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Under the theme of Inclusion and Innovation, global labor leaders from the world’s largest economies (“the L20”) met to discuss and deliver recommendations to the Labor Ministers of the G20 members.  The labor ministers issued a statement which continued its previous reference to inclusive economic growth and reducing inequalities. 

The statement also made reference to the role of collective bargaining to support sustainable wage growth.  For the ITUC’s reaction please click below. 

• ITUC Press Statement

In individual and group meetings with the Ministers,  union leaders delivered a consistent message that we must close the jobs gap and take more concrete steps towards making the G20 commitments to workers a reality.

Welcoming the many positive elements to the Ministers’ statement, the union participants stressed that the focus now should be on implementation, noting that we continue to see positive declarations emerging from this process but a lag in making these a reality.  It is time to close this gap. 

Guy Ryder, the Director General of the ILO, recognized that there is a dissonance between the policies of the IMF and the OECD which continue to focus on austerity and flexibility, while the research shows a clear link between the decline in collective bargaining and the growth in inequality.  Ryders said, “There is a coherence gap between the research and the policy recommendations.” 

UNI Deputy General Secretary Christy Hoffman spoke to the group about the growing platform economy and emerging efforts to build a collective voice in various platform industries.  Noting the expansion of the platform economy and the erosion of the standard employment relationship, Hoffman said “some of this platform “disruption” is just another way for corporations to avoid regulation, the obligations of employers and taxes- the same old greed dressed up in new clothes.”   The L20 statement called for new regulatory frameworks and the right to collective bargaining in the digital economy. Find the full L20 statement below.

• L20 Trade Union Statement to the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting - Beijing, 11-13 July 2016

Next year’s L20 will be hosted by Germany and the 4 themes will be:

1) The Future of Work

2) Migration and the integration of migrants and refugees into the work force.

3) The Global supply chain

4) Increasing female participation in the labor market and reducing the pay gap.