Regulating Economic Power

The world has three times more wealth today that over thirty years ago, yet our taxation systems are not fit for purpose and our public services and social protection systems are in disrepair. The predatory power of global corporations and their impact on the labour market have added to a growing number of workers forced into precarious and informal work. Now platform businesses are adding to that number with a business model evading national laws, taxation systems or employment responsibility. Governments are even entering bidding wars with taxpayers’ money to buy the physical location of corporate giants in their countries or cities. As corporate monopoly power grows, so does the opposition to freedom of association and collective bargaining.

Corporate and financial power can only be tamed, and people’s rights assured, by a determined regulatory approach at national and international level. That is why the ITUC has set Regulating Economic Power as a pillar of its work. It is broken down into the following thematic areas: Jobs, Shared Prosperity, Corporate power, Multilateralism