The Living Manifesto
This manifesto is a product of the fifth GLI International Summer School, held in July 2016. After the experience of the first three Summer Schools (2012-2014), some of the threads of discussion were pulled together into a draft ‘manifesto’, which was first discussed in 2015 and then again in 2016. In concluding sessions of the 2016 School, the Summer School Commission presented proposed amendments for plenary discussion and debate, the results of which make up the 2016 Living Manifesto.
The International Summer School Living Manifesto is an attempt to create a plan of action for reform of the international trade union movement, taking into account the experiences and knowledge of summer school participants, along with the recognition by many unions internationally that change is necessary to progress our agenda. Starting in 2015, each year the summer school revisits the manifesto, a living manifesto.
The living manifesto gives the broad principles that we believe are necessary for unions to adopt so that we can shift the global balance of power back in our favour. Not all of the points will be agreed by everyone, and nor are they intended to be, but the majority of points are agreed by the majority of participants. Our aim is to provoke discussion, and encourage adoption of the key points of the manifesto; our common political purpose, democracy and organisation.