Global Unions to Present Unified Statement to Seoul G20 – Prioritise Jobs

Global trade union federations, grouped in the Council of Global Unions, together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC) will call on the governments of the G20 to prioritise jobs when setting policy to recover from the global recession.

G20 leaders will meet on 11-12 November 2010 in Seoul, South Korea. The statement is being presented to G20 governments by affiliates of the ICEM and other Global Union Federations prior to the Seoul Summit, urging them to deal with the employment crisis. Focussing on job creation will enable reduction of public deficits through economic growth, instead of cuts.

  

Signatories to the statement express concern that the employment crisis is not even on the agenda for the Seoul Summit. ‘G20 leaders meeting in Pittsburgh in September 2009 committed to putting “quality employment at the heart of the recovery.” They have not lived up to this promise,’ reads the statement.

Over 31 million more people are unemployed since 2007, increasing unemployment jeopardises the process of economic recovery which is already fragile. Continuation of austerity measures will lead to “a decade of stagnant labour markets in industrialized countries, the entrenchment of poverty in developing countries and a lost generation of youth shut out from productive activity.”

Among other demands, global unions want a formation of a standing G20 Working Group on Employment, with social partner participation. Other central demands include environmental policies that enable job protection and job creation and a ‘Just Transition’, and the issue of decent work to be at the heart of the development agenda.

See the statement in full here.

Supplementing this action the International Metalworkers’ Federation has launched a campaign calling on the Korean government to honour its commitments on labour rights inside Korea. Korea is one of the worst countries in the world in terms of worker and trade union repression. See the campaign resources and information here.