G-20 Labor Leaders Meet at AFL-CIO for Labor Summit
 |
||||
|
||||
When the world’s banks were going under, governments jumped to their aid. Now with record numbers of people out of work, it’s past time for governments to put working people first, or the fledgling economic recovery could fall apart. Leaders from the G-20 nations issued this warning while in Washington, D.C., this week for the first-ever meeting of G-20 labor ministers and employment ministers with labor and business leaders April 20-21.
The global union movement has been working to create a G-20 working group on employment and social protection since the global economic crisis erupted in 2008. Beginning at the summit in Pittsburgh last September, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka has taken a leading role in the effort to make good jobs the central element in any global economic recovery. The federation hosted a meeting of G-20 labor economists in March to draft policy proposals for the labor ministers’ meeting. Trumka was a lead speaker from the global unions at the ministers’ meeting as well.
The G-20, which is now the main body for global economic policy, includes the leaders of the world’s major economies, together constituting 85 percent of world output and 60 percent of global employment.
Global Unions: G-20 Made Progress, But Not Enough
 |
||||
|
The G-20 Summit, which ended recently in Pittsburgh, made progress in some areas, but failed to completely address the overwhelming need to create new jobs now, according to leaders of the global union movement.
Trade unionists around the world will continue to pressure their governments to stimulate the global economy to put people back to work. Guy Ryder, general secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), said that while he is glad the G-20 agreed to put jobs at the heart of their economic recovery agenda, big questions remain in some key areas.
With the global jobs crisis still worsening, a meeting of G-20 labor ministers to take place in early 2010 will be a key focus for the global trade union movement in the coming months.
The G-20 labor ministers’ meeting must push the maintenance and creation of decent jobs even higher up the agenda, with implementation of the ILO [International labor Organization] Jobs Pact as a central objective. The international trade union movement must be given a seat at the table in this meeting, and we will be carrying forward our intensive efforts with governments, the ILO and other global institutions to make sure it and the June G-20 Summit in Canada deliver the results that working people demand.
