Davos: a world economy twisted out of shape – inequality number one threat

Published: 21 January 2014

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UNI Global Union’s General Secretary, Philip Jennings tells international media that the “world economy is twisted out of shape”, responding to a raft of heavy hitting reports highlighting growing inequality in the build up to Davos.

Reacting to the ILO Global Employment Trends 2014 report released this week, UNI Global Union General Secretary Philip Jennings, a 20 year Davos veteran, said, “Growth is weak, unemployment is rising and half of those that have jobs are vulnerable. Is this what they call an economic recovery?

“The labour market is twisted out of shape with quantitative easing favouring the rich. Only increasing the income share of working people in wealth produced will grow demand and create jobs. That means a global living wage and stronger collective bargaining.”

Also this week Oxfam released a report showed how 85 individuals own as much wealth as the bottom 50% of the entire global population.

"Oxfam's report is a further confirmation that the global economy is twisted out of shape," says Philip Jennings, the general secretary of the UNI Global Union, an international federation of unions based in Geneva. "These are levels of inequality that we have not seen since the 1920s."

The World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2014 confirms how the world economy has become twisted out of shape. High unemployment and underemployment as well as income disparity are among the top ten concerns in the WEF Risks Report 2014.

Jennings said, “The Risks report should act as a wake-up call to the influencers and leaders at Davos. These are global issues we can do something about: we can twist the global economy back into shape – this includes a new commitment to create jobs, address income inequality and falling living standards. Since the global financial crisis it’s been a race to the bottom in jobs, wages and living standards.”

Philip Jennings in Davos 22—25 January:

As head of UNI, a powerful Global Union with 900 affiliated unions in 150 countries across the skills and services sector, Jennings has driven key international breakthroughs:

The foundation of the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety – a groundbreaking agreement between more than 100 international brands and global unions following the Rana Plaza factory collapse in April. Jennings says it has changed the rules of the game in the global supply chain which has become “twisted out of shape” in the race to the bottom. Jennings, with the Global Union movement, is now pushing international brands in Cambodia to respond to the violence against garment workers and provide a living wage and decent working conditions.
Jennings is leading campaigns aimed at changing the business practices of global brands such as IKEA, Wal-Mart and Amazon. Jennings says Amazon is acting unacceptably as a Dickensian-style employer in a cut-price, cut-throat industry while Wal-Mart continues to abuse its global workforce, and IKEA applies different standards at home and abroad: twisting out of shape any sense of dignity at work
Under Jennings’ leadership UNI recently signed a global framework agreement with Loomis – the 50th such agreement with multinationals aimed at ensuring companies treat employees fairly with Ruggie principles in place on human rights in business.
At Davos 2013 Jennings said that “the world needs a pay-rise”; global leaders are picking up on the message as share of wages in wealth is in freefall. Recently President Obama said inequality was the challenge of our time.
Jennings says this year unless the global economy is twisted back into shape the One Percent’s grip on power and wealth will destroy the chances of recovery.
Jennings will take part in several sessions in Davos including Rethinking Technology and Employment along with Larry Summers and Tom Friedman and The Leadership, Trust and Performance Equation Project with the US Secretary of Commerce, Penny Pritzker.
Jennings will join a group of key global union leaders in meeting with global institutional and business leaders in Davos. His message will be that financial decision-makers took their eye off the ball by sacrificing the opportunity to make fundamental changes in the global economy in the teeth of the crisis. The world of work in quantity and quality has taken second place to fixing bank balance sheets. It is time to get back to the real work of building better lives for people.

Jennings in the media

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