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INTERNATIONAL TRADE UNION CONFEDERATION (ITUC)
28 November 2006
ITUC President to G20 - Decent Employment Key to Ending Global Poverty.
Brussels, 17 November 2006 (ITUC OnLine): With the G20 group of countries meeting this week in Melbourne, ITUC President Sharan Burrow told Thursday's "Make Poverty History" Forum in the Australian city that the world's major economic powers need to go beyond talking about poverty and step up to implement policies for fair employment and work opportunities.
"Decent employment without exploitation is the only sustainable solution to poverty. Our governments have a responsibility to start creating more job opportunities that get their people into productive work", said Burrow, who is also President of the ITUC-affiliated Australian Council of Trade Unions.
With the G20 countries accounting for the vast majority of global economic output and some two-thirds of the world's population, the international trade union movement and its civil society partners in the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) are calling on them to take the lead in getting creation of decent jobs to the top of the international agenda. The "jobless growth" of recent years has done little if anything to improve the lives of the more than 2 billion people worldwide living on less than US$2 per day.
Australia, as the country hosting the summit, has come in for strong criticism for its poor record on development aid, as it now lags at the bottom of the list of industrialised countries in terms of funding provided for international assistance programmes. In addition, the conservative government's notorious industrial relations laws, which have stripped Australian workers of a wide range of internationally-recognised rights, are the subject of mounting criticism around the country, with a further nationwide day of protest scheduled for 30 November.
For more information, see www.actu.asn.au
On November 1, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in 154 countries and territories and has 307 national affiliates.
For more information, contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2 224 0220.
To download the ACTU/Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA Make Poverty History flyer, click the link below.
Download File:
Make Poverty History Flyer [ rtf ]
Contact Details
Union Aid Abroad - APHEDA
Ph: (02) 9264 9343
Fax: (02) 9261 1118
office@apheda.org.au
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