“Multilateralism is in a crisis with a growing concern about globalisation,” Shoya Yoshida, General Secretary of the ITUC-AP, said in the opening of the L20 Summit in Tokyo, Japan.
The L20 Summit was organised with the theme of “Realising the New Social Contract” from 29 - 30 August 2019 in Tokyo prior to G20 Labour and Employment Ministers’ Meeting (1 - 2 September 2019, Ehime, Japan).
The ITUC-AP General Secretary was concerned that the economic dimension – aimed at trade, investment and financial liberalisation – has dominated global policy-making and it has supported a model of growth which has given rise to greater inequality and, in return, a popular backlash against globalisation and current multilateral institutions. “It is urgently important to rebuild multilateralism such that benefits of the globalised economy are fairly distributed and income inequality is minimised,” Shoya said.
He concluded, “Trade unions must play a central role as communities of workers and their families to make democracy better control the market. They must, to this end, be fully prepared to participate as effective and responsible stakeholders in the process of developing a new social contract based on a fair labour market policy and changing rules for sustainable and inclusive growth.