Brussels, 29 October 2008: The ITUC has welcomed a commitment made by Peru’s President Alan García to support the trade union call for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum (APEC) to focus on workers’ rights. García gave the undertaking at a meeting on 27 October with 20 trade union leaders from the ITUC and its regional organisations for the Americas and for Asia-Pacific.
“President García’s promise to push workers’ rights up the APEC agenda is encouraging, all the more so since the world financial crisis has already started to hit jobs in the real economy, and the threat to living standards is growing in every part of the globe,” said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder, who led the delegation meeting with the Peruvian President.
At the meeting, García spoke of the need to globalise workers’ rights, as has been done with the economy and trade. He pledged to push for APEC to create a vehicle to deal with social issues, and to promote the inclusion of labour issues at every future APEC meeting, supporting the trade union call for a structured interaction between the APEC leaders and the trade union movement at each summit.
Peru is hosting the 16th APEC Summit from 20 – 23 November, with participation of leaders from 21 countries.
The ITUC represents 168 million workers in 155 countries and territories and has 311 national affiliates.
For more information please contact the ITUC Press Department on +32 2 224 0204 or +32 476 621 018.
