The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) released a statement for the 2010 summit of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (New York, 20-22 September 2010), entitled “A Breakthrough Plan to Accelerate Progress in Achieving the Millennium Development Goals by 2015” as well as an “Executive Summary of Recommendations to the Summit of the General Assembly on the Millennium Development Goals.”

In the statement, trade unions call upon Member States to show the necessary political will to use an alternative development policy framework for achieving sustainable development and the MDGs. “A new policy approach is needed, one that puts the emphasis on demand-led growth, the social dimensions of macro-economic policies, robust measures to ensure fair, redistributive growth with developing countries having the policy space to determine their development priorities, and the pace and sequencing of liberalisation,” the statement notes.

Although the recommendations presented particularly relate to the promotion of MDG sub-target 1b, which refers to the achievement of full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people, they also call for progress on: achieving gender equality (MDG3); investing in large-scale environmentally-friendly and climate-resilient infrastructure (MDG7); agreeing on a Financial Transactions Tax (FTT) to free up new resources for financing development (MDG1) as well as mitigation and adaptation strategies (MDG7).

Trade unions further call for the endorsement of the ILO Global Jobs Pact in the outcome document of the Summit and support recommendations made by the International Labour Organization (ILO) on the provision of a universal social protection floor as well as on “HIV and AIDS and the World of Work.”

To read the full trade union statement, click here.
To read the executive summary, click here.

Source: NGLS