Scoop has an Ethical Paywall
Trade Unions Call For APEC Summit
Singapore/ Brussels: 27 October 2009 (ITUC OnLine): In
preparation for a meeting with Prime Minister Lee Hsien
Loong of Singapore today, trade union leaders gathering at
the XV Asia Pacific Labour Network Conference have called
for a far-reaching reorientation of the policies of the Asia
Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum in order to
address the negative effects of the economic crisis.
Singapore is the host of the 2009 Leaders’ Summit, taking
place on 14-15 November.
“We have already felt the
impact of the crisis on the lives of millions of people,”
said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder. “APEC must urgently
adopt policies to address the negative effect on migrants,
women, laid-off workers and young people, as well as
millions of others, through the implementation of the
ILO’s Global Jobs Pact and the ILO Decent Work Agenda.”
The trade union statement to APEC calls on APEC to
broaden the scope of its activities, and to promote the
integration of social and labour provisions into bilateral
and regional free trade agreements. At the same time such
action would result, in the longer term, in fairer and more
sustainable trade among the APEC economies, for the benefit
of all the people of the Asia – Pacific region.
The
statement expresses concern at the common work that the
World Bank has been undertaking recently with APEC on
elaborating an “Ease of Doing Business” study with a
view to setting priority areas for regulatory reform in APEC
economies. Given that the Bank itself has repudiated the
use of the labour indicators in its own “Doing Business”
report, it is essential that these anti-worker indicators be
rejected in the framework of APEC as well.
Trade
union leaders have welcomed the news that a meeting of APEC
Human Resources Development Ministers will be held in 2010,
after a nine year gap since the last such meeting. This
needs to be the starting point for a new commitment from
APEC to bringing sufficient attention to bear on social
priorities.
The trade union conference in Singapore
will argue that labour should provide a vital input to APEC
institutions in order to achieve a sustainable recovery, and
should set up a Labour Forum to enable workers’
representatives to get their voice heard in APEC structures.
These are among the key messages that union leaders
will be relaying to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and to
the Executive Director of APEC and the Chair of the APEC
business advisory committee (ABAC), when they meet them
during the two-day ITUC/APLN Conference. Union leaders will
call on the Prime Minister to convey their proposals to
create decent work and mainstream social concerns to the
APEC Leaders’ Summit in three weeks’ time.
For
the full ITUC/APLN Statement, please consult: http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/20091026105456-Microsoft_Word_-_FINAL_APLN_statement_2009_EN.pdf
Background document: http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/20091026105448-Microsoft_Word_-_FINAL_APLN_2009_Background_Document_EN.pdf
The ITUC represents 170 million workers in 158
countries and territories and has 316 national affiliates.
Website: http://www.ituc-csi.org
ENDS
Save The Children: GAZA - Nowhere Safe In Gaza As Attacks In North & Hospital Ablaze In South Put Lives Of Children And Families At Risk
UN News: Lebanon - IDF Tanks Force Entry Into UN Peacekeeping Position, UNIFIL Reports
UNODC: UNODC Report Exposes Escalating Threat Of Organized Crime In The Pacific
Climate Action Network: Not One Country Is Doing Enough To Provide Clean, Accessible, And Affordable Energy
Stop AUKUS: Call For De-militarisation After Manawanui Sinking
Save The Children: Education Disrupted For Sixth Year For 1.5 Million Children In Lebanon, With Half Of Public Schools Used As Shelters