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21 September, 2009
Three Global Union Federations (GUFs), representing 55 million industrial workers, call on G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors meeting in Pittsburgh, USA, this week to prioritise the global jobs crisis in their deliberations, and to create real measures that stop the epidemic of job losses throughout the world.
The GUFs, the International Textile, Garment, and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF), the International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine, and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM), and the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF), stress the immediate need for economic ministers to recognise that true recovery can only happen if job retention and job creation become the priorities.
The three workers’ federations join to state that the full ripple effect of the year-old crisis is only now being felt as tens of millions of jobs are cut, with a forecast of more job losses to occur in 2010 and 2011. The ITGLWF, ICEM, and IMF stand staunchly behind the International Trade Union Confederation’s (ITUC) statement last week that “any talk of recovery has little meaning until people are getting back to work.”
The federations call attention to the “Pittsburgh Declaration,” a statement by the ITUC, the Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) to the OECD, and all GUFs that demands a changed mindset by international financial institutions regarding jobs, human and trade union rights, and more stringent financial governance and market regulation.
The declaration, found here, calls on the G20 to implement the International Labour Organisation’s (ILO) Jobs Pact, developed in June 2009, as well as adding the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda to the G20’s Charter for Sustainable Economic Activity. Such adoption would effectively incorporate workers’ rights, social protections, and meaningful social dialogue between business, labour, and government to economic and social decision making.
The “Pittsburgh Declaration” also calls for the G20 to prioritise the creation of green jobs and protecting workers who are unfairly affected by actions related to climate change.
Stated Neil Kearney, General Secretary of ITGLWF, “For workers in textiles, where nearly 13 million jobs have been lost in the past year, the global crisis is deepening, not bottoming out. Stimulus packages must be continued and extended to promote sustainable manufacturing that provides decent work and a living wage, leading to a consumer-demand recovery.”
ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda added, “Talk of recovery now is not only premature, but inhumane in view of unemployment rates rising into double digits in many countries. A new social model must take hold, starting with this G20 meeting, and it must begin with serious reforms to the neoliberal financial model, as well as a sustainable social plan that addresses the needs of millions of people that have been negatively impacted by this crisis.”
“What has occurred thus far,” said IMF General Secretary Jyrki Raina, “is that huge sums have been poured into financial institutions, while these same institutions have failed to manage their fundamental task – to finance a viable industrial economy. We demand that governments address the critical issue of employment, particularly the human adversity brought on by precarious labour, a form of work that undermines the industrial structures of the global north and destroys equitable development opportunities in the south.”
The G20 meeting in Pittsburgh is scheduled for 24-25 September. The ITGLWF is the global voice for 217 trade unions in 110 countries; the ICEM represents 467 trade unions in 132 countries; and the IMF covers over 200 trade unions in 100 countries.
For more information, contact: Neil Kearney, ITGLWF, +32 2 512 2606; Dick Blin, ICEM, +41 22 304 1842; Anita Gardner, IMF, +41 22 308 5032.