Brussels, 12 March 2008: With the 53-member Commonwealth this week celebrating “Commonwealth Week”, the ITUC is supporting the Commonwealth Trade Union Group (CTUG)* in its call for the organisation of mainly English-speaking countries to take action in support of workers’ rights, equal pay for women, and climate change.

“The Commonwealth has an important role to play in promoting and supporting decent work in its member countries, and this week is an ideal occasion for them to bring this agenda to the forefront”, said ITUC General Secretary Guy Ryder.

With Commonwealth countries accounting for some 1.8 billion people, or almost one-third of the world’s population, the ITUC and the CTUG are seeking a strong engagement from the intergovernmental body to ensure that its member countries ratify and implement the core standards of the International Labour Organisation, take specific action to close the gender pay gap (which is higher than 20% in some Commonwealth countries), and set up a high–level Commonwealth Commission on Climate Change.

The CTUG will hold its next meeting in June at the time of the ILO Annual Conference in Geneva.

For more information, please click here (Commonwealth page on ITUC website).

*The Commonwealth Trade Union Group represents over 30 million trade unionists in 53 countries. The Commonwealth accounts for 1.8 billion of the world’s people – almost one in three.

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