“More than
half of G20 policies have failed to have a positive impact on working people
with weak action on issues that could have had an impact on workers lives such
as jobs, decent wages and social protection,” said Sharan Burrow, General
Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation, on the eve of the annual
Labour 20 (L20) Summit in Brisbane, Australia.
More than
200 million people were unemployed in 2013, an increase of five million
compared with the year before according to the International Labour
Organisation.
“Governments
are prioritising policies which support the interests of big business and not tackling
the inequality of wages and rising unemployment,” said Ms Burrow.
“In
Brisbane, the G20 needs to agree on a plan for jobs and growth, putting in
place comprehensive measures to support aggregate demand, reduce inequality and
spur investments. This must be backed up by national job creation targets, and
followed up in consultation with social partners,” said John Evans, General
Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).
Economic
modelling prepared for the L20 shows that a co-ordinated mix of wage and
investment policies in G20 countries could halve the global jobs gap and create
up to 5.84 percentage points more growth in G20 countries, compared to business
as usual.
Labour 20
Chair and Australian Council of Trade Unions President Ged Kearney said that
effectively tackling unemployment must be a priority for the G20 Leaders’
Summit.
“With
Australia’s unemployment at a twelve year high of 6.2%, and youth unemployment
more than double that at 14%, the Abbott Government must shelve its spin and
set out a jobs plan,” Ms Kearney said.
“Prime
Minister Abbott needs to understand that empty rhetoric won’t cut it. He needs
to spell out concrete policies and initiatives for job creation based on decent
wages, conditions and investment in skills.”
The ITUC
Global Poll 2014 of G20 countries found that
•
68 per cent of people say their government is bad at tackling unemployment;
•
79 per cent of people believe the economic system favours the wealthy, rather
than being fair to most people; and
•
62 per cent of people want their governments to do more to tame corporate
power.
The results
of the G20 tracking survey will be presented at the Labour 20 Summit in
Brisbane 14 -15th November 2014.
Reports and
Recommendations:
Read the
findings of the ITUC Global Poll 2014 www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-global-poll-2014
(English,
French, Spanish)
L20 Policy
Tracking 2013 -14 Surveying the Impacts of G20 Commitments on Working Families
(English): http://www.ituc-csi.org/l20-policy-tracking-2013-14
L20
recommendations to the G20 Summit (English, French, Spanish) http://www.ituc-csi.org/l20-recommendations-g20-leaders
L20
statement to G20 leaders (English, French, Spanish) http://www.ituc-csi.org/creating-quality-jobs-and
Economic
modelling prepared for the L20 by Professor Ozlem Onaran, University of
Greenwich http://www.ituc-csi.org/the-case-for-a-coordinated-policy
(English)
L20
Info-graphic: The World Needs a Pay-rise http://www.pinterest.com/pin/518195500848715100/
