[Gipfelsoli Newsletter] May 1st 2007, Heiligendamm

[International Newsletter]

May 1st 2007, Heiligendamm

- Against the G8 Summit in June 2007
- Trade Union Statement to G8 Heiligendamm Summit 6-8 June 2007
- Germans stage dress rehearsal for G-8 protests
- A G8 Summit in Berlin, with Fresher Faces

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Against the G8 Summit in June 2007

Precarious of every country, let.s march to Heiligendamm near Rostock!
Against the precarisation of our lives and our jobs!
Against Unemployment, poverty, misery, exclusion and discrimination!
For equal social rights for everybody, everywhere!

The more wealth is produced in Europe the more the number of people living in
precarity increases. Now we.ve had more than three decades of mass long term
unemployment which is now a fact of daily life for millions of men and women.
In the year 2000 at Lisbon, the European Union promised a paradise for 2010. In
fact not only has unemployment not gone down (the official figures now only
take into account a small proportion of the actual number of unemployed) but
the number of precarious and underpaid jobs have exploded, notably for the
young, for women, for immigrants and particularly the undocumented (sans
papiers). To the .official. unemployed should be added the working poor in
towns and in the countryside, those who are more and more numerous working in
the informal sector, those on miserable social benefits, the young people who
have no benefits entitlements at all, the homeless and more and more retired
people.
This social destruction has been generating poverty and misery at the same time
as the dividends of shareholders are reaching record levels. Social injustice
has never been as hard. No-one should be lacking in the necessities to live.
There is enough wealth for everyone!

The G8 are illegitimate!
As every year, the closed " club " of the G8 which brings together the leaders
of the seven wealthiest countries as well as Russia, will meet to decide the
future of the planet. These " masters of the world " will be meeting in
Heiligendamm, a rich seaside resort near Rostock in one of the poorest regions
of Northern Germany, from the 6th to the 8th of June. The G8 at this time is as
illegitimate as it could be. It.s during these " informal summits " that the 8
most powerful countries on the planet drive forward the neo liberal politics
which concern the way wealth is shared, the casualisation of employment and the
life conditions which favor the logic of predatory wars and the destruction of
the environment.
The German government which is welcoming the G8 in June is also ending its
presidency of the European Union. In taking the role of host to the G8, it
wants to relaunch the constitutional process rejected by the French and the
Dutch. The total deregulation of public services like those previewed by the
Bolkestein directive would be incorporated into the constitutional treaty as
well as rearmament which would become a constitutional obligation for the
member states.
>From everywhere in Europe, let.s march together to Heiligendamm for the equality
of social rights everywhere. Against all forms of the precarisation of our lives
and our jobs there is but one solution: equality of rights for everyone

* the right to an income which allows one to live
* the right to employment and to training
* the right to land
* the right to housing
* the right to healthy food
* the right to free, good quality health care
* the right of freedom of movement and settlement
* the right to papers
* the rights to access culture, and to the public services guaranteeing those
rights.

To express with strength these requirements, the marches will be leaving in the
middle of May from the four corners of Europe, to converge in Germany on the
weekend of the 26th -the 27th of May 2007; they will then join up with the of
German Groups to arrive in Rostock on the 1st of June to participate in the big
demonstration at the opening of the G8 on the 2nd of June, and in the counter
summit from the 3rd of June. There will be an assembly of the precarious where
the precarious and have-nots will gather...

Against precarity, international solidarity !
For another Europe! For another world!

Contact: marches-en-europe-2007 at ras.eu.org


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Trade Union Statement to G8 Heiligendamm Summit 6-8 June 2007
Labour news from UNI global union - for trade unions in a global services
economy.

"TOWARDS FAIR GLOBALISATION"
Trade Union Statement to G8 Heiligendamm Summit 6-8 June 2007

I. INTRODUCTION AND SUMMARY

1. The world economy is integrating fast, presenting the world's people with
unprecedented opportunities, but also unparalleled challenges. With the entry
of China, India, Russia and Central and Eastern Europe into the global economy,
the integrated global labour force has doubled over the past 20 years. On the
one hand, we have the opportunity to provide decent work for many of the
billion people who are unemployed or underemployed and to relieve the poverty
of the 1.4 billion people working for less than the two USD a day ILO, Growth
and Decent
Work: Strengthening the Linkage, 2006

On the other hand, unless governments manage this enormous expansion of the
global labour force, it threatens to undermine the wages and working conditions
of workers. This will not only degrade living standards but will continue to
generate resistance to globalisation and deny us the improved living standards
globally which greater economic integration and growth promise.

2. Governments thus far have failed to manage globalisation and have failed to
assure that workers participate equitably in the benefits of economic growth.
This is evident in the falling share of wages as a proportion of national
income throughout the OECD as shown in the graph. The benefits of globalisation
in the industrialised countries have accrued disproportionately to the
wealthiest families, while the majority of working families are excluded from
sharing in increasing productivity and economic growth. As a result, the OECD
notes that in 17 of 20 countries surveyed, income inequality has risen,
undermining social cohesion and fuelling political alienation.

Wage Share of National Income
EU-15, Japan and the United States, 1970-2005

3. G8 leaders must commit themselves to achieve a more just and sustainable
global economy, governments must exercise more active governance to ensure that
the benefits of globalisation are shared more equitably with workers in both the
developed and developing countries. This is the central challenge for the G8
leaders meeting at Heiligendamm. They must also work to rebalance growth across
the OECD at high levels of employment and face up to the formidable adjustment
challenges posed by climate change and its mitigation. They must act to bring a
social dimension of globalisation that engages the responsibilities of the
private sector. Moreover, they must deliver past promises to developing
countries. At the Gleneagles Summit the G8 committed itself to doubling
development assistance to help meet the Millennium Development Goals, yet in
2006 overall aid fell by 5.1 percent in real terms.

4. Global Unions representing some 180 million members, are therefore calling on
G8 governments to:-
- Engage with the social partners to ensure the equitable distribution of the
fruits of growth by raising minimum income, investing in social protection and
upgrading skills, education and innovation. The effective rights of workers to
organise and join unions must be respected in industrialised and developing
countries alike. All of these policies require a strong commitment to gender
equality (§5-14);

- Rebalance growth among OECD regions at high levels of employment and reduce
risks of an unorderly correction of trade imbalances (§15-23);
- Construct an equitable social dimension to globalisation by strengthening
rules covering core labour standards, the social and environmental
responsibilities of business and regulatory measures to mitigate harmful
effects of the financialisation of economies and to change the destabilising
conduct of hedge funds and private equity firms (§24-38);
- Meet commitments made to help developing countries achieve the Millennium
Development Goals through the creation of decent work and fulfil promises given
for broader debt cancellation, the doubling of development assistance and
provision of universal access to treatment for those with HIV/AIDS (§39-51);
- Put in place programmes for just transition and the creation of "green jobs"
to meet the social and economic impact of climate change and the necessary
mitigation measures (§52-59).

II. EQUITABLE DISTRIBUTION
Driving inequality: globalisation and the deregulation of labour markets

5. The impact of globalisation on employment, labour markets and wages, has
become a key factor accounting for rising inequality. It has contributed to the
process of downsizing and offshoring of industries, triggering increasing
layoffs and involuntary displacement from permanent jobs. Both manual and
non-manual workers displaced in many industrialised countries often experience
extended periods of unemployment and a subsequent pay cut when re-employed. At
the same time, firms wield an increased power in negotiations with unions
because of competitive pressures, tax arbitrage and the threat of relocation
and of "exit" from any given country.

6. The result has been the decoupling of productivity growth and income, most
marked in so-called flexible labour markets such as the U.S., where - according
to Bureau of Labor Statistics data - worker productivity rose 16.6 percent for
the five years from 2000 to 2005, while median worker compensation rose just
7.2 percent, an increase which has been outpaced by inflation over the past
three years. Family income figures further disguise growing inequality, having
been pulled up by increases at the very top of the income spectrum. In the U.S.
the top 1 percent's share of wage income has increased from 6.4 percent of total
wages earned in 1980 to 11.6 percent in 2004. Across all sources of income the
share going to the richest 1 percent of families doubled from 8 percent in 1980
to 16 percent in 2004.

7. The number of workers trapped in precarious low-skilled and low-paid jobs,
often also contracted out, is increasing. This is often reflected in growing
gender inequality. Employers are foisting risk on to their employees; human
resource and production strategies based on low-cost approaches offer scant
opportunity to upgrade skills, to work with modern technology or to move on to
better paid jobs. As a consequence, as reported by the OECD OECD Employment
Outlook, 2006, a relatively large portion of workers on temporary jobs as well
as in low-paid work is at risk of alternating between precarious employment
conditions and unemployment. A disproportionate number of these are women.

8. In a number of countries government policies themselves have tilted the
balance of power against workers and in favour of employers, through what are
claimed to be employment-promoting reform policies, i.e. the deregulation of
labour markets, downsizing of the welfare state, lowering taxes on high incomes
and companies, and the side effects of workfare policies. Diminishing numbers
benefiting from economic growth and globalisation is not only a threat to
social cohesion; without appropriate policy responses the process adds to
scepticism about free trade and thus lends support for proposals to erect
barriers to global trade and investment. Re-establishing and developing
effective public sectors are necessary.

Spreading the benefits of growth

9. Distributing fairly the benefits of globalisation whilst creating more and
better jobs, must become the central priority of government policy. Combating
unemployment requires effectively coordinating macroeconomic and social
policies with systems of collective bargaining, based on social dialogue
involving government, trade unions and employers. Restoring the effective
rights of workers to organise and join trade unions is a priority in
industrialised countries just as it is in the developing world. Where unions
exist and do bargain, there is less low pay, more secure work, more worker
training, less corruption; there are more efficient economies and more just
societies.

10. Beyond this, in order to reduce precariousness and insecurity, active labour
market policies are required, providing adequate income, basic protection in
line with the requirements of decent work as well as opportunities to move up
the income and skill ladders. Job protection and in particular prior
notification of redundancy should not be seen as rigidity but as offering a
possibility to prepare retrenched workers to find a productive job elsewhere.
Well-set wage floors

11. Minimum wages that are set intelligently through government regulation or
collective bargaining between the social partners are important to provide a
floor in labour markets and prevent a further rise of wage inequality.
Nevertheless, minimum wages are not a magic bullet in overcoming precariousness
and inequality. Based on the findings reported in the OECD Employment Outlook
2006, we strongly urge governments to link labour market programmes providing
in-work benefits to decent minimum wages. Otherwise the benefits risk being
undermined by lower wages and appropriated by employers instead of supporting
workers. These in-work benefits must be integrated with progressive taxation
systems.

Social protection: to give confidence for change

12. Improved social protection systems are necessary to give workers security
throughout the process of economic change. By investing in social policies,
countries can offer new mixes of innovation and productivity instead of trying
to compete on the basis of cuts in transfer incomes or low wages. On the
crucial issue of the welfare state it is sometimes claimed that tax-financed
social security, welfare programmes and active labour market policies go along
with high economic costs and put growth and economic development at risk.
However, there is no negative international relationship between employment
rates and the main welfare state indicators, such as the share of transfers in
GDP or the statutory generosity of unemployment benefits. Nor is there evidence
that employment rates are lower in countries with high overall marginal tax
rates OECD Employment Outlook, 2006.

Investing in skills, education and innovation

13. Of central importance is the need for industrialised country governments to
invest in education systems and raise skill levels. The G8 governments must
deliver on past commitments to invest in lifelong learning by:-
- Implementing active labour market policies in order to allow socially
acceptable restructuring and company-based schemes for paid educational leave;
- Providing adequate financing for education and lifelong learning, ensuring
that employers also invest in skills and that all individuals have the
motivation to undergo lifelong learning;
- Encouraging and facilitating agreements between employers and trade unions to
make feasible their participation in lifelong learning;
- Pursuing policies to strengthen equal opportunities and close gender gaps and
other forms of discrimination in education, training and employment;
- Pursuing policies to promote both high-performance work systems and the
effective use of the skill potential of the workforce, especially workers'
insights and experience.
Trade unions are prepared to step up their action as negotiators of training and
manage change in order to support such an approach; but they have to be engaged
as key actors in this process.

14. Going beyond questions of labour, governments must implement innovation and
industrial policies aiming to:
- Maintain and improve the research infrastructure;
- Broaden the portfolio of research in public institutions (universities,
research centres);
- Ensure that fundamental, long-term research remains a priority;
- Pursue targeted policies in order to improve the contribution of R&D to
sustainable development;
- Encourage businesses to increase their expenditure on R&D;
- Promote new forms of working and work organisation, such as teamwork and high
performance work systems;
- Develop and diversify the economic base of regions specifically stricken by
structural change.

III. BALANCING GROWTH IN THE GLOBAL ECONOMY AT FULL EMPLOYMENT

15. The global economy in 2006 again experienced strong GDP growth. Yet this has
not been reflected in the creation of secure and good jobs and widely spread
improvement of living standards. Unemployment is predicted to start increasing
in 2007 and 2008 in those G8 countries with more deregulated labour market
regimes. The predicted decrease in unemployment for European G8 countries and
Japan is welcome. Nevertheless, some 35 million workers remain unemployed in
the OECD, among them shameful numbers of younger workers. For G8 countries
excluding Japan, the unemployment rate among young adults aged 15 to 24,
remains in double digits. And in three of the G8 countries, France, Italy and
Russia, the unemployment rate of the young exceeds 20 percent.

16. The unsustainable imbalances in global trade, in consumption and in savings
constitute a threat to economic stability. Despite optimistic commentaries from
the OECD and IMF that the narrowing of growth differentials between the United
States, the Euro area and Japan represents a process of "smooth rebalancing" of
global growth, the risk that there will be disorderly and costly global economic
adjustments remains grave. The costs are likely to be borne disproportionately
by poorer countries and by working families in industrial countries.

17. The rebalancing of growth between regions must take place in a way which
promotes employment growth. The countries and regions both inside and outside
the G8 which have trade and savings surpluses and spare labour and capacity
should expand their domestic demand faster. This includes Germany and Japan, as
well as Russia, the energy exporters of the Middle East plus China which needs
to adjust its growth to a more domestically orientated and sustainable path.

Europe: the ECB must let domestic growth strengthen

18. In Europe growth over the past year has at 2.8 percent been stronger than
anticipated and, combined with the effects of structural change, has been
successful in bringing down unemployment in the Euro area from 8.9 percent in
2004 to an estimated 7.4 percent this year. This reduction in unemployment has
been brought about without inflationary pressure. Barely 3 percent of firms in
the Euro area report labour shortages or difficulties in recruiting staff. Real
wage growth remains below productivity growth. The challenge is now to sustain
robust growth so as to further reduce unemployment. There is no reason for the
European Central Bank to slow European growth because of baseless fears of a
take-off in inflation. The two main sources of price increases in the Euro
area, energy imports and domestic taxes, have not lead to second round effects
in collective agreements. The Stability and Growth Pact must not be allowed to
restrict spending on necessary structural initiatives based on human capital
investments, skills adaptation and on better security to confront the changing
job market and to avoid efficiency losses from unemployment. Beyond this the
European framework for macroeconomic policy is in need of reform. Member states
should construct national plans for growth based on the Lisbon priorities.
Japan: real wages need to rise

19. In Japan, growth over the past two years has recovered from the long-lasting
recession, but stagnant real wages and declining disposable income due to
increases in tax and social security contributions by working households remain
serious problems. The challenge is to ensure that growth is more equitably
shared and sustainable by encouraging rising wages and incomes and domestic
demand. This year trade unions have obtained higher increases in real wages
than in 2006 in the spring round of negotiations. However, they fall short of
increases necessary to stimulate stronger household spending and domestic
growth. They must be backed up by fiscal policy in support of household
consumption. The Bank of Japan should for the time being shy away from further
increases in interest rates that could choke off potential recovery.

United States: relink working families' incomes to growth

20. Faster growth in the rest of the world will help adjustment in the U.S.
economy, which is unbalanced, internally and externally, and disturbingly
fragile. Productivity has risen at twice the rate of wages since 2000. Median
wages have been falling, reflecting higher inequality. The federal budget
deficit exceeds four percent of GDP and the external account is running a
deficit of seven percent of GDP. United States' fiscal policy must focus both
on reducing the deficit without stalling recovery and on protecting incomes of
middle- and low-income families. The need for working families' security must
also be addressed through the development of a universal health care system.
The growing U.S. trade deficit is unsustainable yet must be reduced without
transmitting a shock to the global economy. This is only possible if other
countries take up the slack and pursue expansionary policies. International
cooperation to stimulate growth, particularly in Europe and Japan is required
to avoid a further slide in the value of the U.S. currency.

Emerging Economies: require an institutionalised dialogue with the G8

21. During the past year 40 percent of world output growth and 50 percent of
income growth measured in purchasing power parities have come from emerging
economies or newly industrialised countries. The major new economic powers have
to be included in a more institutionalised dialogue with the G8 on managing the
global economy and developing its social dimension. The OECD could play an
important role in this.

China: make growth sustainable and enforce workers' rights

22. The spectacular growth of the Chinese economy over the last decade is often
credited with lifting 200 million people out of poverty. However, the Chinese
growth model is threatened by serious risks - imbalances between regions,
growing inequality and social unrest, capital inefficiency, as well as resource
depletion and environmental degradation and damage. A generation of migrant
workers within China constitute an exploited underclass. The model of
export-led growth and the insertion in global supply chains of foreign
companies accounting for 60 percent of China's trade, has increased competitive
pressures on workers in the rest of the world with an adverse impact on labour
standards in developing countries. The export orientation of growth is based on
the suppression of workers' core rights, all in order to obtain labour-cost
advantages linked to an undervalued foreign exchange rate.

23. The priority for China is to evolve from being an outlier in terms of
respect for internationally recognised standards and to shift to better
balanced and qualitative growth that is sustainable both socially and
environmentally. With the growth of the private sector, state authorities
should introduce and enforce decent labour-market regulation and social
protection to protect workers against the extremes of the market system and to
manage change in a socially acceptable way. Enforcing regulation requires a
vibrant civil society, fundamental civil and political liberties plus strong
and effective unions operating under ILO standards of freedom of association
and the right to collective bargaining including the right to strike. The
transfer of clean energy technology, enforcement of the OECD MNE Guidelines and
assistance to stop the catalogue of mining disasters should focus the attention
of the G8 in their cooperation with China.

IV. REGULATING GLOBAL MARKETS
Trade, employment and core labour standards

24. Globalisation draws dramatic attention to the need both to ensure that
national states maintain their necessary regulatory role and to ensure better
governance at global level. A central priority is the need to strengthen the
protection of workers' rights at the global level. Core workers' rights as
defined by the ILO - freedom of association and of collective bargaining, to be
free from discrimination, forced labour, prison labour and child labour - are
fundamental human rights and must be respected. When these rights are respected
and workers are free to form unions this is also a key part of the solution to
growing inequality.

25. Some of the most flagrant cases of repeated violation of union rights in
countries such as Colombia, Burma, and Belarus, have been exposed and clearly
condemned under ILO procedures. Core workers' rights are under threat in
export-processing zones and in many developing countries as companies threaten
to shift production to China or other countries where the rights of workers to
organise are not respected. Core workers' rights as defined by the ILO must
become an international benchmark applied through different international
institutions - the IMF, World Bank, the OECD and the World Trade Organisation.
Assuring the human rights of workers must be recognised as being at least as
important an objective of international trade and investment agreements as
protecting intellectual property rights or rights of foreign investment.

26. A fair, rule-based trading system can make a major contribution to global
development. A successful outcome of the Doha Round has to contribute to this
objective. However, not all countries and regions automatically gain from trade
and investment liberalisation. The OECD noted at the 2005 Ministerial Council
that "... in the short run, job turnover associated with offshoring is not
costless and may disproportionately affect certain regions, sectors and firms".
Current demands on developing countries in the NAMA negotiations in the WTO Doha
Round could lead to significant job losses and are not acceptable. In
industrialised countries governments should implement adequate policies to
accompany and limit the social cost of restructuring resulting from the NAMA
negotiations. The ILO's World Commission on the Social Dimension of
Globalisation called for respect for workers' rights by all international
institutions including the IMF, World Bank and the WTO. The growing
international concern on the impact of trade on employment was reflected in the
publication in 2007 of a joint report by the WTO and ILO on "Trade and
Employment". This significantly concluded that "Freedom of association and
collective bargaining rights do not harm the export potential of developing
countries and may even stimulate it WTO-ILO "Trade and Employment: Challenges
for Policy Research", February 2007, page 66. Further work by the WTO on trade,
employment and labour is now required, in continuing collaboration with the ILO.

27. Different divisions of the World Bank Group have taken important steps to
ensure that Bank-financed activities do not contravene internationally
recognised workers' rights. The G8 should ensure that the Bank take further
measures to end the practice whereby, through assistance-eligibility scores and
country-level policy advice, developing countries are pressured to eliminate
various types of workers' protection. In particular, it must cease to promote
labour market deregulation through its Doing Business publication and its
Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) exercise, both of which
undermine countries' efforts to support decent work and improved social
protection. Both IFIs should align their objectives with the work and standards
of the ILO and fulfil their commitments to improve their cooperation and
consultation with trade unions.

The social responsibility of business

28. In addition to introducing more binding and effective international
regulation, governments can improve the social responsibility of business
through a range of measures. Governments should support efforts by the social
partners to jointly address issues of corporate responsibility. To date, more
than 50 multinational enterprises have signed Framework Agreements with Global
Union Federations, constituting formal recognition that the companies have
social partners at the international level and providing a means to regulate
labour practices throughout the companies' operations. G8 members also have to
implement the instruments that they have already adhered to. Their commitment
to the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises is of no value unless they
have effectively operating National Contact Points (NCPs) involving trade unions
and other engaged parties See TUAC analysis of cases raised with National
Contact Points, www.tuac.org.

29. Seven years after the revision of the Guidelines in 2000, a significant
number of NCPs including those in some G8 countries only exist on paper. The G8
nations should take the lead and set a positive example for other governments. A
great number of the world's multinational enterprises stem from the G8 countries
which mean that they have a special responsibility to enforce good corporate
practices. G8 members should start by ensuring that government policy is always
in accordance with the Guidelines whether it concerns public procurement, export
credits, trade policy, investment policy or other issues. But above all, they
must ensure that alleged violations of the Guidelines are properly investigated
by NCPs.
30. The global scope of the Guidelines, together with the fact that non-OECD
countries are asking to adopt them, reinforce the applicability of the
Guidelines as an international tool for all companies. The merits of the
Guidelines, however, have remained unpublicised. Governments should therefore
devote more resources to their dissemination particularly in developing
countries. Trade unions also invite governments to implement the OECD Risk
Awareness Tool as a complement to the Guidelines for investors in weak
governance zones.

31. Trade unions call on governments to ensure the effective implementation of
the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention. Bribery and corruption remain an important
impediment to growth and development, distorting as they do the use of an
economy's resources. Recent events have damaged governments' credibility in
fighting corruption. The G8 should take measures to restore confidence in
governments' commitment to the Convention and the fight against corruption.

Rules for the "new investors": hedge funds and private equity

32. Private equity and hedge funds have in a short period become owners and
movers of vast pools of capital, significant swathes of the economy and of
employment. Private equity transactions accounted for over a quarter of all
mergers and acquisitions in the US and the EU in 2005. Private equity buy-outs
have expanded their reach to large-size companies, industries, household brands
and even companies linked to public services. Hedge-fund transactions account
for a third to a half of daily trading volumes on main stock exchanges. These
alternative funds are largely "leveraged" (i.e. debt financed) and are exempt
from many of the regulations that apply to traditional collective investment
schemes, to banks and to insurance companies, notably in the areas of
investment prudential rules and reporting requirements.

33. The impact of alternative investors on the real economy and sustainable
development has yet to be impartially and comprehensively researched. However,
trade unions' experiences with employment and working conditions linked to
private equity are alarming. The high rates of return required to finance
private equity debt-driven buy-outs can jeopardise target companies' long-term
interests and provision of decent employment conditions and security for
employees. Studies, of which the most recent have been conducted in the UK,
suggest that wages in private-equity-backed companies grow more slowly than in
the private sector as a whole, and that the private equity management culture
is not consistent with quality employment "Inside the dark box: shedding light
on private equity", Work Foundation, March 2007
Rather than corporate restructuring for the purpose of shared productivity gains
and increased competitiveness, private equity firms now appear to be looking at
extracting maximum value over a short period before reselling the company at a
substantial premium. Systemic risks to financial market stability are
exacerbated by the opacity in which these highly leveraged investors are
operating. We therefore call on governments and Central Banks to start
preparations for a "Basel III" agreement covering the sector of non-banks.


34. The growth of private equity and hedge funds across the OECD and in key
emerging countries requires a coordinated regulatory response by the
international community. Regulatory reforms should address four areas:
- Transparency, prudential rules and risk management: There needs to be a level
playing field between those alternative funds and other collective investment
schemes with regard to transparency and reporting on performance, risk
management and fee structure. The investment policies of hedge funds and
private equity within the OECD zone should be regulated according to prudential
rules aimed at both financial market stability and long-term asset value
creation. Minimum funding rules are required.
- Workers' rights to collective bargaining, information, consultation and
representation within the firm: should be regarded as key mechanisms by which
the long-term interests of private-equity-backed companies can be secured and
promoted. In particular, workers and their representatives must have sufficient
information on the strategy and the business plan that the private equity firm
intends to impose on the management of the company.
- Tax regulation: needs to be reconfigured to cover hedge funds and private
equity regimes so that tax systems are not biased toward short-term investor
behaviour. Comprehensive answers should be developed so that the expanding
activity of hedge and private equity funds does not jeopardise government
revenues from corporate taxes.
- Corporate governance: Current national corporate governance frameworks focus
on publicly traded companies and have far weaker requirements for unlisted
companies. The responsibility and powers of the boards of directors to preserve
long-term interests of companies under private equity regime or whose ownership
structure includes hedge funds need to be reconsidered so as to improve
responsible business conduct and prevent conflicts of interests.

35. The G8 should establish an international regulatory task force on private
equity including the OECD, the IMF, the Financial Stability Forum, relevant UN
agencies, and the ILO.

Counterfeiting and piracy: absence of decent work and lack of corporate
responsibility as drivers

36. Responding to concerns expressed predominantly by businesses in
industrialised countries, the G8 have initiated activities to protect
intellectual property rights (IPRs) against violation. Particular attention has
been given to counterfeiting and piracy. A recent study conducted by the OECD
estimated the volume of counterfeiting and piracy at around 2 percent of world
trade, a volume equal to about US$ 176 billion. The OECD study identified high
profit margins, weak governance, in particular a lack of enforcement regarding
IPRs as drivers of counterfeiting and piracy. Information analysed during the
study suggest that counterfeiting and piracy are taking place in virtually all
economies. In addition to legal and economic issues they also raise serious
health, safety and security issues for governments and consumers.

37. Simply calling for an enforcement of the existing IPR regime and related
laws and for stronger legal penalties regarding copyright infringement and
counterfeit trade is not enough. Both the absence of decent work and a lack of
corporate accountability facilitate the manufacturing of counterfeits.
According to information based on the volume of seizures, provided by custom
agencies of OECD countries, the following economies were most often listed as
the five largest sources of counterfeited and pirated products: China,
Thailand, the UAE, Korea, Turkey and India. These countries, with the exception
of Turkey, have not ratified the ILO conventions on Freedom of Association and
Collective Bargaining. Several have serious decent work deficits.
Globalisation, science, technology and intellectual property rights: we need to
know more

38. The functioning of existing IPRs raises concerns in both developed and
developing countries. Particular concerns are related to the fact that the
submission of patent applications has increased tremendously in recent years,
reflecting strategies to extend monopoly power by establishing strategic patent
positions. Moreover, the IPR system does little to stimulate research on
diseases that particularly affect poor people. A crucial issue is to ensure
that IPRs do not hinder developing countries in gaining access to necessary
technologies. In order to improve access to generic medicines, TRIPs issues
should be reconsidered, as suggested by the ILO World Commission on the Social
Dimensions of Globalisation.

V. DELIVERING PROMISES TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
The G8 must fulfil promises

39. At the G8 Summit in Kananaskis in 2002, governments adopted an action plan
on Africa in support of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
This action plan contained commitments for peace and security,
capacity-building for economic and corporate governance, human rights, measures
to combat corruption including strengthening the implementation of the OECD
Anti-Bribery Convention, trade and investment, education, HIV/AIDS, increasing
agricultural productivity and water resource management.

40. Further promises were made at the 2005 G8 Summit in Gleneagles where donors
agreed to a new partnership with Africa focusing on debt cancellation,
universal access to treatment for AIDS-victims, provision of vaccines for the
poorest countries, a doubling of official development assistance as well as the
introduction of innovative methods of development finance. As G8 leaders meet,
few of these commitments have been acted upon. OECD figures show that official
development assistance fell in 2006. Deadlines for meeting the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) look ever more unattainable without a fundamental
shift in priorities on the part of the G8 nations. Nearly one and a half
billion people still lack access to safe drinking water. The world continues to
face the scourge of an AIDS and malaria emergency with 40 million adults and
children infected with HIV AIDS. More than 100 million children lack access to
primary education and 860 million adults are illiterate. Trade unions,
therefore, call on governments to fulfil their promises and report on the
measures that have been and will be taken in order to fulfil these commitments.

Aid, debt relief and decent work

41. Full implementation of debt relief commitments, including the Multilateral
Debt Relief Initiative regarding debt owed to the multilateral institutions
themselves, is essential in making progress towards the MDGs. The IMF and World
Bank should eliminate their unreasonably strict conditions and requirements that
are delaying the process, and instead adopt an approach that includes ongoing
monitoring and cooperation with the countries concerned. But debt cancellation
is also needed for a larger group of countries.

42. G8 governments must honour their commitment to increase ODA and in
particular to double aid to Africa from 25 billion USD in 2004 to 50 billion
USD in 2010. However, the latest figures showing falling aid and the
uncertainty as to whether the goals will be met reduce the efficiency of
development aid because of the lack of predictability. Donor agencies and
receiving countries cannot plan their activities if they do not know the actual
volumes of aid flows at their disposal. Even if contributions rise again up to
2010, they are unlikely to be sufficient. Several G8 members (the U.S., Japan
and Canada) would not even reach 0.3 percent of national income in development
aid in 2010. The G8 countries should therefore sharpen their ambitions and aim
to allocate 0.7 percent of national income on aid to developing countries, in
accordance with UN recommendations, by 2010.

43. Larger aid volumes and debt relief, while necessary, remain insufficient to
tackle poverty, as are policies for higher growth and investment that do not
take into account distributional effects. Donors should focus on how they can
support pro-poor growth based upon the creation of decent work. Although world
GDP rose by 5.2 percent in 2006, the number of working poor continued to grow.
The number of working people living on 2 USD a day reached 1.37 billion in 2006
according to the ILO. In many developing countries, workers are required to
accept unprotected and informal work or low quality self-employment. Many
informally employed workers are also employed in formal work, but do not earn
enough to make a living. To lift them and their families out of poverty
governments should together with companies invest in decent jobs and in
ensuring that labour and social protection extend to all their citizens.

44. The situation in Sub-Saharan Africa is particularly alarming. The ILO
estimates that over 151 million people earn as little as 1 USD a day, while
more than 235 million earn only 2 USD a day. The only sustainable way to reduce
poverty is to create decent work covering freely chosen employment, rights at
work, social protection and social dialogue. This is particularly important
from a gender perspective as women constitute approximately 60 percent of the
working poor. Decent work should be put at the heart of the donors' development
assistance programmes.

45. The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness could be turned into an important
instrument to reform aid practices. However, the Declaration focuses in the main
on government relationships and improving the capacities of state actors in
developing countries. It takes into account neither the role of civil society
organisations nor of trade unions. Furthermore, aid effectiveness cannot be
separated from broader development goals such as decent work, human rights and
gender equality. The High Level Forum to be held in Accra in 2008 to review
progress in the implementation of the Declaration will be a significant test of
the usefulness of the Declaration.
Education: evaluate progress in achieving aims set out in Köln, Okinawa and
Gleneagles

46. It is now eight years since the 1999 G8 summit approved the Köln Charter:
Aims and Ambitions for Life Long Learning. Key points in the Charter have been
re-affirmed and developed in the course of subsequent summits. In Okinawa the
following year, the G8 made clear and explicit commitments to fund and sustain
education for all in the developing countries; the G8 nations supported the
Dakar Framework for Action and stated: "We reaffirm our commitment that no
government seriously committed to achieving education for all will be thwarted
in this achievement by lack of resources." The Köln communiqué's commitment to
"Investing in People" was re-affirmed in the Gleneagles communiqué of 2005.

47. There is still scant evidence of progress and an unacceptable gap between
aims and achievements - on almost all key points. The G8 Charter called for "a
renewed commitment for investments in life-long learning", stating that
"everyone should have access to learning and training". Eight years later,
levels of public investment have stagnated or declined in several countries. It
set out aims for adult skill acquisition which both employers and unions
representing employees could support. Yet implementation has been painfully
slow, mainly because of lack of investment. It stated: "Teachers are the most
vital resource in promoting modernisation and higher standards; their
recruitment, training, deployment and appropriate incentives are critical to
any successful education system". Eight years later, reports from the OECD and
the latest report (November 2006) of the experts who monitor the UNESCO/ILO
Recommendation on the Status of Teachers shows that the trend has been backward
rather than forward.

48. In Okinawa, G8 leaders committed to support achievement of the goals of
universal primary education in all countries by 2015 and gender equality in
schooling by 2005. The "Education for All" monitoring report of the major
agencies shows that the 2005 gender-equality benchmark was not achieved in most
countries, and the prospect of meeting the 2015 target is receding. The
Gleneagles summit of 2005 (with its focus on Africa) reaffirmed the G8 leaders'
commitment, "to invest more in better education, extra teachers and new
schools". It is timely for the Heiligendamm Summit to assess progress, or lack
thereof, in meeting the G8's stated objectives for education, to reaffirm the
importance of these objectives, and to consider new steps towards their
attainment.

Health: fighting AIDS through effective monitoring and reporting

49. In 2005, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses and 4.3 million
became newly infected. 40 million people are infected, half of them in Africa.
The global AIDS epidemic continues to grow, outpacing efforts to respond.
Working people are dying due to HIV/AIDS, which in turn is undermining
development. Health services are already inadequate in developing countries but
the spread of the disease is reducing even further the capacity to provide basic
services as health workers themselves become infected or move away from
vulnerable areas.

50. In 2005 the G8 promised to help achieve universal access to treatment and
develop an AIDS vaccine. The UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, signed
by G-8 and other countries promised a dedicated focus on HIV/AIDS. The 2006
Saint-Petersburg Summit committed the G8 to take "tangible steps" towards
surveillance of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, with timely reporting
and information-sharing. Now is the time to specify what such steps might be in
addition to the strengthening of health services. HIV/AIDS should be included
each year on the G8 agenda and UNAIDS and its co-sponsors asked to feed into a
G8 monitoring reporting programme. Establishing a high level or expert group to
facilitate the process is necessary to ensure continuity and monitor progress.

... and through developing public health systems

51. Improving the health status and life expectancy of those currently living in
poverty is essential if the Millennium Development Goals are to be met and
poverty halved. 100 million people fall into absolute poverty each year as a
result of illness or disability. Extending health protection systems must be a
priority of international assistance programmes. There is a need for a
concerted mobilisation of funds, public budgets, health insurance, mutual
associations and micro-insurance schemes in developing countries. The
initiative of the German government to promote international action including
the ILO and the WTO must be supported.

VI. CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY - THE NEED FOR INNOVATION

52. Climate change is a global threat requiring urgent global action. The
leading international network of climate change scientists (IPCC) have now said
clearly that the world is already undergoing warming, shifting weather patterns
and rising seas, resulting from the build up of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere. But they confirm that global warming can be substantially mitigated
by prompt action.

53. The G8 governments must meet the current greenhouse gas reduction target (5%
of 1990 level) agreed under the Kyoto Protocol of the UN Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) and accept a much stronger commitment for reduction
beyond 2012. The spring 2007 European Council decision to reduce CO2 emissions
by 20 percent with commitment to increase this to 30 percent if commitments
become global, is a good starting point for negotiations. This would open the
door for commitments on the parts of governments of emerging economies to
engage in constructive action for progressively adopting targets for greenhouse
gas reduction, stabilization or controlled increase. This should be complemented
by targets for example for renewable energy use.

54. Such targets can only be reached via significant changes in the current
energy mix, and by action to achieve overall increases in energy efficiency. G8
and emerging economies need to invest in a mix of clean, green and sustainable
energy sources, including wind power, solar power, some forms of biomass, micro
hydro energy, clean coal, and natural gas.

55. Aggressive policies promoting energy efficiency are also needed, through
demand side policies, via increased incentives for and use of collective
transportation, the development of energy services such as relighting and
insulation in housing, among others. There is huge potential for progress
through higher fuel efficiency of vehicles, high efficiency building
construction and heating and more efficient coal-fired power plants, combined
with micro generation strategies for households.

56. To bring this about, the true cost of carbon emission must be reflected in
energy prices. Yet it requires a broader approach regarding climate and energy
policies. In other words, achieving environmental protection, economic growth
and social progress simultaneously demands harmonious coordination that is the
basis of sustainable development.

57. Such coordination will have implications for working families particularly
by taking into account the effects of these policies on jobs. All signatories
to the UNFCCC are obliged to provide "national communications" on the
implementation of the Convention. As a first step these should report on social
and employment impacts and be drawn up in consultation with trade unions. It is
essential to move beyond the sterility of the "jobs versus the environment
debate". There are potential gains for employment in clean technologies,
environmental industries as well as in the adoption of energy efficiency
policies. Significant employment opportunities will appear due to "green"
production, especially through renewable energy such as wind, wave, tidal and
solar power, as well as through use of bio fuels, energy conservation and clean
coal technology. There is great scope for developing decent work in these
sectors.

58. However, new jobs will not automatically be created in the same sectors and
places where they are lost. Attention must be paid also to those who will
require assistance for the transition, and policies should be designed to
ensure social cohesion. The G8 should develop a programme for 'Just Employment
Transition', linked to adequate compensation, training & education and
re-employment support. Linking such a transition plan to a "Green Job" strategy
is necessary and the G8 should develop a set of principles that recognise the
importance of global warming through a set of options, including incentives,
standards, regulations, and research establishing a balance between the social
costs of change, including effects on employment, and fair mechanisms to
address them. The UNEP, ILO and other relevant institutions should work with
trade unions to bring this about.

59. The G8 leaders have a duty to ensure that a serious, robust, global platform
exists for adapting to climate change, concomitant weather phenomena and the
associated social disruption of affected areas. Coherent global management of
resources and programmes for disaster relief, social support, public health and
emergency services need to become an objective. The social and economic barriers
to effective adaptation and rehabilitation should also be identified, not
excluding those relating to employment dislocation in places, regions and
circumstances where population displacement will occur.


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Germans stage dress rehearsal for G-8 protests

Stones and bottles hailed down on the German police last night as they tried to
prevent thousands of anarchic demonstrators staging a dress rehearsal for a
massive anti-G8 protest in June.
The mood was tense in Berlin as the peaceful rally against global capitalism
turned surly."Go back to your sties, you pigs!" chanted the swelling crowd as a
group of hooded youths shot firework rockets and flare guns into a phalanx of
police.
Dozens were arrested, thrown to the ground and handcuffed but all the
indications were that the rioting would rage for most of the night. Ash
particles scattered around the capital as rubbish containers were set ablaze.
Up north, in the Baltic spa resort of Heiligendamm, a 12-kilometre barbed wire
fence is being erected to keep the leaders of the industrialised world at a
safe distance from what is being billed as the biggest anti-globalisation
protest of recent times.
But in Berlin last night there were no fences. Instead some 6,000 policemen were
camped in the run-down district of Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, waiting for the
gathering tribes of the anti-G8 movement to make their move.
A newly created plainclothes unit called Intelligence and Intervention
pinpointed protest organisers who intend to take their special skills to the
summit on June 8. And the uniformed police sunning themselves before the night
shift yesterday were reconciled to the likely clashes in Heiligendamm. "We're
all going to the seaside," said one officer, sweating in full battle gear.
There have been riots in Berlin on Walpurgis night, the eve of May Day, for the
past twenty years when squatters set a supermarket ablaze, looted dozens of
shops and overturned the police vans known, in Berlin slang, as bath tubs.
Walpurgis night is traditionally the moment when winter is killed and spring is
ushered in: reputedly witches take to their broom-sticks.
The modern version of this rite is to torch Porsches and smash restaurants, a
kind of annual uprising against the wealthy and the privileged which often
leads to hundreds of arrests and injuries.
This year, with protestors excited about the prospect of a huge show-down at the
G8 summit, there was an even more violent edge to the night. One leaflet
circulated by a group calling itself the Anti-Fascist Action,was calling
yesterday on protestors to bring with them "Paint, stones, fireworks and
butter-acid." Butter-acid refers to butanic acid which can blind if thrown in
the eyes. It smells of vomit (or rancid butter) and it is supposed to be poured
on the leather seats of parked sports cars to make them undrivable.
Police warned that any use of fire-bombs or acid would lead to detention that
would stretch well beyond June - that is, if the demonstrators behave badly
this week they will miss the big event in Heiligendamm. Over the past weeks,
the police have been touring schools to give 478 anti-confrontation lectures.
But many of the hooded youths who gathered in the hotspot of Boxhagen square
yesterday evening were from outside Berlin; some were speaking French; others
Dutch. Their idea seems to be to link up with the simmering discontent of the
local Turkish migrant community. Until midnight their demonstration -Youth
Against Capitalism - was deemed legal. But the crowd was joined by a marching
legion of ant-globalisers and if, by Tuesday morning, they are still on their
feet they will merge into another protest staged by the Revolutionary First of
May group.
"Perhaps it won't be so bad," says Gueney Yilmaz selling beer at the Boxi-kiosk.
He was one of the few shop-owners ready to stay open as dusk fell. Police
ordered him to stop selling beer in bottles that could later be used as petrol
bombs and some of Mr Yilmaz's confidence deserted him. The steel shutters were
rolled down and his brothers took up position outside the door.
Rarely has May Day - usually a time of disciplined outings by whistle-blowing
trade unionists drumming up support for higher pay - been so nervous in
Germany, so edgey.

[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article1729619.ece]


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A G8 Summit in Berlin, with Fresher Faces

A G8 summit of sorts has just wrapped up in Berlin, though delegates here had
fewer wrinkles than those heading to the Heiligendamm summit in early June. It
was a mock summit with college students from G8 countries.
Sitting in a small conference room, delegates from the United States summarized
discussions from meetings with representatives from other G8 countries. Topics
ranged from ethanol subsidies and hedge-fund regulation to a debate on whether
to use the word "genocide" to describe the situation in Sudan.

"France was saying, 'we don't want to label it that and make them upset'," said
Denise Bouboulis, who had been at a gathering of foreign affairs ministers.
"Why? In Rwanda, no one paid attention until it was labeled a genocide so what
is the problem with the word?"

While Bouboulis is not a high-ranking assistant to the US Secretary of State, at
least not just yet, she is playing that role, representing the United States in
meetings that are likely close approximations to what goes on when official
delegates from G8 countries gather for their annual pow-wows.

For four days, the Hertie School of Governance in central Berlin became a mock
G8 summit location, although with substantially less security, and nary a
protester in sight. There, around 70 delegates from the Group of Eight
countries - Germany, the UK, the US, Canada, Italy, France, Japan and Russia -
and a few observer nations gathered to take positions on global matters, thrash
out compromises, and work on a communiqué that will be sent to the real G8
summit to be held at the Baltic Sea resort of Heiligendamm, Germany, on June
6-8.

"We want to provide concrete input to the G8 summit," said Patrick Wagner of the
German Council on Foreign Relations, which has been involved with the event.
"It's important the voices of youth be heard, especially since they are the
ones who will see the future consequences of decisions made at the G8 summit."

Transparency and Understanding

According to him, the purpose of Model G8 Youth Summit is to make the G8 more
transparent, to show young people how such a summit is run, how decisions are
arrived at and how compromises have to be made which can lead to what, at least
to many on the outside, appear to be watered-down solutions to pressing
problems.

"We know from concrete experience that very few students know how such a summit
is conducted," he said.

Although the young university students, most in their early 20s, who were chosen
as delegates appeared already quite sure on their feet in the sometimes rarified
world of diplomacy. Most were majoring in areas such as international relations
or law and well versed in international issues.

They seemed to have little in common with the sometimes masked protestors who
often take to the streets, denouncing the G8 as an elite group interested only
in maintaining their wealth, even at the expense of poorer nations. All around
Berlin, posters have been put up announcing anti-globalization demonstrations
in the lead-up to the Heiligendamm summit. Many of the protestors will be young
people.

"It's a very sensitive topic, but our aim is to create a fruitful dialogue,"
said Jörn Borch of Politikfabrik, the group which organized the model summit. A
political science student at Berlin's Free University, he said many of his
fellow students are defiantly against the G8 and what they feel it represents.

"I can understand that many people are afraid of globalization," said Michaele
Wintrich, a member of the German delegation. But in preparation for the model
summit, she said she looked for arguments from the anti-globalization and
anti-G8 side, but found only blanket condemnations.

"That is not the way to go, because globalization is here and you can't say
'just stop it,'" she said.

While those who came as delegates are naturally going to more or less supportive
the aims of the G8, model summit organizers did invite delegates from China,
Brazil, India and South Africa as observers, to provide input from countries
outside the G8 structure.

Attitudes toward US

The Americans at the mock G8, all students at Seton Hall University in New
Jersey, found that in some respects, the model summit reflected reality a
little too well. Brian Fox, who is playing the role of the US head of state,
that is, George W. Bush, said that there was a lot of initial skepticism about
even approaching the US delegates or engaging in conversations.

The group anticipated this, deciding to be pro-active. Before the summit began,
they started an electronic dialogue through e-mails and social networking sites
to "smooth the edges" of the relationship between the United States and much of
the international community.

Fox said he sees the event as a way to change a few perceptions about the US,
particularly about American youth. Delegates at the model summit do not
necessarily have to represent the stated policies of their governments.

"Not everybody (in the US) obviously favors the president or the policies of our
country," he said. "We can have a constructive dialogue about that."

Even so, there are some parallels, especially in a few controversial areas. In
one summit meeting of defense "ministers," the subject of US plans for a
missile defense system based in eastern Europe was at the top of the agenda.
While the US and the UK argued for the system, the Russian delegate voiced his
strong objections.

On Monday, the delegates gathered what came out of their meetings and
discussions and putting together a communiqué, which they are hoping
high-ranking officials will take time to read and seriously consider.

"I hope important persons see it and take it as creative and fresh input from
students from all over the world and will accept it as a voice, if a little
voice, from the next generation," said Borch.

[http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2462864,00.html]