International Trade Union News:

Global Unions Push for Economic Stimulus

            More than 90 trade union leaders from all parts of the world met this week in Washington, D.C., with senior officials of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to push for continuing economic stimulus to jump-start the global economy.

            In the meetings, IMF Managing Director Dominique Strauss-Kahn and World Bank President Robert Zoellick agreed on the importance of employment, social protection, working with trade unions and broadening the distribution of economic growth.

            International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) General Secretary Sharan Burrow says:

            In view of the continuing unemployment crisis worldwide, it is vital that the IMF and World Bank recognize the importance of maintaining global economic stimulus until recovery is assured.

            Income-led growth is the key to securing recovery and ending the kinds of social deprivation and misery we’re seeing in countries like Tunisia. We have to stop the financial elites regaining control and sowing the seeds of an imminent new crisis at a time when workers are still suffering the unemployment caused by the last one.

            The meetings in Washington, D.C., were a prelude to the union leaders’ discussions with the finance ministers and elected leaders of the world’s top economies during the G-8 and G-20 meetings later this year. The global trade union movement is calling on the governments of the G-20 nations to return the global economy to a path of growth and job creation, implement  financial regulation and get development back on track.

            To read the full statement please click on: http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/0811t_gf_G20_es-2.pdf

            The union delegation is urging the IMF to oppose the attacks on wages and workers’ rights in countries such as Ireland and Romania, and to advance the case for a global financial speculation tax. The AFL-CIO and the global union movement have been demanding that Wall Street pay for creating the global economic meltdown, in part through a small tax on financial speculation.

            Some economists say that in addition to generating job creation funds, the tax would help reduce risky financial practices and products such as derivatives, short-term investment strategies and other speculation that fueled the economy’s crash.

            Discussions with the World Bank will focus on the twin challenges of protecting labor standards in Bank-supported loan programs and stopping attacks on labor protections in the Bank’s notorious “Doing Business” publication.

By James Parks on  Jan 21, 2011 in blog.aflcio.org