Decent work for all: time for a new approach?

With core labour standards and employment rights still denied to so many, it is understandable that the global union movement focuses on the basics of the decent work agenda. But the Arab Spring has demonstrated the powerfully unifying and motivating force of the struggle for democracy, and unions — already inspired by its spirit — could learn more from that. To transcend the incremental gains already being made and bring about a paradigm shift, they need to focus on what seem to be the loftier goals of the Decent Work Agenda, to democratise workplaces, as an essential part of the means to achieving more secure jobs and social protection. (2011)