UNI Global Union General Secretary, Philip Jennings met with President Sarkozy ahead of the G20 Summit in Cannes on 3 & 4 November to discuss how to improve social cohesion.
Cutting youth unemployment rates, establishing workers’ rights and clearer G20 policies, as well as providing social protection are all necessary in order to offset the stigmatisation felt among the unemployed, particularly by the younger generation which has staged protests throughout the world.
As those who feel marginalised continue to feel hopeless, the G20 Leaders are being urged to step up and deal with the situation by demonstrating the leadership that they failed to at the time when the economic crisis first exploded in 2008.
UNI Global Union has set clear instructions for the G20 Leaders; stop the financial sector from re-enforcing the ‘business-bonus’ culture, encourage businesses to focus on re-investment and job creation, remedy the rich-poor divide, close tax havens which breed inequality and establish a financial transactions tax.
Jennings explained, “It’s not only in France where the principles of Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité have been stripped away and replaced by Individualté, Inegalité and the illusion of financial wealth.” The G20 is advised to seek global solidarity and fairer working conditions across all markets to piece back together social order destroyed by the business and political elites.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
