Trade Union Organizations in the International System of Development Cooperation and the role of the Unified Workers’ Central (CUT)

Abstract

The article addresses the participation of trade unions in the International System of Development Cooperation (ISDC). It identifies and analyses the actors and processes involved in trade union solidarity policies (North-South and South-South) known as Trade Union Development Cooperation (TUDC). It also deals with the role and position of trade unions in the debates on the substance and architecture of the IDCS. We conducted a qualitative study distinguishing between the national level of analysis, where TUDC is a trade union policy linked in different degrees to the governmental policy of International Development Cooperation (IDC), and the systemic level, where TUDC acts as a sub-regime of the IDCS. We used documental sources from trade unions themselves, secondary literature and, for the case of the Brazilian Unified Workers’ Central (CUT), interviews with persons in charge of its Cooperation Institute (IC-CUT). At the national level, we conclude that, with exceptions (Brazil among them), TUDC is rather well integrated in IDC national policies. At the systemic level, we observed that the international trade union movement has made efforts to establish common guidelines for TUDC and to place its demands on the international development
agenda, in particular the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).