Luciana Hachmann

Kurzexposé zum Promotionsvorhaben von Luciana Hachmann

The Paradox of Trade and Decent Work: the Role and Potential of Political Parties and Trade Unions in Brazil and South Africa

Globalization led to the intensification of world trade but has not necessarily translated into better living and working conditions.[1] Increasingly, the discourse is focusing on the relation between trade and work-related conditions not only through quantitative lenses but on qualitative as well. Followed by this debate, the International Labor Organization (ILO) has been considering the relation between labor and trade as part of a broader framework to develop Decent Work oriented approaches to economic and social policies.

In order to effectively apply Decent Work oriented approach in trade policy, it has to include the representative institutions through which social actors can express their interests.  It  will argued in this research that trade unions and political parties have an important role to play in mobilizing their resources to create opportunities for better living standards by promoting rights at work and strengthening dialogue on work-related issues.

The research aims to evaluate the impact of political parties and trade unions in Brazil and South Africa in relation to promoting Decent Work in Trade Policy and identifying their real capacity and resources of influence. The units of analyses of this research will be the two center-left wing ruling parties known as the Worker’s Party (PT) in Brazil and the African National Congress (ANC) in South Africa. With regard to the trade unions, the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and the Congress of South Africa Trade Union (COSATU) will be considered as they are the major central bodies and allied with the ruling party. The parties in both countries have strong links with trade unions but it is still uncertain whether this alliance leads to a significant engagement in trade policy making. This is examined as a secondary research question in the study.

The argument that labor friendly political parties in alliance with trade unions guarantees a win-win situation towards better social standards could prove to be misleading since the political parties have to compromise with other economic and social actors in order to gain political power. To what extent this political strategy results in better policies is debatable. Therefore, the relationship between the political parties and trade unions selected will be also analyzed as well as the frictions that might have arisen due to political constrains.

Finally, the research will identify and evaluate the potential gaps between the expectations provided by the literature; the discourse of these actors and finally the actual practices and its correlation with the first two issues.