Union Bodies Welcome Outcome of High Level UN Meet

Union Bodies Welcome Outcome of High Level UN Meeting

Brussels (ICFTU OnLine): The ICFTU and the World Confederation of Labour today hailed the conclusions of a high-level meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission as providing an unprecedented degree of commitment from governments and so a major impetus for decent work and development in the world economy.

The three-day meeting in Geneva, in which international trade union leaders including ICFTU President Sharan Burrow played a key role, emphasised the importance of protection of workers' rights, and called upon other bodies, such as the World Bank and the IMF, to "commit themselves to implement" the outcomes of the meeting.

"This represents an important step forward in the global struggle for decent work and places the ILO at the centre of multilateral efforts to achieve it" said ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder, sentiments echoed by his WCL counterpart Willy Thys who lauded the "comprehensive and concrete nature" of the Declaration adopted by the meeting, and its "recognition that the provision of decent work is the best way of helping the marginalised and disadvantaged". Governments will now have to implement the commitments they have made, stress the world trade union bodies.

© Scoop Media