Welcome address President of Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR) at the 10th BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting September 9, 2024 – Sochi, Russian Federation
Welcome address by Mr. Mikhail Shmakov, President,
Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR)
at the 10th BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting
September 9, 2024 – Sochi, Russian Federation
Dear Ministers, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, comrades,
I cordially welcome you on behalf of the national trade union centres of Brazil, China, Egypt, Ethiopia, India, Iran, Russia, and South Africa. Just on the eve of this meeting we gathered here in Sochi for the 13th BRICS Trade Union Forum which was held under the motto « Strengthening Multilateralism for Equitable Global Development and Security». As in previous years, our Forum has been timed for the BRICS Labour and Employment Ministers' meeting, and I thank you for inviting trade union representatives to attend it, which has already become a good tradition.
This is a special year because the Russian presidency takes place amid the expansion of BRICS, the decision on which was made last year at the Summit in Johannesburg.
The national federations that make up the Trade Union Forum, including the newly admitted organisations, approve and support the expansion of this international association. At the plenary session of the Forum, we have welcomed its new participants and initiated the process of their integration based on the principles of equality, mutual respect, openness, inclusiveness and constructive cooperation.
The Tenth anniversary BRICS Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting is going to consider an integrated set of social policy issues aimed at supporting the citizens of our countries. Ensuring safety at work, vocational training and social protection of employees, including the new category of platform workers, fully meets the priorities of the unions and enjoys our unconditional support.
It is by no means an accident. A clear demand for justice in BRICS countries continues to energize the search for new paths of development. Justice and security are both key factors and goals for global development. They are closely related to the defining nature of the internal development of each country of the association.
The final Declaration of the Sochi Trade Union Forum stresses that society is called to be not only an object of the state policy, but also its active initiator and implementer.
That is precisely what constitutes the inclusive nature of development, and the involvement of workers' representatives in this process shows an indispensable and innovative role of BRICS Trade Union Forum as the most representative and organised part of the civil society of our countries.
In 2008, the ILO Declaration on Social Justice called upon the ILO member states to promote more actively decent work and, first and foremost, to defend the right to organise and to bargain collectively as a basis for equitable development of the society.
Labour is a key resource in practically every sphere of human activity. Decent wages for honest work, a safe workplace, social guarantees - these traditional trade union goals are now more important than ever to build a fair global economy.
The ILO’s involvement in implementing the UN Secretary-General’s Call to Action for Human Rights has become a starting point for the promotion of international labour standards as an integral part of the human rights standards underlying the UN Agenda 2030.
We fully share the view that workers' rights are human rights, and that integrating human rights and international labour standards into economic and regulatory policies is crucial to reducing inequalities and creating conditions for promoting more equitable and inclusive economic development worldwide.
We are convinced that the expanding format of BRICS as a model for equal and sovereign unity of the global South will lead the world to a constructive solution of contemporary problems. Without social justice there is no true development, and we extend a hand of cooperation to all of you.
I sincerely wish you fruitful deliberations and making important decisions in the best interests of workers in our countries.
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