International trade unions met with the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) and business and NGO representatives, to call for decisive and ambitious climate action in the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa (UNFCCC COP 17/CMP 7) at the end of 2011, and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) in 2012.
12 April 2011: At a dialogue organized by Sustainlabour in Madrid, international trade unions met with the UN Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP) and business and NGO representatives, to call for decisive and ambitious climate action in the lead-up to the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa (UNFCCC COP 17/CMP 7) at the end of 2011, and the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20) in 2012.
The unions’ proposals call for: a tax on financial transactions, a universal social protection floor, doubling the number of green and decent jobs, and ensuring a just transition to a greener future. Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), highlighted that trade unions share with the GSP the responsibility of ensuring that the UNCSD delivers on concrete actions that will reduce inequalities, create decent jobs, save the climate and protect the environment. Zwelizima Vavi, General Secretary, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), noted that the current economic model could trigger more crises, unemployment and environmental degradation. [ITUC Press Release]