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World Economic Forum - Trade Unions Challenge Business Leaders on Company Tax, Private Equity and Corporate Responsibility
ITUC Online
January
23, 2007
For the statement to the Forum,
please click here
A
delegation of 12 international trade union leaders at the Annual Meeting
of the World Economic Forum in Davos this week will be calling companies
to account on corporate taxation, the role of private equity investment
and the social and environmental responsibilities of business.
With
the launch of the campaign "Decent Work for a Decent Life"*, the
union representatives will be putting the spotlight on major impediments
to decent jobs in the global economy.
"The
fact that corporate tax rates are plummeting around the world as countries
engage in competitive tax-cutting is having a massive negative impact on
resources for good public services. This
makes the global challenge to create decent employment and tackle world
poverty harder by the day", said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder,
who along with ITUC President Sharan Burrow will lead the delegation in
Davos. "The main theme at
the Davos forum, The Shifting Power Equation, raises many key issues about
the direction of the global economy, and the fault lines which continue to
exist" he added.
In
their Statement to the Forum, the labour leaders group analyses the growing shift of power away
from working people, as fundamental rights at work are undermined,
workers' share in productivity gains diminish and social protection is a
distant hope for many millions of people around the globe.
The union participants will also put the issue of private equity and hedge
fund investment into the spotlight. With
some US$600 billion in such acquisitions spent in 2006, double the amount
of the previous year, questions about transparency, corporate governance
and sustainability are critically important, not least for the working
women and men whose employment, rights and working conditions are often
threatened by the behaviour of these funds.
With economic growth remaining relatively high around the world, the
phenomenon of "jobless growth" will also feature on the union
agenda at Davos, where the labour leaders will also hold meetings with top
officials of a range of intergovernmental institutions to push forward the
call for global policy coherence with social and environmental concerns at
the centre of decision-making.
Ryder and Burrow will be joined in Davos by ITUC Deputy President Luc
Cortebeeck (CSC Belgium) OECD-TUAC General Secretary John Evans, leaders
of national trade union centres Agnes Jongerius (FNV Netherlands), G
Rajasekaran (MTUC Malaysia), Abdullah Muhsin (Iraqi trade unions), Mirai
Chatterjee (SEWA) and Global Union Federation general secretaries Philip
Jennings (UNI), Anita Normwark (BWI), Fred van Leeuwen (EI), Neil Kearney
(ITGLWF) and David Cockroft (ITF).
"Decent
Work for a Decent Life" brings together the ITUC, European TUC,
Global Progressive Forum, SOLIDAR and Social Alert in a worldwide campaign
to place decent work at the centre of national and international social,
economic, development, financial and trade policies. For the alliance, the
notion of decent work comprises a fair job, adequate pay, social
protection, trade union rights and non-discrimination.
Founded on 1 November 2006, the ITUC represents 168 million workers in
153 countries and territories and has 304 national affiliates.
http://www.ituc-csi.org
For
more information, please contact the ITUC Press Department on
+32
2
224
0204 or +32 476 62 10 18.
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