Putin Promises Trade Union Leaders To Take Their Proposals to G8 Summit

July 6 - In order to familiarize the G8 leaders with trade unions' ideas, Chairman of the Russian Federation of Independent Trade Unions Mikhail Shmakov presented Russian President Vladimir Putin the text of a statement drafted by the conference of the G8 international and domestic labor leaders.

"We view this summit (the G8 summit in St. Petersburg) as the recognition of unions' role in resolving problems on the labor market, and an effort to promote dialogue between social partners," Shmakov said during the Russian President's meeting with the Union G8 on Thursday.

He emphasized that leaders of labor unions representing about 300 million people attended the meeting, and thanked the President for his kind words and attention to trade union problems.

In turn, General Secretary of the OECD Trade Union Advisory Committee John Evans observed that this meeting would have been unthinkable 20 years ago, and described it as evidence of very important progress.

He said that the union leaders would like to draw the attention of the G8 to the social consequences of globalization, and would consider it useful for the G8 summit to discuss employment problems, in particular, proper working conditions, and implementation of trade union commitments.

Russian President Vladimir Putin promised the union leaders to submit all of their proposals to the presidents and prime ministers at the forthcoming summit in St. Petersburg.

"I am ready to discuss any topics which you think should be brought to the attention of my colleagues at the summit in St. Petersburg in a week from now. The character of the summit will allow us to informally discuss any problems," said the Russian President at the meeting with the Union G8 in Moscow.

Putin suggested going beyond the agenda of the forthcoming summit. "Without the involvement of trade unions it is impossible to resolve a whole number of problems which are common in all modern economies," he said.

The Russian leader expressed the hope that these problems would be analyzed at the current meeting, and recalled that G8 summits were traditionally preceded by conferences with labor unions.

"I see this as evidence of the G8's ability to resolve the issues raised by the unions, and as confirmation of the active role which organized labor is trying to play in facing the challenges of today," Putin said.

He reassured the trade union leaders that "as this year's G8 President, Russia will pay attention to the ideas and initiatives of the unions because they represent the interests of millions and millions of people."

The president welcomed the efforts of the unions to "resolve problems through constructive and meaningful dialogue". He acknowledged that he shared many of the unions' views and agreed with many of the initiatives drafted by them for previous summits.

Putin mentioned by way of example the development of national strategies to boost employment, reduce poverty and increase investment in healthcare.

He called upon the G8 unions to combine their efforts with the governments in resolving questions of employment and workplace safety and health.

"Trade unions have traditionally taken part in resolving the questions of labor protection and workplace safety, and are trying to play an active role in the drafting and adoption of international standards in this sphere," he said.

The Russian leader added, "the use of the unions' potential in resolving health care problems will not only be useful, but absolutely essential." He recalled that the summit in St. Petersburg was going to discuss the "whole spectrum of problems connected with the fight against infectious diseases, and the general development of health care."

"Special attention will be paid to efforts to prevent epidemics, natural calamities, and technological disasters," Putin said.