Work is the master key for advancing towards greater equality in Latin American and Caribbean countries, Deputy Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Antonio Prado said last week at an event organised by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation in Montevideo, Uruguay.
Although important progress has been made in the last decade in the region with greater participation in the labour market, a stronger minimum wage and reduced unemployment and labour informality challenges remain in terms of income, the egalitarian participation of men and women, pension coverage, and the load of unpaid work, among other issues, the senior United Nations official contended.
Prado gave a conference during the first day of the International Forum of Trade Unions and Progressive Parties, whose motto is “Decent Work as a Prerequisite for Equality”. The meeting, which first emerged in 2013, promotes dialogue between political and union leaders on the sustainability of the transformations that are being carried out in the region.
During his presentation, the Deputy Executive Secretary unveiled the main conclusions of the institutional document “Compacts for Equality: Towards a Sustainable Future” introduced to the region’s countries at ECLAC’s 35th session, held in May in Lima, Peru. In that document, ECLAC proposes seven compacts or transformational pillars to achieve development with equality and environmental sustainability in Latin America and the Caribbean.
One of those that stands out is a social and labour compact that would allow countries to take advantage of the state´s redistributive capacity in the different areas in which inequality manifests itself on the job market. The institutional role in labour must accompany, according to ECLAC, the process of productive transformation of the region’s economies, reducing gaps in terms of gender, productivity and distribution between capital and work.
ECLAC also proposes fiscal and investment compacts and other accords to improve the provision of public services, guarantee environmental sustainability, and promote the governance of natural resources and international cooperation beyond 2015.
“After years of prosperity, the region faces a more difficult external context with less economic dynamism, and therefore efforts must be redoubled. The state must continue to make fiscal policies and public spending more progressive, with strengthened institutions that promote equality in their various spheres,” Prado said. The President of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) João Antonio Felicio and Uruguay’s Social Development Minister Daniel Olesker commented on the presentation by ECLAC’s Deputy Executive Secretary.
