What’s in Play at Pittsburgh?

The London G-20 summit last fall may go down history as the meeting that saved the world. That’s a huge exaggeration of course, but leaders did agree to a program of co-ordinated monetary and fiscal stimulus which may have arrested an economic free-fall, and they agreed to an agenda for financial re-regulation with a view to making sure that it […]

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World Bank, IMF and Labour Rights

I’m posting below an interesting missive from Peter Bakvis, the Washington representative of the International Trade Union Confederation, on an intersting shift of position on labour rights by the IFI.s “The World Bank has issued a memorandum to its country and sector directors instructing them to stop using the “Employing Workers Indicator” (EWI) of its highest-circulation publication, “Doing Business” (DB). […]

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G20 Outcomes

Rather than blog furiously on this, here is an excellent substantive assesment from the international labour movement. http://www.tuac.org/en/public/e-docs/00/00/04/82/document_doc.phtml Having been on or about the fringes of the event,  I’d see the main substantive outcome as  the further  institutionalization of  global economic governance.  The IMF gets increased resources and clout.. with some very modest strings of reform in terms of who […]

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The G-20 Meeting and Canadian vulnerability facing the global economic crisis

A missive from CCPA Executive Director Bruce Campbell: The G-20 the leaders’ meeting in London on April 2 will be a important test of whether the major nations are up to the challenge of confronting this recession and preventing it from becoming a depression. Will their collective response of monetary, fiscal and financial reform measures be bold enough and sufficiently […]

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Will the G-20 Leaders Save the World?

The global economy is in free fall, gripped by what the International Monetary Fund calls the“Great Recession.” In a crisis that is unfolding everywhere at once, global trade and production are slumping, unemployment is soaring, pension funds are evaporating, big global banks are still teetering on the edge of insolvency (if they are not already insolvent), stock markets are cratering, […]

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Global Trade Unions Statement to G20

Trade Unions to G20:  Half Measures Will Not Fix Broken Global Economy Brussels, 23 March 2009 (ITUC OnLine): In a worldwide push for action by G20 governments to pull the global economy out of recession and chart a new course for job creation, financial regulation and global governance, trade unions across the world are today delivering a common set of […]

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Gloom and Doom, the IMF and the G20

I happened to listen to the end of week media pundits on CBC Newsworld and CBC Radio late Friday afternoon. Most – especially Don Martin and Joan Bryden on Newsworld – seemed perplexed as to why former Bank of Canada Governor David Dodge might have chosen to be distinctly more gloomy abour our economic prospects than Steven Harper or Mark […]

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