The European Trade Union Confederation and the American Federation of Labor – Congress of Industrial Organizations note that the EU-US Summit on 10 June will be the last one to be held under the current US Administration.

Our organisations have presented two successive Summits over that period our views on how to enhance the transatlantic relationship by widening it from one essentially focused on business interests to one that takes into account the concerns of working families. The political authorities have not risen to that challenge.

We deplore the exclusion of our organisations, linked together in the Transatlantic Labour Dialogue (TALD), from the Transatlantic Economic Council established at last year’s Summit. We welcome the Resolution of the European Parliament of 8 May 2008, and in particular the wish it expresses that the TALD will play a greater role in the near future and its call for the heads of the TALD, i.e. of the ETUC and AFL-CIO, to be included in the Group of advisers to the Transatlantic Economic Council. We ask the Summit to act accordingly.

The EU and the US carry special responsibilities in the governance of the global economy given our combined economic predominance and the long traditions of human rights and democracy we share. We look forward to extending social dialogue across the Atlantic and to help add a much needed social dimension to the process of globalisation.

Contact: Alison Omens (202) 637-5018