TUC: PM must prove Britain’s influence at G20 by winning agreements to improve workers’ lives
7 Jul 2017 03:13 PM
The TUC is joining with trade unions from across the G20 today (Friday) to call for leaders at the G20 summit in Hamburg to agree action to create good quality jobs and increase wages.
The Labour 20 (L20) Statement, from workers and trade unions in G20 nations, sets out policies to make the global economy work better for working people.
Polling published today, commissioned by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), found strong support from British people for the UK government to 'do more' on L20 proposals:
- Make sure companies pay their fair share of taxes (84%)
- Create jobs by investing in care for the elderly, disabled people and pre-school aged children (76%)
- Enable apprenticeships and possibilities for life-long learning (73%)
- Adopt new rules for multinational companies to end abuse of workers through their supply chains (68%)
- Work towards a pay raise for workers (58%)
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:
“The G20 summit is an opportunity for the Prime Minister to prove that Britain is not losing influence because of Brexit. She must show that British leadership can make the global economy fairer for working people.
“British workers are not alone in worrying that the economy is rigged against them. Workers around the world are fighting to defend job security, pensions and wages. And they can all see how a wealthy elite creams off an unfair share of the profits and hides it in tax havens.
“World leaders must not ignore the anger and fear of working people at the hard end of globalisation. They must give workers reasons to believe in a more hopeful future. We need global agreements to enhance workers’ rights, strengthen collective bargaining, and direct more of the profits into workers’ pockets.”
Notes to Editors:
- L20 statement: The full L20 statement to the G20 summit is here: www.ituc-csi.org/l20-statement-to-the-g20-hamburg
- L20 info: The L20 is one of the 6 outreach groups within G20 and represents the interests of workers at the G20 level. It unites trade unions from G20 countries and Global Unions and is convened by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and Trade Union Advisory Committee to the OECD (TUAC).
- UK Polling: The UK polling data in this press release is published for the first time today. It was conducted for ITUC by Kantar Public. Survey participants answered by choosing from four options: the UK government should (1) do more, (2) do less, (3) same role as present, or (4) don't know. The figures given above are for the proportion that answered 'do more'. Full data for the questions above can be downloaded from this page.
- Global polling: The UK polling is part of a larger global polling project by the TUC. Global top lines from the polling (not including the data above) were published by the ITUC in June in the ITUC 2017 Global Poll, which is here: http://www.ituc-csi.org/ituc-frontlines-poll-2017