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In a wide ranging interview on Fox Business News, "Opening Bell" , UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings said the American Dream had to be won back for workers. 

Watch the whole interview here

Jennings said while productivity and profits were increasing the benefits were only floating up to the 1% and that collective bargaining had collapsed in the US. The result was that if workers were not allowed around the table then it was impossible to negotiate fairly the distribution of wealth.

Jennings accused private equity and hedge funds of cooking the process and warned that if workers could not afford to pay into their pension fund or pay for their children's education then something was badly wrong.

However he said there were signs that some businesses were looking more long term to create a sustainable business model, citing Unilever which no longer releases quarterly reports preferring to focus on a five to ten year plan.

Jennings told the Fox Business News audience that unions were strong, relevant and credible. He said that unions must have access to to businesses, making the analogy that denying workers the right to join a union was similar to denying people the right to vote. He said that low paying companies like Walmart, Wendy's and McDonald's had to be forced to give their workers a voice through union membership and the labour movement would keep knocking on the door.

"Give them a voice and they will join a union; take away the hammer and threat of dismissal and they will join a union," Jennings concluded.