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At the end of the Global Dialogue Forum of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), delegates stated that an effective response to the crisis requires linking the economic and regulatory aspects with the impact on jobs, working conditions, skills requirements and social protection in the industry.



“We need a new customer-oriented and risk-conscious business model that is sustainable and long-term”, said Allan Bang, President of UNI Finance. “It must empower customers and staff.”



For unions, regulatory reform should reflect and build on the day-to-day practical experience of employees. It should take account of internal operating procedures, incentive systems and working conditions with the resulting motivation and constraints of employees.



“UNI Finance proposed last year a bottom-up approach for financial supervision and risk management,” said Bang. “It is high-time that this is addressed by companies and regulators.”



Unions, employers and government representatives said that they will ensure that the social partners are involved in the reform process insofar the labour and social dimension is concerned. They will work together so that the conclusions of the meeting are taken into account in the discussions on the new financial architecture by the G20, Financial Stability Forum, the International Monetary Fund and other international institutions.



To this end, the ILO should monitor the employment, social and labour impact of regulatory proposals on the finance industry in order to advise governments and international institutions on the implication in close cooperation with trade unions and employers representatives.



Delegates also stressed that the financial crisis should take the highest priority in the work of the ILO for the coming years. A specific action plan should be presented as soon as possible. A key element is continuous cooperation among the unions, employers and government representatives in the finance sector under the umbrella of the ILO.



The Global Dialogue Forum heard that some 325,000 workers in the finance industry had lost their jobs since August 2007, 40% since October 2008. There is also the expectation that the number of layoffs could accelerate over coming months with the deepening recession across many countries.



In the conclusions of the global dialogue forum, the groups stressed that redundancies should be a measure of last resort after all other options have been exhausted. Restructuring measures should be based on dialogue between management and the workers’ side.



“In a globalised industry, it is important that all relevant information on restructuring are made available to unions in all countries in which a company operations. It cannot be that staff in some countries are privileged by management”, said UNI General Secretary Philip Jennings. “Global agreements with UNI on core labour standards and social dialogue provide an ideal tool to guarantee a level playing field across any company.”



“UNI will approach in particular the 30 leading banks and insurance companies around the world on global agreements. This is the more pertinent since financial supervisors around the world are now setting up international colleges of supervisors for these companies and insurance companies. A top-down perspective is insufficient. The colleagues must involve trade unions and UNI will closely shadow the work of the colleges,” said Jennings.



While billions of dollars have been spent on public bail-out programmes, a UNI Finance survey reveals that nowhere have social partners been consulted.



“The Global Dialogue Forum sends a clear message to governments: the social partners need to be involved in the design insofar the labour dimension is concerned,” said Oliver Roethig, Head of UNI Finance. “Bail-outs must respect core labour standards, including freedom of association as well as the rights to collective bargaining and to organise in a union.”



Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO, will take the conclusions of this week’s meeting to the upcoming G20 meeting, to be held on 2 April in London.



The conclusions highlight further practical measures to mitigate the impact of the crisis and to move towards a sustainable financial industry:

• ensuring workers’ employability through skills enhancement, life-long learning and active labour market policies to support adjustment;
• maintaining advances in equity policies, especially for the large number of women working in the sector;
• treating workers in atypical employment fairly;
• coordinating measures to avoid protectionist policies that would aggravate the crisis.
• at global, regional and national level, the ILO should organise activities to promote cooperation on tackling the impact of the financial crisis on employment involving unions, employers and government representatives.

For UNI Finance, UNI Global Union and the entire international trade union movement, these conclusions are an important achievement. They give a voice to workers in the process of addressing the financial crisis and re-designing the global financial system.

Restoring confidence in financial markets and fixing the current problems of the industry is a necessary step in relaunching the global economy towards recovery. The downwards spiral of job losses needs to be stopped urgently.

The Global Dialogue Forum on the Impact of the Financial Crisis on Finance Sector Workers was held at the ILO headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on 24 and 25 February. It brought together over 100 representatives of unions, employers and government representatives.





The issues paper prepare by the ILO is attached to this article.