TUC warns decent jobs are only way to end global poverty

Campaigns to end global poverty will fail unless more people are given decent jobs, the TUC has warned.

The warning comes ahead of World Day for Decent Work, a global day of action on 7 October, when millions of unionists around the world will demand 'decent work for decent life' and call for work to be put centre stage in the campaign against poverty.

The TUC is calling for:

• an emphasis in environmental policies on creating new, green jobs, with help to protect the livelihoods of workers in other industries
• more teachers, nurses and other workers to provide decent public services, funded by more aid and debt relief
• equal treatment for people at work - based on core labour standards such as no forced or child labour, no discrimination, and rights to join unions and bargain collectively.

In a letter to unions and poverty campaigners, TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Unless governments, non-governmental organisations and unions place a strong focus on work, all we are doing is providing endless charity. What people in the developing world really want is good jobs at good wages. This is the only long-term solution to global poverty.

"Earlier this summer, the International Labour Organisation recognised the importance of work, including job creation and employment rights. We want more organisations to make this call a central plank of the campaign to make poverty history."