The Forum engages regularly with the Labour Leaders Community, comprised of heads of leading global, regional, national and industry-specific labour and trade unions around the world.
Labour Leaders are integrated into the Annual Meeting and regional meetings, and are engaged year-round in other work of the Forum including cross-cutting initiatives, task forces and industry-specific projects.
Labour has contributed to substantive work at the Forum via the Global Education Intiative, Global Digital Divide Initiative, Task Force on Institutions of Globalization, Private Equity Project, Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship, and Young Global Leaders Programme.
The Labour Leaders Advisory Group provides a structure for frequent communication, consultation, and engagement with the Labour community throughout the year. The Advisory Group ensures that the Forum is kept abreast of key issues of concern to Labour Leaders, their organizations and members.
Shaping the post-crisis world
Labour leaders are at the heart of the debate that is helping to shape the post-crisis world.
Their message at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting has been a highly vocal one, urging policymakers to observe social values while tackling the consequences of the global financial crisis.
In recent years international labour leaders have criticised what they saw as a failure by business and government to respond adequately and in a timely manner to the market meltdown around the world.
Labour leaders’ main concerns focus on the social aftermath of the financial upheaval, perhaps highlighted by fears that widespread unemployment caused by slowing economies will lead to civil unrest and instability. Indeed, protests across Europe against austerity measures being implemented by national governments appear to reflect the labour leaders’ perspectives.
Speaking at the 2009 Annual Meeting, Sharan Burrow, the president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said that massive job losses and home repossessions were the price of “casino capitalism” that would have to be paid for by millions of of individuals and their families as they became unemployed and watched the value of their savings and pensions depleted in the wake of the financial crisis.
Posted by: Guy Dresser
18 November 2010
