First international poll by global union reveals deep mistrust of economic decision makers

date: 11 June 2012

embargo: 00.01hrs Tuesday 12 June 2012

The first international public opinion polling commissioned by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) - the Brussels-based global union representing 175 million union members across the world - shows deep uncertainty, fear and political disempowerment across half the G20 economies, six European countries and four emerging economies.

The poll, commissioned by the ITUC from global market research company TNS, covers a total of 13 countries.

Released on the eve of the meeting of the Mexico G20 summit starting on 18 June, the ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said the poll showed widespread opposition to austerity measures, a collapse in the belief that governments are operating in the interests of their voters, and strong support for labour laws across the 13 countries polled.

The results of the poll, conducted in May in Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, UK and the USA, sounded a warning bell for not just those governments, but for global financial governance, Ms. Burrow warned.

The poll shows:

• 58 per cent of people think their country is going in the wrong direction;
• 66 per cent think that future generations will be worse off;
• 67 per cent think that international banks and financial institutions have too much influence on the economic decisions of their governments. Conversely, 67 per cent think that voters don't have enough influence on economic decisions.

ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow said: 'The democratic contract with voters is broken in many countries, and governments must pay heed to their people or we risk increasing political and economic instability.

'Global economic orthodoxy is widely rejected by the populace, and this up-swell of anti-government and anti-austerity opinion across so many nations should cause urgent re-thinking at the global level.

'Given a choice of economic policies, two thirds of people support government action to invest in job creation to allow economies to grow and pay off debts compared with less than one in four who want debts paid off nowby cutting back on government spending.'

The international union movement will present the views of working people to world leaders gathering in Los Cabos, Mexico for the G20 Summit 18-19 June.

TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber will lead a union delegation to meet Prime Minister David Cameron, where he will raise some of the issues raised in the poll.

Commenting on the poll, Brendan Barber said: 'This poll shows that people across the world are worried about the direction their country is going in.

'Two thirds of people believe that future generations will be worse than today - a telling indictment of the failure of global austerity measures.

'But this understandable pessimism needn't become a reality. Unions are making the case for an alternative to austerity - one that invests in young people and prioritises growth over a failed economic doctrine that is failing across Europe.'

The poll also showed growing levels of uncertainty about the family income and job security:

• One in seven respondents are working poor - without enough money for basic essentials like housing, food and electricity;
• For 58 per cent of people, their income has fallen behind the cost of living;
• One in three people think their jobs are less secure than two years ago.

The poll showed strong rejection of the austerity policies being followed by some governments, and support for jobs and investment in infrastructure.

The ITUC believes the poll results suggested widespread anger against those perceived to have caused the global financial crisis, and resentment at who is having to pay for the mistakes of governments and the international banking and finance industry.

Other poll findings:

• 78 per cent of people think international banks and financial institutions should pay more for the global financial crisis;
• 45 per cent of people think small business should pay less for the financial crisis and 50 per cent think workers should pay less to fix the financial crisis.

The poll also tested support for basic labour laws across the population in the 13 countries.

• 70 per centthink current laws do not protect workers' job security;
• 89 per cent of people support the right to join a union;
• 86 per cent of people support the right to collectively bargain.

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Contact Gemma Swart +32 479 06 41 63 for interviews with Sharan Burrow, General Secretary ITUC or a briefing with Netherlands-based opinion pollster Hans Anker.

- The ITUC Global Poll 2012 report, prepared by Anker Solutions, is available at www.ituc-csi.org from 12 June in English, French, German, Indonesian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

- The findings of this study represent the opinions of more than 1.4 billion people, or 20 percent of the current world population. 14 per cent of respondents were union members.

- Anker Solutions, based in the Netherlands, was responsible for questionnaire design, analysis and report writing.

- TNS Opinion carried out the fieldwork from10 April - 6 May 2012. Quota samples were used to reflect national proportions in terms of age, gender and region. In each country, approximately 1,000 respondents were interviewed, with a total of 13,067 respondents.

Country ranking tables

The Wrong Direction

Overall would you say your country is moving in the right direction or the wrong direction?

	Total	G20	EU	DE	FR	UK	US	ID	MX	BR	SA	CA	JN	BG	EL	BE
The right direction	38	41	39	49	26	39	35	39	27	64	47	61	20	41	9	38
The wrong direction	58	56	59	51	73	61	65	52	69	29	41	39	79	47	87	62
Don't know	4	3	2	0	0	0	0	9	4	7	12	0	0	12	4	0

Future Generations not better off

Overall, do you feel future generations will be better or worse off than your own generation?

	Total	G20	EU	DE	FR	UK	US	ID	MX	BR	SA	CA	JN	BG	EL	BE
Better off	27	28	21	15	7	22	21	59	27	45	36	23	17	47	15	13
Worse off	66	65	77	85	93	79	78	26	50	24	58	77	83	43	77	87
The same	5	6	0	0	0	0	0	10	20	29	1	0	0	2	4	0
Don't know	2	1	2	0	0	0	0	4	2	1	5	0	0	9	4	0
Better off - worse off	-39	-37	-56	-70	-86	-57	-57	33	-23	21	-22	-54	-67	4	-62	-74

Increasing threat of unemployment

Over the last two years, has the threat of not having a job or not having enough work for you and your family gone up, gone down or stayed the same?

	Total	G20	EU	DE	FR	UK	US	ID	MX	BR	SA	CA	JN	BG	EL	BE
Gone up	35	31	40	21	49	46	36	22	27	22	23	32	31	46	67	37
Gone down	14	16	10	14	8	8	10	18	35	25	22	12	11	7	6	12
Stayed even	49	52	50	65	43	47	54	59	38	48	51	56	58	43	27	51
Don't know	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	2	1	5	5	0	0	5	1	0
Gone up - gone down	21	14	30	7	42	38	25	4	-8	-3	1	20	20	40	61	25

Influence over economic decisions

For each of the following groups, could you please tell how much influence you think they have on economic decisions taken by the government?

Too much influence	Total	G20	EU	DE	FR	UK	US	ID	MX	BR	SA	CA	JN	BG	EL	BE
Banks/financial institutions	67	66	76	86	84	80	75	55	61	83	23	68	42	50	88	80
Large corporations	65	64	69	82	72	72	76	57	57	76	27	76	46	58	81	60
Workers and their unions	25	28	18	12	15	30	35	39	28	14	46	33	23	4	16	28
Voters	13	13	4	3	4	3	5	35	22	18	24	4	14	6	22	5
Small businesses	10	11	4	3	3	3	5	27	19	13	11	5	23	4	7	5

Not enough influence	Total	G20	EU	DE	FR	UK	US	ID	MX	BR	SA	CA	JN	BG	EL	BE
Small businesses	71	69	82	86	83	85	80	32	52	57	69	77	69	82	73	75
Voters	67	66	80	85	78	85	82	33	45	58	48	82	70	73	61	81
Workers and their unions	50	46	60	62	66	44	41	25	43	54	27	41	60	79	66	49
Large corporations	16	17	13	7	12	11	10	13	27	11	38	9	28	15	9	19
Banks/financial institutions	14	15	10	7	7	8	9	14	19	7	34	9	32	18	6	9

Support for Labour Laws

Could you please tell me if you strongly favour, somewhat favour, somewhat oppose or strongly oppose each of the following laws? Cell entries are number of respondents who answer 'strongly favour + somewhat favour.' Laws ordered from highest favour score to lowest score.

	Total	G20	EU	DE	FR	UK	US	ID	MX	BR	SA	CA	JN	BG	EL	BE
Laws that protect workers' health and safety	94	95	93	98	96	95	96	97	95	98	85	96	92	82	95	93
Laws that establish and protect a decent minimum wage for workers	89	91	89	93	94	95	90	94	90	96	76	93	89	74	88	88
Laws that give workers the right to collectively bargain, so workers can join together to get fairer wages and labor conditions	86	86	87	90	91	86	76	92	91	93	72	84	89	86	91	83
Laws that give workers the right to join a union	84	84	86	91	88	89	77	89	84	86	76	77	87	79	81	82

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