2nd Regional General Council - Resolution on Financial Crisis

In this resolution, the Second Regional General Council of the International Trade Union Confederation - Asia Pacific expresses that it is dismayed at the current dramatically worsening financial crisis faced by the industrialized countries, particularly the United States of America and Europe that started in August 2007 with the collapse of the US subprime housing mortgage market which spread rapidly to the other financial institutions. It asserts that  this most serious economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930’s is marking an end to the neo-liberal free market fundamentalism which has been recently led by extremely speculative hedge funds and private equity funds, driving irresponsible deregulation of financial markets.

It notes that the ILO has forecasted that global unemployment will rise from 190 million in 2007 to 210 million in 2009 and the number of working poor on less than a dollar a day rising by 40 million and those working poor living on 2 dollars a day by 100 million. The Regional General Council urges on ITUC and ITUC-AP to help national affiliates to design, implement, and monitor crisis-mitigation programmes and activities for the welfare of workers and their families and continued viability of trade unions.