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During their meeting with President Sarkozy, Jennings and other leading trade union leaders brought a stark message: put employment at the heart of the recovery and a new deal on the table for the people.

“We pressed President Sarkozy, as the G20 President, for a coordinated plan to cut youth unemployment worldwide, social protection, workers' rights and stronger G20 policies for social cohesion” said Jennings.

The G20 has a second chance to get it right. UNI Global Union demands they take the following steps:

· End the business as usual and bonus culture in the financial sector

· Focus on job creation

· Ensure that the widening gap between the poor and the rich is redressed.

· Close tax havens which fuel inequalities.

· Introduce a financial transactions tax.

· Develop global solidarity and fair working conditions across markets.

The wave of protests which are growing all over the world are an authentic voice of ordinary people who feel they have been disenfranchised from society and have no hope for tomorrow. This growing unrest needs to be answered in a positive manner.

“Giving people back their dignity and respect is free and this should be part of the new bargain between the state and the people. The G20 has the opportunity to start a new social contract that would go some way to answering the universal demand of the protests we are seeing around the world,” Jennings added.

Jennings and the other union leaders are now in Cannes where they are continuing to press their message home via the L20 meeting which is running alongside the G20.

Watch Philip Jenning's video interview here