Sunday 1 April Global Labour University Conference Opening Dinner (Venue: Women’s Gaol, Constitutional Hill)
16:00 to 17:00 Tour of The Constitution Hill Constitution Hill is the home of the Constitutional Court, the protector of our basic rights and freedoms. Constitution Hill is also the site of Johannesburg’s notorious Old Fort Prison Complex, commonly known as Number Four, where thousands of ordinary people were brutally punished before the dawn of democracy in 1994. Many of South Africa’s leading political activists, including Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela, were detained here
17:00 to 18:00 Conference Registration and Cocktails
18:00 to 21:00 Opening Ceremony and Dinner Opening and Welcome: Professor Eddie Webster, Director, Sociology of Work Unit, University of the Witwatersrand Keynote addresses: Professor Yunus Ballim, Deputy Vice Chancellor, University of the Witwatersrand; Comrade Willie Madisha, President, COSATU Chair: Professor Devan Pillay, University of the Witwatersrand
Monday 2 April Global Labour University Conference Day One (Venue: Wits Club, University of the Witwatersrand)
08:00 to 08:30 Morning Tea
8:30 to 10:30 Plenary on Labour, Growth and Inclusive Development Chair: Professor Devan Pillay, Department of Sociology, University of the Witwatersrand Presentations by: 1. Professor Jacklyn Cock, Sociology Department, University of the Witwatersrand 2. Professor Elmar Altvater, Free University, Berlin, Germany 3. Oupa Bodibe, Executive Director of the National Labour & Economic Development Institute (NALEDI), South Africa
10:30 to 11:00 Tea
11:00 to 13:00 Group Sessions 1: Paper Presentations and Discussions IN PARALLEL: Group A1: Labour, the State and Development Chair: Dr Michelle Williams (Sociology Dept, University of the Witwatersrand) 1. Labour and Development: What can be learnt from the Nordic Model? (Asbjørn Wahl, Adviser, Norwegian Union of Municipal and General Employees) 2. The Welfare State, the European Social Model and ‘Southern’ Countries • Discussion Paper 1 • Discussion Paper 2 (Andrew Watt, Senior Researcher, Employment Policy European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health & Safety (ETUI-REHS)) 3. European Flexicurity: Concepts and Consistent Policies (Andranik Tangian, Hans Boeckler Foundation, Germany) 4. Between class struggle and the "developmental state": COSATU and the Sector Job Summits, lessons in corporatism (Mandy Moussouris, Global Labour University, University of the Witwatersrand) Group B1: Labour, Trade and Development Chair: Kimani Ndungu (National Labour and Development Institute) 1. ‘Business as usual?’ Governing the supply chain in clothing post MFA phase out. The case of Cambodia (Veasna Nuon, National Independent Federation of Textile Unions, Cambodia) 2. Post Multifibre Agreement: A Preliminary Assessment of Cambodia and South Africa: A Comparative Analysis (Charlene April, South African Clothing and Textile Workers Union) 3. Magnitude And Possible Socio-Economic Consequences Of Temporary Movement Of Service Providers Under Gats (Gintare Kemekliene, Researcher, European Trade Union Institute for Research, Education and Health and Safety (ETUI-REHS))
13:00 to 14:00 Lunch
14:00 to 16:00 Group Sessions 2: Paper Presentations and Discussions IN PARALLEL: Group A2: Labour, Growth and Development Chair: Bob Harris (Senior Consultant, Education International Chair, TUAC Working Group on Education, Training & Employment) 1. The Dictatorship of Neo-liberalism and the Nigerian Trade Union Movement's Struggles for Inclusive Development (Ifeanyi P. Onyeonoru, Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria) 2. Neoliberal Restructuring and Primitive Accumulation Labour and the Global Struggle for Cooperative Alternatives (Vishwas Satgar, Executive Director, Cooperative and Policy Alternative Center (COPAC)) Group B2: Labour, Trade and Development Chair: Lucien Van der Walt (Sociology Dept, University of the Witwatersrand) 1. Of Jobs Lost and Wages Depressed: The Impact of Trade Liberalization on Employment and Wage Levels in the Philippines, 1980-2000 (Melisa R. Serrano, University Extension Specialist, School of Labor and Industrial Relations-University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines) 2. The Impact of the Andean Free Trade Agreement (AFTA) on labour conditions in Colombia (Consuelo Ahumada, Director of the Master Program in Latin American Studies, Javeriana University, Bogota, Colombia) 3. Trade, Employment and Development (Kristian Weise, Policy Research Officer, ICFTU - International Confederation of Free Trade Unions)
16:00 to 16:30 Tea
16:30 to 18:30 Group Sessions 3: Paper Presentations and Discussions IN PARALLEL: Group A3: Labour, Growth and Development Chair: Prof Sakhela Buhlungu (Sociology Dept/ Sociology of Work Unit, University of the Witwatersrand) 1. Strategies for Reducing Unemployment in South Africa and the Role of Organised Labour (Johann Maree, University of Cape Town) 2. The State and Labour Market Reforms: Vicissitudes of the Changing Relationship between State, Labour and Capital – An Appraisal of the Neo-Liberal Reforms in India (Saumyajit Bhattacharya, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, India) 3. Decent Work Enterprise Index: a methodology to analyse the relation between social development and economic growth (Ana Yara Paulino, Instituto Observatório Social, Brazil) Group B3: Labour, Trade and Development Chair: Prof Jacky Cock (Sociology Dept, University of the Witwatersrand) 1. EU multilateral trade policy: an alternative to US imperialism? (Birgit Mahnkopf, Professor of European Politics, Berlin School of Economics) 2. The impact of trade on employment, wage inequality and social policy (Gerry Rodgers, ILO International Institute for Labour Studies) 3. Environment in the International Trade Agenda: Implications for Development and Employment (Michelle Pressend, Institute for Global Dialogue, Senior Researcher Multilateral Programme)
18:30 to 21:00 Dinner and Cash Bar
Tuesday 3 April Global Labour University Conference Day Two (Venue: Wits Club, University of the Witwatersrand)
08:00 to 08:30 Morning Tea
8:30 to 10:30 Plenary on Labour, Trade and Development Chair: Dr Noor Nieftagodien, University of the Witwatersrand Presentations by: 1. Dot Keet, Centre for Southern African Studies at the University of the Western Cape, South Africa 2. Mike Waghorne, Assistant General Secretary, Public Services International
10:30 to 11:00 Tea
11:00 to 13:00 Group Sessions 4: Paper Presentations and Discussions IN PARALLEL: Group A4: Labour Standards and Development Chair: Dr Bridget Kenny (Sociology Dept, University of the Witwatersrand) 1. The Effects of Trade Liberalization on the Labour Standards in Iran (Zahra Karimi, Assistant Prof. University of Mazandaran, Dept. of Economics, Iran) 2. Mobilisation and Organisation of ITES-BPO Sector Labour in India: Status, Constraints and Emerging Trends (Babu P. Remesh, Associate Fellow, V.V. Giri National Labour Institute) 3. International Workers’ Rights and Competitiveness (Christoph Scherrer, University of Kassel, Germany) Group B4: Labour, Trade and Development Chair: Jeff Rudin (TBC) (SA Municipal Workers’ Union) 1. NAMA negotiations, policy implications and trade union strategies (Esther Busser, Trade Policy Officer, ICFTU) 2. Differential Impacts of Tariff Reduction Commitment of Developed and Developing Countries: Results of a Product by Product Simulation Using the Swiss Formula (Ishaque Otoo, Researcher, Policy & Research Department, Ghana Trades Union Congress) 3. The Doha Round WTO Negotiations and Its Impacts on Employment in the Agricultural, Industrial and Service Sectors: The Brazilian Case (Alexandre de Freitas Barbosa, Instituto Observatório Social, Brazil)
13:00 to 14:00 Lunch
14:00 to 16:00 Group Sessions 5: Paper Presentations and Discussions IN PARALLEL: Group A5: Labour Standards and Development Chair: Seeraj Mohammed (Economics Dept, University of the Witwatersrand) 1. A critical analysis of operational requirement dismissal as governed by the South African Labour Relations Act (LRA) in the context of Neo- liberal Global Pressure (Mohamed Alli Chicktay, Law Faculty, the University of Witwatersrand) 2. Core Labour Standards and Development: Impact on long-term income (Rémi Bazillier, University of Paris) 3. Core labour standards and their impact on trade and development in Botswana (Kholisani Solo, University of Botswana) 4. Labour Standards and Social Equity: The Case of Ghana During Half a Century of Independence (Angela Dziedzom Akorsu, Centre for Development Studies, Univ. of Cape Coast, Ghana) Group B5: Trade Union Responses to the Challenges Chair: Sdumo Dlamini (First Vice-President, Cosatu) 1. How do trade unions respond to and act in regional integration processes? A comparison between CUT in MERCOSUR and COSATU in SADC (Clair Siobhan Ruppert, Advisor of the International Relations Secretary, CUT Brazil) 2. South African Investment in Southern Africa: Trade Union Responses in Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa (Saliem Patel, Labour Research Service, Cape Town) 3. Investment Agreements: Trade Union Response and Strategies (Hilda Sánchez, Advisor, ICFTU/ORIT) 4. The Role of Trade Unions redefined in the era of liberalization (Kanagarani Selvakumar, Programme Officer, International Labour Organization, New Delhi, India)
16:00 to 16:30 Tea
16:30 to 18:30 Final Plenary and Conference Closing Remarks
18:30 to 21:00 Dinner and Cash Bar