US-based Community Groups Hold Alternative G20 Forums this Week in Pittsburgh

During this week’s G20 meeting in Pittsburgh, USA, ICEM affiliate United Electrical, Radio, and Machine Workers’ Union (UE) is spearheading, together with a citizens’ group called Pittsburgh United, a series of events that will depict how global finance ministers and economic institutions place the neoliberal agenda of “seed-for-greed” above that of a “people-first” agenda.

Called “People’s Voices: Challenging the G20’s Agenda of Corporate Globalization,” a broad US network of civil society groups, including trade unions, will join with their counterparts from Central and South America to conduct four sessions across three days, 23-25 September. The forums will highlight a G20 agenda that has brought poverty, inequality, job and wage loss, and environmental destruction to many parts of the world.

The first event will occur on 23 September and includes a panel that will discuss G20 policies and how they affect community life. The panel will feature Untied Steelworkers (USW) President Leo Gerard and Nobel Laureate Economist Joseph Stiglitz.

Another panel, to be held in the afternoon of 24 September, is entitled “People’s Voices: a Global/Local Exchange,” while that evening, a “People’s Tribunal” will take place, in which the economic development priorities of the G20 will be put on trial. On 25 September, in the morning, a session on “Voices from Latin America” will include labour, community, indigenous people, and environmental activists from Bolivia, Honduras, Mexico, and Peru.

The complete three-day programme, including times and places in Pittsburgh, and featured panelists, can be found here.