Making just transition work through stronger workers’ organization in chemical and pharmaceutical industries

The chemical industry is of strategic importance to the sustainable development of many national economies. The industry is a multi-faceted sector which produces a wide variety of products for many different industries and has a significant influence on other industries through direct and indirect market linkages. The chemical and pharmaceutical industry in Malaysia and Vietnam is an important economic sector. The share in national output ranges from 9 per cent (in Vietnam) to 20 per cent (in Malaysia) employs between 2 per cent and 5.5 per cent of the workforce. The total number of persons employed in the two countries together accounts for about 4 per cent of the workforce in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry globally, estimated at about 20 million. The main issues in the industries are energy efficiency, emissions, toxic waste, water usage, bio-diversity and product lifecycle. Pharmaceutical companies which do not comply with international standards on environment management face serious risks to their financial performance through enforcement of regulatory provisions as well as political and social mechanisms. Companies’ employees are typically resident in local communities and are also affected by the damage to their drinking water sources or air pollution. Acknowledging the adverse impact on the quality of living conditions and the unsustainable level of emissions, the industry has begun making efforts to reduce emissions and control pollution, whilst at the same time securing workers’ health and improving its overall contribution to the quality of the living environment. To step up these efforts towards a growth scenario that is economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive, all stakeholders should be involved to design and implement pathways for sustainable development. For workers engaged in the industry, the challenge is how to ensure a Just Transition that creates more decent work whilst limiting the adverse impact on the environment. The project adopts the ILO “Guidelines for a just transition towards environmentally sustainable economies and societies for all” as a main advocacy tool and also supports to achieve SDG13 (climate change). This project intends to improve the technical knowledge, managerial capacity and policy influence of workers’ organizations in Malaysia and Vietnam in order to help in organizing workers to initiate and sustain social dialogue, to strengthen a network with community-based organisations for joint advocacy and campaign and to manage successful collective bargaining for a Just Transition, at enterprise and sectoral level. The overarching goal of the project is to build and secure a conducive environment for safer workplaces, cleaner production, lower greenhouse gas emissions and decent work for both women and men employed in chemical and pharmaceutical sectors. Through its implementation strategy, the project develops an intervention model for a Just Transition based on the principles of social dialogue at enterprise, community and sectoral level. More trade unions in both Vietnam and Malaysia represent workplaces in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries and play a bigger role not only in advocating workers and communities on Just Transition but in promoting “economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive” economy.

Project symbol

RAS/22/50/JPN

Admin unit

RO-Asia and the Pacific

Start date

10/02/2022

End date

31/05/2023

Total allocation

137684

Total expenditure

Status

Closed

137684

Development Partners

Japan, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Country/Countries

Malaysia
Viet Nam
Asia and the Pacific - regional

Outcomes

Outcome 1: Strong tripartite constituents and influential and inclusive social dialogue
Outcome 4: Sustainable enterprises as generators of employment and promoters of innovation and decent work