Hoffa: Labor Ministers Will Help Put Focus on Jobs at G-20 Summit

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International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Apr 20, 2010, 03:27 ET

Teamsters Leader Says Quality and Quantity of Jobs Need Improvement

WASHINGTON, April 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said today's meeting of G-20 labor and employment ministers in Washington shows a growing awareness that the global economy won't recover until good jobs are created.

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Hoffa met yesterday with the labor ministers from the G-20 countries, the International Trade Union Confederation, the International Organization of Employers and several labor and business leaders. The historic two-day meeting is the first time that labor ministers from the world's 20 largest economies met as the G-20.

The purpose of the gathering is to plan for the upcoming G-20 summit in Toronto. Discussions center on policies to preserve and create jobs, help the unemployed and adapt to changes in labor markets.

Hoffa commended President Obama who, at the last G-20 meeting in Pittsburgh, proposed that the labor and employment ministers get together. He also praised Labor Secretary Hilda Solis for convening today's pre-summit meeting at the Labor Department.

"The labor ministers will help focus the G-20's attention on solving the jobs crisis through productive investment and social policy," Hoffa said. "The economic crisis revealed that we must improve the quality of work, not just the quantity of jobs. Without good jobs with good wages and benefits, we risk economic stagnation."

"Governments should put the same effort into creating jobs as they did to save the international finance system," he said. "One thing they can do is create a financial transaction tax to discourage financial speculation, which rewards predatory behavior and does nothing to foster economic growth."

So many jobs were lost during the economic crisis that unemployment will return to pre-crisis levels in 2017 or 2018 if recovery continues at the same pace as in previous recoveries, according to a report by the International Labor Organization.

The G-20 countries account for 85 percent of total output and 65 percent of the world's labor force.

The formal discussions of the G-20 labor and employment ministers run today through Wednesday.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters