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Philip Jennings talked to Angela Barandun from Swiss German-language national daily newspaper, Tages Anzeiger.

The full article in German can be found here: http://bit.ly/1dOpY2u

This is the transcript of the interview.

Trade union leader Philip Jennings is coming to Davos for the 20th time. This year, he is intending
to name and shame Migros and Coop.

Twenty years ago you were the first trade union leader to come to Davos. How did that
come about?

Come January of every year, the newspapers would be full of headlines covering neoliberal
economic topics. They only talked about businesses and what could be done to make them even
more successful. The problems ordinary people faced didn’t even get a mention. So, in the autumn
of 1994, I set up a meeting with Klaus Schwab, and that led me to Davos at the beginning of 1995.

What was it like then?

Just like the first day at school. I was totally lost. But it was worth it. Today we are the voice of the
workers at the Forum. And the WEF functions completely differently compared to way it used to be.

Today social issues are an integral part of the agenda. But let me ask you, what leads you to
believe that this can actually help you to achieve something?

There are about 2500 people who meet in Davos, of whom a few hundred, perhaps even over
thousand, represent the business elite, plus a hundred top politicians. And what does the Forum
do? It talks about the key socio-political problems: social unrest, unequal income distribution
structural unemployment. That in itself is remarkable.

But we had the same key issues we had a year ago. What has changed this year?

Just look and see what has happened in the meantime! US President Barack Obama said that
inequality was the biggest challenge of our time. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel and her
coalition are considering setting a minimum wage. Even the Conservative British Chancellor of the
Exchequer, George Osborne, is saying that the minimum wage should be increased to its pre-crisis
level. And you know what? The employers agree with him. Even Japan’s Prime Minister, Shinzo
Abe, wants to increase employees’ purchasing power.

But so far wages have not been increased.

It takes time for the message to sink in. When I said at last year’s WEF that the world needed
wages to go up, people looked at me as if I had smoked something. The reaction was, the world is
in a crisis and the last thing you could ask businesses to do was to increase wages. But the
consequences of unequal income distribution on the economy are enormous - that was true at the
time and it remains true today.

And what is your message?

The motto of this year’s WEF is Reshaping the World. However, before the world’s elite can start
changing anything, they have to recognise that the world economy has gone off the rails.

Klaus Schwab doesn’t want the WEF to remain stuck in the shadow of the crisis. Is he
trying to push the problems to the back of people’s minds?

For me Davos this year is at a turning point. We are living in a time of enormous economic,
technological, demographic and social upheaval. Perhaps we need to start by freeing ourselves
from the past in order to solve the major issues of our time and to look to the future. What Klaus
Schwab is saying is that we have been stuck in crisis mode for long enough. The time has come to
look ahead - and to tackle the problems that threaten our civilisation.!

Can we say that the crisis is now behind us?

We can’t just carry on as before. That’s why the OECD has now launched an enormous project
with over 30 working groups, the aim of which is to look for alternative economic models which are
more sustainable, equitable and resilient. Our economic system has failed, the financial system
has failed and the environmental system - because of the way we have handled it up to now - is on
the verge of collapse. We need a new approach and a new sense of community and society.

Does the business elite understand that? Or has the shock just make them temporarily a
little more humble?

The financial sector has definitely not learned its lesson. People don’t seem to be aware of their
responsibility. The economy as a whole is far too dependent on the banks. It is as if someone were
holding a gun to our heads. And that is why we still haven’t discovered how to prevent the next
crisis.

Who do you really want to meet in Davos?

I always have a list of business leaders in my head, people whose working conditions I would like
to discuss. For example, there is the CEO of Walmart - he comes every year. However, we have
never managed to have a real discussion, even though I approached him on a couple of occasions
in the corridors and introduced myself. Somehow he was always in a terrible hurry. !

You played a key role in the Bangladesh Accord which was adopted after the
collapse of a textile factory that caused the deaths of over 1000 people. Dozens of
Western fashion brands have formally assumed responsibility for the safety of
manufacturing facilities in the country. What is the situation today?

We now have over 1000 brands that have signed the Accord. We have opened an office in
Bangladesh and set up a worldwide support organisation. In the next few days we shall
start conducting factory inspections and, over the next few months, we shall be visiting all
the factories that supply the brands that have signed the Accord.

You intend to inspect each individual factory? There’s no way you can do that?!

Who says so? Don’t be so sceptical. We have 2000 factories on our list. We intend to visit
most of the factories this year. However, we are worried less by the large number of
factories than the fact that there are still many companies that refuse to sign the Accord -
including Migros and Coop.

What are their reasons?

Migros and Coop just refuse. I have written to them, and they answered. I will be writing
another letter to them this week. The Accord sets new standards because it forces the
brands to accept direct responsibility. All the participants are convinced that we can achieve
something with this - and we hope that the system can also be replicated in other countries.
In spite of all this, Migros and Coop refuse to sign.

Migros and Coop argue that the financial consequences are unpredictable. That’s
why they want to stick to the old system.

But that proved to be totally ineffective in Bangladesh! The old system is not legally
independent and transparent, nor do workers have a voice. The factory that was hit by the
disaster had just been inspected on the basis of the old model just before the fire. Migros
and Coop are clinging to a system that has failed. I believe that to be a great mistake. They
say that they don’t buy much clothing from Bangladesh, but in my mind that’s no excuse.
They are putting themselves on the same level as firms like Walmart and Gap.

What would be the price of signing the Accord?

Participating in the Accord does not come without a cost. Someone has to pay for the whole
organisation. But Migros and Coop’s contribution would not ruin them.

What sums are we talking about?

There is no fixed contribution. It depends on the quantities that the companies produce in
Bangladesh. For Migros and Coop the figure would be in the range of a few tens of
thousands francs.

The chief executives of Migros and Coop won’t be in Davos, otherwise you could
track them down - just as you did with the boss of Walmart.

That’s true. But I’m expecting lots of questions from journalists on the Bangladesh Accord.
And I will use that to denounce Migros and Coop’s refusal. And I won’t stop till they have
signed.

This is an unofficial translation.