This week I had the opportunity to speak at the International Labour Conference (ILC), the annual conference of the International Labour Organization (ILO), in Geneva. I stressed the fact that Public Services International strongly rejects the government plans to implement fiscal austerity measures across G20 economies that will result in reducing wages, pensions and social programmes that directly strengthen our families and communities.
It is unjust that working people should once again be made to pay for the misdeeds of greedy bankers. We believe that it is time for the financiers to pay. We urge governments to adopt a financial transactions tax, without further delay as one means of meeting public funding requirements.
I called on the ILO to more strongly promote the Global Jobs Pact, and for governments and employers to effectively put it into practice. Public spending investment and social protection is essential to spur sustainable growth. A growth recovery without jobs can only lead to a longer-term social crisis.
Click here to access the speech I gave at the ILC on 17 June 2010.
You can find here the link to the Global Unions Statement, which Public Services International has signed, setting out the key demands from the international trade union movement to the forthcoming G8/G20 Summit meetings in Ontario, Canada on 25-27 June 2010. The statement puts forward a comprehensive plan for growing the global economy out of the recession.
Peter Waldorff, PSI General Secretary
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