provides an informal legitimacy to the phenomenon and consolidates its own social basis. Coping with the shadow economy faces policy makers with a dual dilemma. On one side is the classical case of preserving the positive social effects while allowing the informal activities to come out into the open. On the other is the necessity to protect survival activities from criminalisation in the meantime. Trade unions, employer organisations and other local factors can contribute greatly to the success of such a policy. Policy formulation in the area of economic reforms has to consider seriously the challenges of the real situation. The social dimension of the process of transformation has to be conceived as an integral part of the policy and not as a residual and compensatory activity. The widely proclaimed wisdom : first economic and then social issues leads to demotivation and a search for survival in the shadow economy. There can be no real social policy without macroeconomic stability, but social indicators are among the best indicators of the success of each step of the economic transformation. d) Sanctions Besides the other issues on the agenda, plenty of attention was devoted by the Forum to the sanctions of the international community against FR Yugoslavia and their political, economic and social consequences. The need to discuss sanctions within the debate on the social dimension of the Stability Pact arises, above all, from the stances of the authors and the international organs and bodies in charge of implementing the Stability Pact, who have expressed their attitude and readiness that Serbia, i.e. FR Yugoslavia, be included in the implementation of the Stability Pact as soon as it met the requirements defined by the international community. Such a stance is confirmed in the debates in the Task Force and in the documents which clearly state that sanctions represent a major obstacle to economic co-operation and integration processes and inflict enormous economic damage on all the countries 114 South-East Europe Review 1/2000

7 ETUC Stability Pact Forum: trade unions and the process of the democratisation of Balkan societies of the region. Therefrom comes the joint interest of all these countries that sanctions be lifted as soon as possible. Different standpoints and opinions have been presented about the positive and negative effects of sanctions, which essentially boil down to the following: the effects and objective reach of sanctions should be analysed rationally and systematically in a certain period, sanctions produced a positive effect in the sense of the pressure on the authorities in Belgrade to stop the war in BiH and accept the Dayton Agreement throughout the period they were in place, sanctions produced exceptionally grave economic consequences which mostly affected wage-earning population strata. Most participants in the debate think that sanctions in the given circumstances are not productive, that their negative effects by far exceed the positive ones and that they should be abolished. Likewise, fewer participants advocated the view that sanctions should be continued. e) Corruption During the work of the Task Force in preparing the Stability Pact Forum, in the debate during the Forum session, as well as in the activities which followed, considerable attention was devoted to the negative political, economic and social consequences of corruption and the strategy of struggle against it. At the meeting in Brussels on 3-5 December 1999, a part of the discussion particularly focused on issues referring to corruption, with the analysis Corruption in Post-communist Societies, prepared in the ETUC by Beate Sissenich, serving as the basis for the discussion. That fact in itself speaks sufficiently loudly about how corruption is deeply rooted, complex and producing negative consequences, faced to a greater or lesser extent by all transition countries in the region. In many of these countries, corruption was transformed from a relatively limited socially negative phenomenon into the rule of conduct. Its roots lie in the historical legacy of the previous system of the directed planned economy and the single-party system in which politics dominated over economic laws. Another source can be found in the mechanisms of pluralist democratic society and the market economy in these societies, which are either not sufficiently-well developed or which do not function efficiently. At the same time, corruption is one of the greatest obstacles to carrying out all the goals and aspects of the Stability Pact, including those particularly stressed by the ETUC Forum from the point of view of the struggle for employees interests. With its devastating consequences, corruption particularly affects employees, because the damage it causes to national economies and society at large is mostly wrought through the burden it places on employees. Therefore, fighting corruption is exceptionally difficult and complex. It encompasses various aspects and forms, two of which should be particularly underlined. The struggle against corruption cannot be successful if undertaken as an isolated effort. This implies the construction of democratic mechanisms and institutions, and 1/2000 South-East Europe Review 115

8 the development of national market economies that will be capable of integrating into international economic processes, as well as a comprehensive systematic implementation of the Stability Pact. In addition to action within the general political and economic programme, it is necessary to develop specific forms and mechanisms for detecting and combating corruption within both the national, regional and international environments. The fact that corruption only exceptionally affects the world of labour defines a special interest and obligation of the trade unions to oppose this phenomenon in an organised and systematic way. In this regard, a particularly significant aspect of industrial action against corruption is the creation of an organised trade union network for fighting corruption, as well as the systematic education of trade union activists and experts in combating it. 6. Regional co-operation Commentaries and analyses of the Kosovo crisis have largely left it unnoticed that, for the first time since the last century, countries in the region have tried to preserve neighbourly relations and have refrained from using the crisis situation to resolve traditional claims and rivalries through aggressive means. These positive impulses need to be supported and developed into effective schemes for regional co-operation. The underlying assumptions for policy in the field of co-operation will have to make important breakthroughs in at least two directions: establishing sound conditions for foreign direct investment by improving the region s image and practising transparent privatisation procedures. Important in this is the determining of investment priorities and the adoption of an Investment Charter to ensure a social dimension for the changes the implementation of the Stability Pact has to pay special attention to the priority involvement of local production and expert potential, contributing to the development of capacities and increasing social confidence and public support in the region. The ETUC Task Force proposed the establishment of a Balkan Trade Union Forum. The Forum, created in December 1999 in Brussels, is open to all interested trade union organisations and will establish the mechanisms for trade union regional co-operation, strategy formulation and participation in the work of the working groups, as well as in the regional group of south-east Europe. The initiatives undertaken should make an effort to converge the transformation process with the aims of EU integration, which will provide more clear targets and motivation for action across societies in the region. The experience of trade unions in the region s countries and the support of the ETUC, the ICFTU, the WCL and the ILO are indispensable and can facilitate the institution building which is necessary to achieve the objectives of the Stability Pact. 7. Conclusion The Stability Pact for south-eastern Europe is unquestionably a document of strategic importance for the development of the region and for its full political, economic and 116 South-East Europe Review 1/2000

9 ETUC Stability Pact Forum: trade unions and the process of the democratisation of Balkan societies social integration into a modern, developed and democratic Europe. It is the first document which systematically and in so complex a manner addresses the contradictions and opens the scope for the development of the region. The entire course of activity of the ETUC within the ETUC Forum for the Stability Pact has outlined that the international organs and bodies responsible for the implementation of the Stability Pact, as well as the national trade unions, should accept the position that the comprehensive and efficient implementation of the Stability Pact is not possible without its social dimension. How this social dimension will be exercised will primarily depend on how successfully the Stability Pact as a whole is implemented, i.e. to what extent it will activate the developmental and economic resources in every country individually and in the region as a whole. The social dimension of the Stability Pact must also be systematically and continuously developed. It is necessary, above all, that it be promoted among trade union members, employees and the public in each country as a necessary element of the Pact and one which affects most evidently the position of those who make their living by working. The social dimension of the Stability Pact, as a joint subject of work, represents, at one and the same time, a basis for the linking and long-term co-operation between trade unions in the region, as well as a necessary step towards their integration into the European trade union family. 1/2000 South-East Europe Review 117