Thursday, 01 January 2004
International Federation of Building and Wood Workers
Making Life Better For Workers In The Forest
Central to the mission of FSC is the full integration of social, environmental and economic needs. The FSC is more than an environmental label. The important work that is accomplished in social sectors through FSC-certification often rivals the positive environmental impacts that are created. The inclusion of social issues is a defining characteristic of FSC and separates it from other forest management certification systems.
Based in Geneva Switzerland, the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers is the Global Union Federation (GUF) protecting more than 10 million members in 287 trade unions in 124 countries around the world in the building, building materials, wood, forestry and allied industries. The IFBWW's mission is to promote the development of trade unions in these sectors throughout the world and to promote and enforce workers rights in the context of sustainable development.
William Street, Jr. is the Director of Global Wood and Forestry Programs for IFBWW. In a recent interview, he answered questions about IFBWW, and how its work relates to the FSC.
Q: What are the critical issues surrounding workers in the forest?
A: The most critical issue is sustainability. In too many places around the world non-sustainable forest practices result in the dislocation of forest dependent workers, the disruption of families and, the collapse of the social infrastructure. Of course sustainable forestry for us is a very complex issue. It includes environmental concerns, social concerns, and economic concerns. This must all be integrated into a forest management plan. We are far less enthusiastic about forest plans that attempt to balance these by setting aside one portion of the forest for environmental concerns, one portion for social concerns, and yet other portions for economic concerns. Only the wealthy nations on the planet can afford this strategy. It is precisely because these three factors are not integrated into all aspects of sustainable forest management that forests continue to be degraded and destroyed.
Q: What does your organization do on an international level?
A: The IFBWW engages in global advocacy promoting forest certification that strives to integrate the three pillars listed above. This includes lobbying in various international arenas, educating trade union members about forest certification, and we are managing three community forestry plots in Africa.
Q: What does your organization do in the U.S.?
A: We are seeking various social partners to work with us to educate certification programs as to importance of social sustainability. We also seek to partner with those certification systems, like FSC who have integrated the ILO Core Labor Standards into their system. That is why union members on the West Coast demanded that the Weyerhaeuser Corporation pledge to have all their wood FSC (or its equivalent) certified during the next several years. Weyerhaeuser of course rejected this proposal from their workers. But it is the first step in a much longer campaign.
Q: How does FSC fit in with IFBWW?
A: Officially, the IFBWW works with all certification systems that recognize and respect the ILO Core Labor Standards for decent work. FSC and the IFBWW have partnered in a number of countries in Europe, South America and Asia. We have also partnered with other certification systems.
Q: What are the areas where FSC and IFBWW can best work together?
A: Whenever those who promote progressive and new ideas are divided, those who support the status quo have the advantage. The IFBWW and its affiliated unions in the US can partner with FSC on a broad array of issues and projects. For starters, it is important to get both key decision makers and grass roots activists together to identify areas of commonality.
After that a number of possible ideas could be explored. For example, the IFBWW has been working with the World Bank to promote sustainable development through World Bank procurement policies. It might be possible to adopt a similar approach on a state or municipal level such as was done in NYC. A campaign or series of campaigns to promote public procurement policies that recognize the net social gain from using sustainable certified wood products could become a powerful force in many regional lumber markets. Since many lumber markets are quite small a few municipalities or states adopting such an approach could be very powerful and make a difference.
Likewise, educating certification bodies as to how to accurately measure social components could enable both partners to establish the social standards and set a floor for sustainable forestry and decent work. This would also be an economically important advancement for rural development in many badly devastated timber dependent communities.
For more information about IFBWW, please visit www.ifbww.org.