psi workshop against corruption and for fiscal justice santiago de chile, 7 - 8 october 2014 the...
TRANSCRIPT
PSI Workshop against Corruption and for Fiscal Justice
Santiago de Chile, 7 - 8 October 2014
The Character of Corruption and the objectives of the PSI Campaign
Why is corruption a subject for trade unions?
Corruption is the greatest obstacle to modernisation. It prevents political reforms and decent economic development. It is an attack on workers and trade unions. It destroys workplaces and damages public services.
It is an attack on democracy and obstructs trade unions in social dialogue and free collective bargaining.
“Small scale” corruption
Citizens have to pay bribes to obtain services to which they are entitled. People who pay bribes or have “special contacts” receive advantages.
This form of corruption is an insult to democracy, defrauds the citizens and undermines the integrity of public service workers.
Two major reasons for “small scale” corruption
Low salaries in public services, which are not comparable to salaries in other sectors, can be an incentive to taking bribes.
Under conditions of bad governance and public services not equally accessible to all, citizens look for their own, sometimes corrupt, ways to obtain services like medical assistance, construction permits, judgements etc.
“Large scale” corruption
Private companies, often from rich and democratic countries, are involved in large-scale fraud all over the planet.
Multinational companies are seeking to control natural resources, privatise public services, obtain favourable legislation and conditions for their businesses.
Large-scale corruption is a form of organised crime.
State capture
Private companies establish networks to influence politicians and government officials with the aim of modifying laws and rules and providing them with control over parts of the economy and natural resources.
Large-scale fraud by politicians and companies not only perverts the state itself, but disadvantages those who offer better or cheaper products and benefits those who were able to obtain illegal advantages.
Corruption has many faces When people think of corruption, they often think of only one facet of the problem: bribes and illegal payments. Some forms of corruption, which may seem to be “legal”, can have an even greater impact: donations to political parties – personal networks aiming at influencing politics – forms of lobbyism - patronage – nepotism.
Tax fraud and evasion, hiding money in tax havens is stealing the property of the community.
Corruption and public services
Many forms of outsourcing are open doors for private companies and offer great opportunities for corruption:
Privatisation of public servicesSale of state-owned industriesPublic procurementLong-term concessions of water, energy, medical or cleaning services, waste collection and treatment, construction or running of roads, schools, prisons etc.
Transparency, democracy and the “Culture of Corruption”
The precondition and objective of corruption is the disparity of power and wealth. This is why there is corruption in all states on this earth and why it is also widely spread in capitalist democracies of the European Union or North America.
However, political dictatorship or the lack of democratic rules, of transparency, of public control, of independent media are a perfect breeding ground for the emergence of a wide “Culture of Corruption” and make it difficult to fight against.
Public services unions reject corruption because our interest is:
to have quality public services accessible equally to all citizens,
to have services that maintain the integrity of public services workers as well as the rights of citizens,
to earn decent salaries that don’t produce incentives to take bribes,
to keep services in public, not private hands,
to guarantee tax justice and fair contributions by all to finance the public services that society needs.
Our demands - I
Respect for the rights of public service employees and their unions
Decent salaries
Stop privatisations
Adequate financing of public services
Confiscation of profits and gains obtained by corrupt means
Our demands - II
Transparent rules on public procurement
Installation and protection of independent public control and auditing bodies
Protection of independent media and journalists
Adoption of freedom of information acts and laws that protect whistleblowers from persecution
Our demands - III
Prohibition on the participation of corrupt firms in public tenders
Tribunals in both countries – the one of a company’s origin and the one of its operation – have to impose severe legal sanctions
Tax justice and closing of tax havens. We want our money back!
PSI activities
Lobbying inter-governmental organisations seeking the adoption of better international rules and norms.
Working with the ILO to obtain an international Convention that will protect the employees of public control bodies and their independency.
Developing training manuals for trade union seminars and workshops on corruption.
Supporting and assisting our affiliates in their activities to fight corruption.
PSI activities
As the conditions of the fight against corruption may vary from country to country, affiliates decide on the most appropriate actions to take.
It is useful and necessary for PSI and its affiliates to form alliances with other forces in civil society.
Allies can be, for instance, NGOs, media and journalists, religious organisations, political parties, social movements and organisations.