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Progress in Pittsburgh welcomed but further to go, says labour movement
2 October 2009
The international labour movement has welcomed a commitment to decent jobs, outlined in a statement from the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, US, this week, but stressed that this had only “scratched the surface”.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the OECD Trade Union Advisory Committee (TUAC) concluded that the G20 leaders had responded to their appeal to make jobs a focus of any economic recovery strategy. However, they had still failed to address adequately certain key issues.
“We are pleased that the G20 leaders responded to our demand to put decent jobs at the heart of recovery and reform, and it is also now clear that the G20 could provide important new mechanisms to govern the global economy,” explained ITUC general secretary Guy Ryder. But, he said, there remained “big questions” on some key areas, including financial regulation and climate change.
John Evans, general secretary of the TUAC added that it was “encouraging that the G20 agreed to work on an international framework for a transactions tax, to help make sure that the financial sector pays a fairer share towards economic recovery and development.” He stressed that the union movement would be pressing for progress on this as well as on reforms to the international financial institutions' policies and structures “where the G20 has so far only scratched the surface."
The statement from the G20 leaders declared that they needed to implement policies consistent with International Labour Organization (ILO) fundamental principles and rights at work. They welcomed the ILO resolution on a global jobs pact, and committed to adopt key elements of its framework. They also agreed that the International Monetary Fund would look into the options that countries were considering for ensuring that the financial sector contributed financially to the recovery process.
Commenting on the G20 statement, ITF general secretary David Cockroft said: “We welcome the G20 leaders’ concentration on jobs and the need to take account of the social consequences of the economic crisis, as well as the pledge to adopt the ILO jobs pact. Of course more needs to be done on financial regulation and we strongly support the call for binding commitments on climate change and an emphasis on green jobs.”
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