BRUXELLES, 26. Januar 2010: Fra onsdag til søndag holder Verdens Økonomiske Forum sit årsmøde i Davos i de svejtiske alper. Hovedemnet bliver finanskrisen. Ledere fra internationale faglige forbund og lokale fagforeninger kræver, at de deltagende lande dropper ideen om, at alt overlades til markedet. Den kommer til at koste omkring 60 millioner arbejdspladser, siger de.
Trade union leaders attending the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos this week will use the occasion to maintain pressure on governments to act urgently to tackle the deepening global employment crisis, and to move ahead with reform and restructuring of banking and finance.
The unions will also challenge the business world to work with governments and unions to create decent jobs and to support financial reform rather than oppose much needed changes, as many in the financial sector in particular have been doing.
– Business has traditionally used the Davos platform to push for yet more deregulation and convince governments to leave everything to the market. This approach has had catastrophic results, with some 60 million people expected to lose their jobs due to this crisis and taxpayers having to bail out financial institutions which failed because of a toxic combination of greed and the withdrawal of governments from their responsibilities to govern effectively, said ITUC (International Trade Union Confederation) President Sharan Burrow.
In its statement to the Davos meeting, the ITUC, with its Global Unions partners and national affiliates, will push a series of key policy demands which are central to the trade union inputs to the G20, the international financial institutions and the WTO. These include:
– reform and restructuring of the banking and financial sector, with the plans announced by US President Barack Obama as key components in a broad set of legislative measures which should also include action on executive pay and bonuses, and a financial transactions tax;
– renewed and reinforced economic stimulus by governments with decent employment as a central focus; and,
– cooperation between governments through the G20 and the international institutions to ensure a coherent approach and avoid “regulatory arbitrage” whereby companies seek lax regulatory jurisdictions to conduct their business.
