ITUC launched the #timefor8 campaign 2022

This July, with the support of the United Nations (UN), will take place the 10th session of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF). During the Forum, delegates from different countries of the world will examine how the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development is being implemented and what progress is being made towards achieving several Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

In this connection, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), of which the National Trade Union Confederation of Moldova (CNSM) is a member, has launched an information and awareness-raising campaign calling governments and social partners to include in this year’s Ministerial Declaration of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development several key issues, which refers to Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.

Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary, emphasize that the world of work needs a new social contract, centered on SDG 8. “At HLPF 2022, the world will assess progress on five SDGs: SDG 4 on education, SDG 5 on gender equality, SDG 14 on life below water, SDG 15 on life on land, and SDG 17 on partnerships for goals. Although SDG 8 is not on the review list, we will make sure it is part of the discussion. Because with its targets on decent work, inclusive growth, equitable distribution of wealth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability, Goal 8 is fundamental to building a people-centered recovery and advancing the 2030 Agenda,” says Burrow.

In this context, the CNSM supports the ITUC’s efforts and has sent a letter to the Government of Moldova, signed by Igor Zubcu, President of the CNSM. “We believe that the targets set out in SDG 8 “Decent Work and Economic Growth” are essential for a new social contract and need to be reflected in the Ministerial Declaration of the 2022 Forum. We call for your support to make the New Social Contract a reality within the Decade of Action for the SDGs,” the letter states.

The CNSM considers the following key issues to be reflected in the HLPF 2022 Declaration: ensuring universal access to testing, treatment and vaccines for COVID-19; increasing investment in jobs (To achieve full employment, as set out in SDG 8, the world needs to create 575 million new jobs by 2030); social protection; gender equality; decent wages; lifelong learning; social dialogue. The full text of the letter can be accessed here.

In the UN Secretary General’s call for a “renewed social contract”, the importance of ensuring a new model of global governance based on a reinvigorated and inclusive multilateralism was underlined. The new social contract is a foundation for common security in the face of massive inequality, climate crisis and pandemics, all at a time of escalating conflict. At the same time, it must respond to six workers’ demands: climate green jobs with a just transition; a minimum level of labor protection for all workers; universal social protection; minimum wages and equal pay; equality in terms of income, gender and race; a rights-based development model, delivered through the SDGs and multilateral reform.

We remind you that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development was adopted on 25 September 2015, by the Heads of states and governments of the 193 countries of the UN General Assembly. This global document includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which provide the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, sets a broad spectrum of economic, social and environmental goals in an integrated approach based on respect for human rights.