
“It is time to build and deliver the new social contract to realise the future of work we want!”
29 August 2019
“Multilateralism
is in a crisis with a growing concern about globalisation,” Shoya Yoshida, General
Secretary of the ITUC-AP, said in the opening of the
L20 Summit in Tokyo, Japan.
The L20 Summit was organised
with the theme of “Realising the New Social Contract” from 29 - 30 August 2019
in Tokyo prior to G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting (1 - 2 September
2019, Ehime, Japan).
The ITUC-AP General Secretary was concerned that the
economic dimension – aimed at trade, investment and financial liberalisation –
has dominated global policy-making and it
has supported a model of growth which has given rise to greater inequality and,
in return, a popular
backlash against globalisation and current multilateral institutions. “It is urgently important to rebuild multilateralism such that benefits
of the globalised economy are fairly distributed and income inequality is
minimised,” Shoya said.
He concluded, “Trade unions must play a central role as communities of workers and their families to make democracy better control the market. They must, to this end, be fully prepared to participate as effective and responsible stakeholders in the process of developing a new social contract based on a fair labour market policy and changing rules for sustainable and inclusive growth.”