I had the pleasure of addressing the 2nd World Congress of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in Vancouver a couple of weeks ago, and participating in a panel debate. I also met privately with some key union leaders.
For me, three main points emerged.
First, I was confirmed in my belief that, for the IMF, our interaction with the labor movement is extremely valuable. We make it a point to meet with unions, including in the context of our lending programs. Over the past few years, I have personally met international trade union leaders four times—on the eve of important G-20 meetings—as well as with individual union leaders. So the labor movement has a lot of influence on the way we work—even if they do not always think so.
Filed under: Civil Society, Economic Crisis, Europe, Financial Crisis, Financial regulation, G-20, growth, IMF, International Monetary Fund, Multilateral Cooperation | Tagged: debt sustainability, economic cooperation, economic nationalism, exchange rate flexibility, financial transactions tax, fiscal consolidation, international trade unions, labor movement, social conditionality, social protection | 5 Comments »
