Global Issues
ECONOMY: 'Crisis Must Led to Greater Voice for Workers'
The compensation for managers must be capped at 15 times that of workers, civil society groups demanded Sunday following a conference in Florence.
The demand was a part of a call for action by a coalition of unions, fair trade organisations and civil society groups to 'reform finance for a civil and jointly responsible economy.'
The call came at Terra Futura (Earth of the Future), an international exhibition of good practices on sustainability held annually in Florence, 300 km north of Rome. Its sixth edition held May 29-31 focused on civil society answers to the financial crisis, by way of reform of the financial system, and lifestyle alternatives.
'This crisis is a good occasion for civil society to show its role and potential, after the failure of the current economic system,' Andrea Oliviero of the Christian Associations of Italian Workers (ACLI) said at the conference. 'Civil society can be ground-breaking because it brings together the creativity, passion and brains of our citizens.'
The conference called for establishment of a supranational authority for the regulation of financial markets, closure of tax havens, and measures including legislation to ensure sustainable consumption of natural resources. It also called for tight rules for managers' wages and rewards, including a 15 times limit on other workers' compensation.
'A good economy is characterised by social and environmental corporate responsibility, and by a regulated market, supervised by independent authorities, and capable of producing growth, social cohesion, economic democracy and widespread civil society participation,' said Giuseppe Gallo of the bank and insurance workers union Fiba-Cisl.
'This call is just a step towards a model of economic democracy, in which all stakeholders, including workers and the civil society, are involved in decision-making and control bodies,' Fiba-Cisl organiser Giacinto Palladino told IPS. 'Workers must participate in corporate governance because they have a stake in business-making.'
A conference document summarising the proposals for reform will be presented at a government-civil society meeting at the conference of the eight largest economies (G8), to be held in L'Aquila in central Italy Jul 8-10.
For the first time Terra Futura made space for a Green Business Meeting dedicated to private companies with an interest in social corporate responsibility and environment protection. Members of about 60 companies that are engaged in fair trade, renewable energies, sustainable mobility and 'green building' took part in skills exchange workshops and one-to-one meetings.
'What's the answer to the crisis? We should not react by lowering social protection, but increasing social and economic responsibility of private companies,' Giuseppina de Lorenzo from Fabbrica Ethica told IPS. Fabbrica Ethica is a programme for corporate social responsibility promoted by the Tuscany region in Central Italy.
'We have to make consumers understand that they are part of the solution. By choosing green products, they contribute to respecting our ecosystem,' entrepreneur Primo Barzoni told IPS. 'We must act locally, encouraging a short productive chain, with low carbon footprint.'
Barzoni runs Palm srl, a company producing ecologically safe wooden packaging. He employs more than 70 workers, many among them migrants and disabled people. Work relations are regulated by a code of ethics, including 'integration and mutual acceptance' of migrants.
'We have to abandon the focus on products to embrace an ecology of the whole productive system. Even competitors become allies if we are building a better world together,' Barzoni said. 'It is our responsibility as businessmen to create green cultures.'
Terra Futura was also a showcase and bazaar of 'good practices' for lifestyle change, offering organic detergents and biodegradable diapers, recycling techniques, organic food and beer, bags created with recycled material, alternative medicine products, and 'green building' techniques.
The exhibition was organised around five themes - housing, producing, farming, acting and governing. Hundreds of workshops and conferences discussed issues of sustainable development, responsible tourism, waste recycling, fair trade, food security, and peace and social justice.
'We can all be paradigm changers,' political economist Susan George said at the meeting. 'We can all be the people who say, and say to institutions and politicians, we can do what we must do; and what we must do, is having a totally different economy.'
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service