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Global Trade Union Leaders to Call for Reform of World’s Economy
Trade union leaders from the G-20 countries plan to put forward a comprehensive plan to turn around the global economy in meetings with world leaders in Washington, D.C., on the eve of the financial crisis summit this weekend.
The top-level union delegation will discuss the plan with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn, World Bank President Robert Zoellick and heads of government from the G-20 countries.
The AFL-CIO is hosting the meeting of the G-20 union leaders Friday in conjunction with the summit. The meeting is sponsored by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (TUAC-OECD) and Global Unions.
Says ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder:
The G-20 governments must take the lead in economic recovery and global reform. Governments must bring forward investment in infrastructure, health and education to stimulate demand and reinforce public services. Urgent action is also needed on green job creation to tackle climate change.
John Evans, general secretary of the OECD-TUAC, adds:
Immediate action is needed to get the world economy moving and boost employment. Governments need to be prepared to make further, coordinated, cuts in interest rates and to front-load investment in infrastructure, education and health to help stimulate demand growth and reinforce public services. This needs to be accompanied by tax and spending measures to support the purchasing power of low- and middle-income earners, and concrete steps to launch investment in green goods and services, to help address climate change.
The collapse of the global economy reaffirms what unions have been saying all along, Ryder says: The global economy is not working for working people and fundamental changes need to be made. He says the election of Barack Obama as U.S. president shows workers are rejecting trade policies that favor the rich and leave millions of others behind.
Along with immediate action for recovery, the need for a major overhaul of globalization is more obvious than ever before. The U.S. election results reflect a world-wide rejection of the failed deregulation policies of the past, and the G-20 must start work right away, with other governments, on a package of regulatory measures to govern banking, finance and global corporations. Trade unions must have a seat at the table in the design of this new system, which must focus on decent jobs and putting markets at the service of people.
The G-20 members include the European Union, the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, China, Russia, Japan, India, South Korea, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico.
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3 Comments
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The people have made an union movement in their vote and their boycott of prices. This shows us that there is the greatest need for purposeful encompassing structured organization fof all workers. Costco type purchasing for drugs and other expensive day to day needs managed by the unions with logic wages for “all” employees. Preventive medicine for all. We can do it.
Immediate action is needed to get the world economy moving and boost employment. Governments need to be prepared to make further, coordinated, cuts in interest rates and to front-load investment in infrastructure, education and health to help stimulate demand growth and reinforce public services.We can be in recession or we are ? ( http://allfinancehelp.blogspot.com/2008/10/are-we-in-recession.html ) This needs to be accompanied by tax and spending measures to support the purchasing power of low- and middle-income earners, and concrete steps to launch investment in green goods and services, to help address climate change.
This is a ” knee jerk” reaction caused by extreme capitalism without positive controls in place. It’s no wonder the economy is in the crapper. Less government is what caused this crisis in the first place. When the fox is left alone in the hen house what do you suppose would happen? The ” bottom up” approach, rebuilding the middle class is the only real solution for a durable, stable and lasting economy held in place by solid union jobs. The economy is not held together with part time jobs and casual labor. At least not for long, as we’ve found out the hard way.