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Global Unions Delegation Call for Creation of Decent Jobs
Published: 12 May 2010
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A trade union delegation representing the Building and Wood Workers International (BWI), Public Services International (PSI), and UNI Global Network (UNI), met with Mr. Haruhiko Kuroda, President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) during the 43rd ADB Annual Governor’s Meeting on May 1, 2010 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. According to the Asian Development Bank Outlook 2010, “Developing Asia can look ahead to a robust recovery in the next 2 years with growth forecasted to rise to 7.5% in 2010 and moderate to 7.3% in 2011.” However, it is clear that the 60 million workers who have been unemployed and the 100 million people who have fallen into absolute poverty have yet to reap any benefits from this “robust economy.” Speaking on behalf of the trade union delegation, Annie Geron, Vice-President of PSI Asia Pacific Region posed these challenges faced by workers and their families to President Kuroda. After the meeting, Apolinar Tolentino, Acting Officer in Charge of BWI Asia Pacific Region, assessed, “President Kuroda expressed a strong interest to work with the ILO in addressing current global economic crisis and reiterated his strong support for ILO Core Labour Standards. We of course welcome these statements but unfortunately it comes short in the actual implementation of commitment to practice at the ground-level. This is evident by the fact that at many of the ADB-funded infrastructure and development projects, there is a lack of compliance of ILO Core Labour Standards. President Kuroda also failed to concretely address how the ADB will work with the ILO in supporting and implementing the ILO Global Job Pact, an initiative supported by the trade unions to create decent, safe, and sustainable jobs.” According to Magdalene Kong, Youth Coordinator at UNI Apro, “The trade union delegation was pleasantly surprised by President Kuroda’s statement of personal support to financial taxes such as the Financial Activity Tax and the International Solidarity Levy (ISL) as one strong mechanism to mitigate the harmful effects of short term speculation on the economy.” Kong continued, “Trade unions have one of the ardent advocates of these tax initiatives in providing additional revenues for governments and for ADB to address issues of poverty, social protection, damages to the environment as a result of climate change, and meeting Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).” We reiterate our call for a Labour Desk at the ADB as a first step to CLS compliance that should also mainstream workers’ participation and consultation in ADB’s operations,” stated Lakshmi Vaidhiyanathan, Regional Secretary of PSI Asia Pacific Region. “Surely, with the recent tripling of the Bank’s capital base from $55 to $165 billion, the ADB can put its money where its mouth is and allot resources to create an effective Labour Desk to respond to the plight of workers and their families in light of the effects of the crisis,” added Vaidhiyanathan. In addition to the dialogue meeting with President Kuroda, the Global Unions delegation met with Executive Directors for various countries including Switzerland, Austria, Netherlands, Germany, Australia, France, Philippines, and Japan to advocate for the joint trade unions platform regarding the ADB engagement. The joint platform of the trade union delegation at this year’s ADB Annual Governor’s Meeting in Tashkent are as follows: 1. ADB should ensure that creation of decent, safe, and sustainable jobs should be at the centre of any “post-crisis” strategy and agenda. 2. ADB should create a labour desk as a first step to ensure compliance of core labour standards in ADB’s operations and projects. 3. ADB should consider adopting the Financial Transaction Tax and the International Solidarity Levy as strong mechanisms in the global financial and regulatory reforms and the revenues generated to be used with the aim to reduce poverty and meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. 4. ADB should include the participation of workers and trade unions in the development and implementation of post-crisis strategy. |
ADB President Haruhiko Kuroda (right) and ADB NGO Coordinator, Chris Morris 
