Trade union proposals to be put before APEC summit
NOVO-OGARYOVO, near Moscow. Sept 3 (Interfax) - The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has come up with proposals to be put before this year's summit of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and submitted them to Russian President Vladimir Putin as the leader of the host country of the APEC event.
"We handed President Putin a statement from the trade unions for the APEC summit that sets out our proposals for solutions to problems that exist in labor relations in Asia-Pacific countries," the head of the Independent Trade Unions Federation of Russia, Mikhail Shmakov, told reporters after a meeting on Monday between Putin, unionists from APEC countries, and ITUC leaders.
The meeting involved "an effective social dialogue, which we propose moving into the APEC format so that it is used in all the member states," Shmakov said.
He praised the current Russian trilateral mechanism for solving labor problems that brings together government agencies, trade unions and employers and said the meeting had backed a proposal for other APEC countries to borrow it.
ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow, who was present at the meeting, said Putin essentially supported an initiative for dialogue between unions and labor ministries as part of preparations for G20 and other summits. She argued that Russia's 2013 chairmanship of the Group of 20 would be extremely important both for developed and for developing economies.
