ITUC General Council adopts World Congress framework and admits new affiliates

The 26th meeting of the ITUC General Council, 18-20 May, has adopted a draft statement to be debated at the 5th ITUC World Congress.

The Council also agreed on the agenda and programme for the Congress, which will take place in Melbourne, Australia, 17 – 22 November this year.

The Council re-affirmed the gender parity requirements set out in the ITUC Constitution for the composition of delegations to the Congress and set a target for at least 15% of delegates to be young people.

The draft Congress Statement, which elaborates the theme “A New Social Contract”, reiterates the ITUC’s commitment to peace, democracy and rights, and analyses three major and converging challenges to working people:

1.  Climate change.
2.  The COVID-19 pandemic and global health.
3.  Technology and digitalisation.

It sets out a policy and action agenda around the six fundamental pillars of the new social contract: jobs, rights, wages, social protection, equality and inclusion, and highlights key ways in which the ITUC will implement its agenda in the years ahead.

The Council agenda included a review of main ITUC activities since November 2021, a report on the work of the Committee on Workers’ Capital and a report on developments at the International Labour Organisation, which will hold its annual Conference from 27 May to 11 June.

The Council welcomed the election of Gilbert Houngbo, the candidate supported by the ITUC, to take office as the new ILO Director General from October.

The Maldives Trade Union Congress (MTUC) and Konfederasaun Sindikatu Timor Leste (KSTL East Timor) were accepted into ITUC affiliation, and the Council confirmed the suspension of the FNPR Russian Federation on the recommendation of a Commission of Inquiry established by the Council. It also pressed the case for peace in Ukraine and the end of other armed conflicts around the world.