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Philip Jennings, General Secretary, UNI Global Union will meet with President Sarkozy at the Elysée Palace in Paris today as part of the L20 Summit which will run alongside the G20 Leaders Summit. Jennings and other leading trade union leaders will bring a message to Sarkozy, calling on the G20 leaders not to miss this second chance to get it right. They will urge the G20 to tackle the crisis in a constructive way by putting employment at the heart of the recovery and a new deal on the table for the people. After the financial crisis broke in 2008 there was a flurry of coordinated activity but since then the G20 has lost its way and has so far been unable to provide the leadership required or stand up to big business.



Jennings said, “The financial crisis has revealed that the social order created in the post-war social contract has been systematically torn to pieces by the business and political elites and their think tank cohorts. It’s not only in France where the principles of Liberté, Fraternité, Egalité have been stripped away and replaced by Individualté, Inegalité and the illusion of financial wealth.”



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.



“If the G20 wants to take this second chance they should concentrate on ensuring that the widening gap between the poor and the rich is redressed. Tax havens which fuel inequalities need to be closed; and a financial transactions tax introduced. Everyone must pay their fair share. Multi-billion dollar bail-outs are not the only answer. 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.



The austerity measures, deregulation and the “the market knows best” attitude are not the solutions to the crisis. UNI is urging the G20 to turn away from these neo-liberal policies and to work in a more coordinated way to avoid a deepening crisis and help turn the tide for the 200 million unemployed.



Watch Philip Jennings’ video interview on G20 here.