Recapping the L20 Summit “Rebuilding Economies, Jobs and Wages”

Publicado: 18 Noviembre 2014
Google translate: 

Overview: Reports and Recommendations

On the eve of the Summit, former Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan reconfirmed to union leaders that growth is not an end in itself as it was vital to spread benefits across societies. L20 Economic modelling shows that a co-ordinated mix of wage and investment policies in G20 countries could halve the global Jobs gap and create up to 5.84 percentage points more growth in G20 countries, compared to business as usual.

ACTU’s Ged Kearney opened the Summit by underlining that such strategy needs to adopted by Leaders in their growth and employment plans with jobs centred macro-economic policies at their heart. Australia’s Employment Minister Abetz acknowledged L20 advocacy, in particular on infrastructure investments, in his speech. He insisted on the fact that productivity increases create higher wages in contrast to the L20 urging for growth through increased consumption and investments. Delegates made the Minister aware of their disappointment not to see climate change and inequality on the G20 Summit’s agenda. Both issues are high on the global agenda and could create sustainable growth through just transition strategies and fair wage and taxation policies. 

UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings led the L20 debate on workers need a pay rise. He underlined the dramatic contribution of the share of wages in the wealth produced. Workers have been shortchanged, wages are flatlining. As income gushes to the top, we see that the salesmans promises of trickle down have not worked. We may have reached a tipping point in change and ILO, the OECD, the IMF, World Bank, WEF, UN have all produced the data to confirm the depth and consequences of income inequality for growth communities and people. Our recent economic history has not been about “Including You” but “winner takes all”. Workers need a pay rise and we are the people that can get that done.

On the positive side, Employment Ministers brought women’s participation targets in labour markets (25% by 2025), commitments on safer workplaces and employment policies into the Leaders growth strategies. Philip Jennings, General Secretary of UNI Global Union, in response to Minister Abetz said that the G20 should deliver real things to real people, and especially in view of a lost generation of young people without jobs and training opportunities. 

And, policy delivery and quality has not always been on point after past G20 Summits as a new survey of L20 members shows: 56% of G20 policies are considered ineffective in improving outcomes for working people. The action plans coming out of Brisbane, participants said, should put in place comprehensive measures to support aggregate demand, reduce inequality and spur investments. This must be backed up by national job creation targets, the introduction of minimum wages and support for collective bargaining, and followed up in consultation with social partners. The exclusion of working people’s representatives to policy consultations would be counterproductive if inclusive growth is the target goal. With the transformation of the G20 Employment Task Force into a working group, the L20 hopes for more policy coherence and social partners’ involvement. 

In the following sessions, L20 members were able to discuss the G20 work on employment, take stock of the achievements and impasses in-between the St. Petersburg and Brisbane Summits and look ahead to the Turkish Presidency. B20 Chair Richard Goyder and C20 Chair Tim Costello discussed policy linkages and their priorities in a joint session. Closing the massive infrastructure investment gap and skills enhancement on the B20 side and inclusive growth and climate policies for the C20 build a common ground with L20 demands to Leaders. 

With the initiation of the BRICS Development Bank, the cooperation between emerging powers within and outside the G20 becomes an important topic for the global labour movement. Union representatives from the BRICS countries therefore presented their views on the latest developments. 

On the second day, OECD Secretary General, Angel Gurria and ILO’s Deputy Director General, Sandra Polaski presented their views on how the G20 can reduce unemployment and income inequality. Jobs growth lags behind GDP growth, which in itself is already low. Meanwhile, austerity reduces governments’ ability to make needed investments in public goods that would improve the jobs situation and lead to more growth. 

Both confirmed that the Brisbane growth plans display a considerable level of ambition and include employment targets. However, L20 analysis shows that it will be essential to review those plans against social targets and monitor their implementation in the course of the next year. 

The OECD and the ILO actively participated in the G20 Employment Task Force in beforehand and submitted reports on the jobs gap, inequality and youth unemployment. Notwithstanding, their respective efforts, income inequality did not make it on the G20 agenda this year. Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam said that 85 people have the same wealth as half of humanity – the fight against inequality clearly needs more institutional support. Gurria said that the G20 governments bear a responsibility to restore public trust in their policies by committing to concrete strategies that create quality employment. The OECD BEPS Action is a good example of enhanced cooperation to restore more fairness in economies. 

Safer workplaces and the fight against precarious working conditions, especially in global value chains, was another key topic of discussion during the Summit. After the tragedies in Bangladesh and Turkey, there is more attention to OSH issues on the global level. A safer workplaces declaration will likely be presented in Brisbane and be followed up in the course of the next year. Workers want to see a strong push towards responsible business practices and effective supply-chain engagement between governments, business and trade unions. Labour standards and decent pay need to be at the heart of national policies and trade agreements worldwide. 

The L20 has been vocal about the slow implementation of G20 Financial Reforms, the lack of ambition on inclusive development and the persisting insistence on ‘structural reforms’ in labour markets. The last summit session allowed addressing these issues with IMF’s Managing Director, Christine Lagarde, the President of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim and Mark Carney, Chair of the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and Governor of the Bank of England. 

The Summit ended with an address by the Australian Treasurer, Joe Hockey, who in presenting this year’s ambitions faced strong opposition by L20 representatives given the lopsided nature of the G20 in Brisbane in regard to topics selection but also to the less than satisfactory inclusion of workers’ representatives in consultations with G20 representatives. 

Most L20 members stay on for the main Summit to try to get the labour movement’s messages across to policy makers and the media in the hopes of triggering changes for the next G20 year. In Australia, the upcoming communiqué outcomes – the analysis of which will be posted here – will potentially be limited in scope and dissatisfying in terms of their impact on social and environmental standards. We will be looking at the national growth strategies in more detail and see if progress in the implementation of the financial regulation and taxation policies will truly be made.