Toggle high contrast

Promoting Sustained Economic Recovery

Issue date

Rt Hon Alastair Darling MP
Chancellor of the Exchequer

11 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA

our ref ifi/bb/bk
date: 7 September 2009
contact: Bandula Kothalawala
direct line: (0)20 7467 1257
email: bkothalawala@tuc.org.uk

Dear Alastair

Promoting Sustained Economic Recovery through a Global Jobs Pact

I am enclosing a copy of the Statement issued by the Global Unions on the occasion of Annual Meetings of the World Bank and IMF due to be held in Istanbul on 6-7 October 2009. I would be grateful for your views on the proposals made, and any support that you could give to them.

The TUC endorses the Statement which, while recognizing the importance of decisions taken at the G20 Summit, calls upon the World Bank and the IMF to take the initiative to promote an economic recovery strategy anchored in the creation of employment as a means to ensure sustained growth. The Statement points out that the Annual Meetings should, inter alia:

commit to the consistent application of policies and progammes designed to promote an employment recovery in conformity with the Global Jobs Pact adopted at the 2009 ILO Conference;

allocate fresh resources towards assisting the recovery of low-income countries to be disbursed as concessionary loans or debt cancellation;

encourage the participation of all countries in the global economic recovery effort

by eliminating loan conditions that require the application of pro-cyclical policies;

re-establish access to credit and commit the IMF, jointly with the Financial Stability Board, to swift completion of the design and implementation of a comprehensive framework for global financial regulation and supervision through a transparent process that includes consultations with trade unions and other social partners;

develop an expedited timeframe for the IMF and World Bank to undertake the long overdue revision of their governing structures with adequate provision for substantially increasing developing country representation; and

encourage countries to pursue carbon reduction initiatives as part of their economic recovery programmes, thus enhancing the possibility of adoption of an ambitious agreement at the Copenhagen COP15 Conference on climate change in December.

I hope that the Government will take into serious consideration the views of the international trade union movement and play a leading role in persuading our European partners to support them at the forthcoming meetings of the World Bank and the IMF in Istanbul.

I am copying this to the Secretary of State for International Development, and to the UK Executive Directors of the IMF and the World Bank.

Yours sincerely

BRENDAN BARBER

General Secretary

Please, click http://www.ituc-csi.org/IMG/pdf/statement_imfwb_1009.pdf for Global Unions Statement

Enable Two-Factor Authentication

To access the admin area, you will need to setup two-factor authentication (TFA).

Setup now