THE global economic crisis threatens to hit poor people hardest amid the challenge to defend millions of jobs. But next Tuesday (October 7) campaigners will launch a fightback with the biggest gathering of international development and labour-related organisations in Britain.

War on Want will play a leading part in this TUC event at Congress House in London which marks the World Day for Decent Work, co-ordinated by the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation.

Almost a decade ago, the International Labour Organisation developed the concept of decent work. It defined the concept as “productive work for women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. Decent work involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income; provides security in the workplace and social protection for workers and their families; offers better prospects for personal development and encourages social integration; gives people the freedom to express their concerns, to organise and participate in decisions that affects their lives; and guarantees equal opportunities and equal treatment for all.”

Yet besides the grim statistic that almost 200 million people remain unemployed around the globe, far greater numbers are underemployed or not paid for their work.

In addition, half of the world’s workforce earns less than two dollars a day; more than 12 million women and men work in slavery; 200 million children aged under 15 work, rather than go to school; more than two million people die from work-related accidents and diseases every year.

Moreover, people in developed and developing countries work harder for less money. Companies use the threat of outsourcing to drive down wages and hard-won freedoms, such as the right to collective bargaining and to strike. And trade unionists who fight these trends are dismissed, threatened, jailed and even killed.

The Congress House event will feature more than 50 workshops, films, exhibitions and stalls from unions and development charities, as well as fair and ethical trade groups and academic institutions.

War on Want will lead a session on how free trade rules have destroyed millions of jobs through cheap imports and the new threat to livelihoods posed by the “Global Europe” policy of European Union trade commissioner Peter Mandelson. This will take place from 11.15 am-12.30pm, with speakers including War on Want trade campaigns officer Dave Tucker and Wendy Willems, the charity’s international programmes research officer.

As developing countries resist wealthy nations’ pressure in the World Trade Organisation, the EU aims to bully them one by one into accepting terms that will increase poverty.

Another disturbing trend concerns the growing numbers of people – overwhelmingly women – forced to make their living in the so-called informal economy, without social protection or rights and in precarious jobs.

Zambia, once among the richest African countries, slumped in the 1970s when copper prices collapsed. In return for loans from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, the government slashed health and education spending, privatised industries and opened the economy to foreign business.

Now seven in 10 Zambians face life on less than $1 a day, with many struggling to survive through small-scale trading in street markets.

Global Europe defines the EU’s interests in terms of an aggressive market access agenda on behalf of European business. This identifies three key areas in which the EU will press to secure new market access opportunities for its corporations in external markets by renewing commitment to reducing tariffs in developing countries and opposing or preventing other so-called barriers to trade; removing controls which impede access for European business to developing countries’ natural resources, especially in energy; enforcing intellectual property rights, liberalising services and opening public procurement markets to transport, construction and utilities companies.

The Global Europe strategy also seeks to favour corporate interests by lowering social and environmental protection to match US deregulation.

The ILO’s reference to a “fair income” in its decent work definition contrasts with the poverty pay for up to 90-hour weeks toiled by millions of garment workers making clothes for British retailers. In Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, China and Sri Lanka, employees in sweatshops earn far less than needed to meet bills for food, housing and healthcare.

In June, new research launched by War on Want and the campaign group Labour Behind the Label showed Indian workers making Tesco clothes toiling long hours for as little as 16p an hour – only half a living wage. In January this year, War on Want revealed new evidence from the Garment and Textile Workers’ Union in India that employees producing clothes for Matalan and H&M earned only £38 a month, well under a living wage. And a month later the charity found workers in Kenya and Colombia facing poor wages, health problems and job insecurity, supplying flowers as Valentine’s Day gifts in British supermarkets.

In another workshop organised by War on Want, from 1.30-2.45pm, the speakers will include Simon McRae, its senior campaigns officer, who will describe the charity’s support for garment workers battling for a living wage.

The world financial crisis has sparked widespread debate about its effect on the plight of millions of poor people. The TUC event offers a timely opportunity for activists to join forces in the battle to save jobs and step the campaign to ensure that all employment meets the criteria to justify the term decent work.

Paul Collins is media officer at War on Want