View previous stories
	Labour leaders call for jobs, growth and equity in Davos by International Trade Union Confederation   January 2012   The international union movement will put its case for the reform of capitalism at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week with five principles for dealing with current economic challenges.   Addressing political and business chiefs, trade union leaders from Indonesia, USA and the UK and the international trade union movement will call for jobs and growth to be at the centre of plans to reboot the world economy.   Sharan Burrow, General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation, said the pervasive economic challenges had spread to all areas of working life, from young people unable to find their first job, parents struggling with rising inequality and seniors struggling to survive on dwindling pensions.   “Over the past three decades income inequality has risen in 17 of the 24 OECD countries for which data is available. With growing unemployment and stagnating wages, we’re sitting on a social time bomb,” said John Evans, General Secretary Trade Union Advisory Council to the OECD.   “In Davos this week, we’ll be pushing to put people back into our economic system. Because it’s workers in work that will drive us the global economy out of the crisis,” said Sharan Burrow.   Labour’s five principles for growth include:   1. Jobs –Five years of two per cent GDP invested in the green economy across six sectors in 12 countries can drive more than 55 million sustainable, decent jobs.   2. Social protection, sustainable demand and decent work - These should include a social protection floor in every country, with a global fund to kick-start development in the poorest countries; minimum wages on which people can live with dignity; and an expansion of collective bargaining to ensure fair work conditions.   3. Financial regulation - Governments must band together to stand up for the ’real economy’ by putting a ban on algorithmic High Frequency Trading, regulating the credit rating agencies, and requiring transparency for the shadow banking system – the hedge funds and investment vehicles that transact trillions of dollars but fall outside national regulatory systems.   4. Fair and progressive taxation - It is time to repair the balance sheets of governments through a fair contribution from those that can afford to pay: through making corporations pay their fair share, urgently implementing a broad-based, low-rate Financial Transaction Tax to reduce speculation and provide a new source of government funding to invest in public services, social protection and development.   5. Climate action - Governments must find the political will required to save our children’s future, by reducing emissions of industrialised countries by 25-40% by 2020, implementing a green climate fund and ensuring a just transition for workers and communities.   “There will be no growth unless governments invest, using labour’s five principles as a road map” said Philip Jennings, General Secretary UNI.   “It’s time to bring the real economy out of the shadows of financial greed – with unions and employers at the table agreeing a set of principles for growth,” said Jennings. Visit the related web page
	Hunger is one of the greatest crimes by Valerie Amos UN Emergency Relief Coordinator   “In a world where so many of us have so much... one in seven people go to bed hungry every night,” the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Valerie Amos, has said in a video tribute to the World Food Programme (WFP) on its fiftieth anniversary.   WFP has led the global fight against hunger since 1962. About 925 million people worldwide do not have enough to eat—more than the combined population of the United States, Canada and the European Union. WFP helps feed millions of people affected by crisis every day.   “Hunger is one of the greatest crimes in our world today. It should not exist, but where it does WFP is playing an essential role in ensuring that people get the help they need to survive,” says Ms. Amos.   “I have seen, in Somalia, children so weak that they can’t even lift their heads—their mothers in despair. I have seen women in Niger who have walked for days in search of food. Recently in North Korea, I saw an entire population weakened and stunted by malnutrition.”   From Niger to South Sudan, Haiti to Colombia, Afghanistan to Myanmar, Yemen to the occupied Palestinian territory, WFP has 14,500 aid workers in 92 countries serving 100 million people.   * The Universal Rights Network again calls on China, and other emerging economies to assist in funding WFP programmes. China spends hundreds of billions of dollars on infrastructure and overseas investments and contributes just $40 million to WFP programmes in comparison to the US $1 billion ongoing commitment. Visit the related web page
	View more stories