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Trade union leaders sent a strong message to CEOs and bankers in Davos at the World Economic Forum: the global financial business model must change.



“We are not out of the woods yet and I would like to draw attention to a new weather front: the destiny of private equity owned companies,” Jennings said. “At the end of last the last private equity and merger boom, within 3 years 40 percent of those companies were bankrupt or in bankruptcy proceedings.”



Jennings warned that private equity was getting a free pass at Davos this year event though the job security of millions of people was in jeopardy.



Trade union leaders are at the World Economic Forum to push their message of fundamental changes to global corporate and financial practice. Jennings joined International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) President Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary Guy Rider and John Evans, the General Secretary of the Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD, at a press conference in Davos.



Jennings also warned that CEO pay needs to be reigned in drastically.



“This is a time where the CEO gravy train has to be derailed,” he said. “It is no longer acceptable that a CEO earns 100-300 times that of an average worker. CEO pay should be compared with that of the average Joe and that of the CEO around the corner.”



The bloated pay packers are a source of systemic risk, Jennings warned, adding that he supports the Drucker Principle, which says a CEO should make 20 times that of the lowest-paid worker.



Another major risk is the money the banking industry is pumping into lobbying to prevent any kind of meaningful regulation of their business.



“Banks are short of funds for lending but they have fistfuls of dollars to fight reform,” Jennings said. “These bankers are going around Davos claiming regulation will be the source of the next crisis. This is an equation of the absurd.”



He pointed to a recent study by the International Monetary Fund that showed that the US banks that spent the most money lobbying US lawmakers were the ones that got the biggest bailouts and had the riskiest business practices.



“Parliamentary watchdogs should be on full alert and the political leadership must hold firm to show that they are serious about financial reforms.”



The union leaders also called for strong government programs to rebuild developed and developing economies and to foster long-term sustainable job growth in long-term sustainable industries.



“We need a fairer labour market coming out of this crisis,” TUAC’s Evans said. “We don’t need just redesign or rethinking, we also need redistribution. Those will be our messages to governments and employers in the weeks and months ahead.”



Evans said the measures must be fair and tackle the people hardest hit by the crisis and should create green jobs that help us tackle the climate crisis.



You can find press coverage of Jennings’ remarks in Davos in:



The Guardian

The Telegraph

The New York Times/International Herald Tribune's Davos Diary blog

The Globe and Mail

The Times

La Croix (in French)