31 August, 2009ITUC releases practical guidance on how to use and promote the Global Jobs Pact in response to the global economic and financial crisis.
GLOBAL: New guidance was released on August 20 on how to use and promote the International Labour Organisation's Global Jobs Pact with the objective of maintaining and creating employment in response to the global financial crisis.
Prepared by the International Trade Union Confederation, the guidance outlines how national unions can use the tripartite framework of the Global Jobs Pact, adopted at the International Labour Conference in June 2009, as a basis for initiating discussion with governments and employers.
"Beyond the immediate employment challenges the Global Jobs Pact recognises that the current social and economic crisis has profound structural causes and that without addressing these any recovery stands to be temporary with a serious risk of a recurrence of similar crises in the future," states ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.
According to the ITUC guide, unions are advised to advocate a number of policy responses to the crisis outlined in the Pact, including:
- Boosting effective demand, including through the use of stimulus packages,
- Maintaining wage levels and avoiding deflationary wage spirals,
- Keeping people in jobs,
- Expanding social protect, and
- Providing old-age security.
The ITUC also urges using the Pact to ensure that responses address root causes of the crisis. In particular, responses should emphasize the important role of the state, the need to reduce inequality, to promote transformation to a green, sustainable economy, to rethink export-led economic models and to have a financial sector at the service of the real economy.
It is important to ensure that measures adopted include temporary and non-regular workers.
The ITUC warns the crisis risks eroding workers' rights and unions must use the Pact and other mechanisms, such as ratification and implementation of labour standards and the declaration on multinational enterprises, to protect workers' rights and ensure decent work for all. The respect for freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining must be the basis of all programmes.
The ITUC guidance is published here on the IMF website.
The ILO Global Jobs Pact can be found at:
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