Reports from the day to be found here: http://www.wddw.org/Workers-are-no-tools-Signing-of?var_mode=calcul

Workers are no tools! Belgian coalition for Decent Work launches 2-year campaign

Initiators of the Decent Work-campaign are the Belgian trade unions (ABVV/FGTB, ACV/CSC, ACLVB), 11.11.11 (the platform of Belgian North-South ngo’s) and the ngo’s Wereldsolidariteit, FOS-Socialist Solidarity and Oxfam-Solidarity.

The campaign is also part of 2015 TIME IS RUNNING, the 10-year-long campaign on the Millennium Developement Goals, launched by the Belgian ngo’s in 2005. It is indeed obvious that this wordwide call to reduce poverty by 2015 can never be successfull without putting decent work and decent income central on the international agenda.

The ‘Workers are no Tools’-campaign will be launched in october and november 2008 during the large scale annual solidarity campaign from 11.11.11 (Belgian ngo-platform). This annual campaign will mobilise 25.000 volunteers in more than 400 local volunteer groups to organise activities on the topic of ‘decent work’ in their local community.

Central action is ‘The Decent Work-Lunchbreak’: a symoblic moment of solidarity during lunchtime that puts the right for decent work in the picture. Everybody can take part and easily organise a decent work-lunchbreak with the specially designed placemat, flyer, posters and ‘Workers are no tools’-button. Every participant will be asked to wear this button to express his/her solidarity with workers worldwide. Friday october 24th is Lunchbreak Day! 11.11.11 calls upon all its volunteers to organise hunderds of ‘lunchbreaks’ in towns, schools, companies, university restaurants, social institutions, restaurants, cafetarias, youth centres … that day and in the following weeks.

This will be supported by a national press and media-campaign, with TV-spot on national television, and a large gamma of educational materials for different target groups, such as a campaign DVD, a picture exibition, workshops and educational kits for primary schools and highschools, an interactive internet game for youth groups …

The second phase of the campaign will be from May 1st to 21st 2009. The trade unions will then take the lead and call upon their delegates to organise ‘lunchbreaks’ at their workplace. The ambition is to organise a ‘decent work-lunchbreak in more than 2000 companies and factories all over Belgium. The union delegates wil also put a motion for decent work on the agenda of their company council. From there on the coalition plans a second campaign year starting on october 7th2009.

All information on the Belgian Decent Work-campaign can be found on the two central websites of the campaign:
www.waardigwerk.be (dutch) and
www.travaildecent.be (french). (both online by the end of june 2008).