Posted: Friday, 4 June 2010

Since the financial crisis erupted in late 2008, the G20* governments have met three times.

The Washington Summit on Financial Markets & the Global Economy met in November 2008 to adopt an Action Plan to implement principles of reform.

At the London Summit in April 2009, the G20 leaders agreed that: “…our global plan for recovery must have at its heart the needs and jobs of hard-working families… we have therefore pledged to do whatever is necessary to restore confidence, growth and jobs…” in order to “…build an inclusive, green and sustainable recovery.” They also called “upon the ILO, working with other relevant organizations, to assess the actions taken and those required for the future” to address the impact of the economic crisis on labour markets.

Meeting a third time in September 2009, the G20 in Pittsburgh reviewed pledges made at that London Summit and the progress of implementation for the Action Plan. It agreed to sustain efforts to support economic activity and facilitate recovery. A strategy was also developed for recovery and reform, making the G20 the main forum for international economic cooperation.

At the fourth and next G20 Summit in Toronto, the leaders must take this strategy further by adopting the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Global Jobs Pact and implementing recommended policies on stimulus packages, jobs generation and social protection for working people and their families.
The Global Jobs Pact

The tripartite members of the ILO’s 183-member States, comprised of representatives from governments, employers and workers, adopted a resolution at the 98th session of the International Labour Conference in June 2009, entitled Recovering from the Crisis: A Global Jobs Pact.

The Global Jobs Pact is a framework for the period ahead and calls on governments and organizations representing workers and employers to collectively tackle the global jobs crisis through policies drawn from the Decent Work Agenda. It calls for urgent and co-ordinated global action at the national, regional and global levels. More specifically, the Global Jobs Pact provides an internationally agreed set of policy options designed to reduce the time-lag between economic recovery and employment recovery, which can be as long as 5-6 years.

The Global Jobs Pact recognizes that resolving the crisis implies promoting balanced growth strategies, fairer and sustainable globalization and new global governance structures.

The Decent Work Agenda

Decent work has been defined by the ILO, and endorsed by the international community, as being productive work for women and men in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. The Decent Work Agenda is a balanced and integrated programmatic approach to pursuing the objectives of full, productive and decent work for all at the global, regional, national, sectoral and local levels.

Decent work sums up what people hope for in their working lives: opportunity and income; rights, voice and recognition; family stability & personal development; public health & wellbeing; and fairness, gender and racial equality – all issues that should be addressed by the G8 and promoted through Aid, development and investment measures.

Ultimately, these various dimensions of decent work are the foundations for peace in our communities and in society.

Decent work is captured in four strategic objectives: fundamental principles and rights at work and international labour standards; employment and income opportunities; social protection and social security; social dialogue and tripartism. These objectives hold for all workers: women and men, in both formal and informal economies; in wage employment or self-employed; in the fields, markets, factories, and offices; in their homes or in their communities. They embody such notions as Universal Access to prevention, treatment and care services relating to disease such as HIV/AIDS.

The Decent Work Agenda calls for more balanced distribution of wealth within a country, through measures such as improved workers’ representation, collective bargaining, and tripartism (government, employers, and workers).

It further calls for an improved balance of wealth between countries and requires national and international actors to commit to the objective of creating quality jobs globally and to pursue cooperative solutions. The implementation of decent work policies would help re-balance labour costs between countries and promote better rights and working conditions for all workers, particularly those at the bottom of the income spectrum, such as young workers, migrant workers, and women.

The focus of the upcoming G8 and G20 Summits should be on the creation of decent work for all to bring an end to the global jobs crisis. Decent work is central to efforts to reduce poverty, promote health, and is a means for achieving equitable, inclusive and sustainable development. 

Canada and the Global Jobs Pact

The Global Jobs Pact's main components for crisis recovery are government stimulus packages, job creation and protection of working people.

As a member of the ILO, Canada is committed to the Global Jobs Pact. However, in the Throne Speech of last March, Canada called for a globally co-ordinated approach for the withdrawal of the economic stimulus packages that were developed as a response to the crisis. Last March’s federal budget confirmed the government's intention to wind down its stimulus package at the end of this fiscal year.

The federal government further announced it will not extend measures in place to support working people and families hit by the jobs crisis. The temporary extension of Employment Insurance for all Canadians and for long-tenured workers — a component of the Global Jobs Pact -- will start to run out in June 2010.

Finally, while the last federal budget touted job creation, the measures announced to balance the books over the next five years will do the opposite. Plans to freeze government spending and review federal programs will actually reduce the size of government and cut jobs for Canadians.

Canada, together with its G8 and G20 partners, must:

• Maintain fiscal stimulus until adequate growth levels have been attained and there is self-sustaining recovery in jobs
• Increase existing social protection measures, including extending the level and period of unemployment benefits and supporting youth
• Recognize the need for a "Just Transition" towards a low carbon economy and develop proposals to ensure that the job creation potential of mitigating climate change is maximized
• Build quality skills and employment for men and women through vocational education and training and focus on skills for ‘green’ jobs
• Promote Universal Access to prevention, treatment and care services that relate to public health and wellbeing.
• Ensure that governments and international institutions align their policies with ILO standards and the ILO Global Jobs Pact
• Give unions a ‘seat at the table’ through the establishment of a tripartite task force to monitor the implementation of national actions on jobs;

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