Sharan Burrow, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation, speaks on the outcomes of the 2016 International Labour Conference and ponders what comes next for the global labour movement.
In his book, The Great Transformation, economic historian Karl Polanyi develops the concept of ‘the double movement’ to refer to the process by which any phase of market expansion or economic liberalisation will be followed, inevitably, by counter-demands for social protection and market re-regulation. This, he argues, is because the expansion of market relations will typically result in major social dislocation, with the consequence that people rebel and fight to once again subordinate commerce to social life.
Arguably, what we’ve seen in Geneva over the past two weeks has been a watershed moment in the history of precisely such a double movement. For three decades now, neoliberal globalisers (that is, business interests – assisted by states) have pushed the boundaries of market life ever further back. Privatisation has followed wave of privatisation, natural resources have been commodified, and labour protections have been dismantled.
