President DeRobien, Director General Somavia and delegates, I am so excited to be here with you today! 

I want to express my concern, anger and frustration, and that of President Richard Trumka, Executive Vice President Arlene Holt Baker, and most importantly, our 11.5 million members of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations.  

We all know, these are difficult times for workers and their families. The ILO reported in April to the G20 Labor Ministers meeting in the United States that the current recession has increased global unemployment by 34 million, bringing total unemployment worldwide to 212 million—the highest level ever recorded.  

It would have been far worse had governments not taken emergency economic stimulus and countercyclical measures. Global unemployment would have increased by more than 46 million. These measures must be continued to prevent the global economy from falling further into a global depression.  

The ILO Global Jobs Pact provided a comprehensive policy and action framework to, as it states, "contribute to economic revitalization, fair globalization, prosperity and social justice."  The Jobs Pact further stated "the world should look different after the crisis"—meaning we cannot just return to the business-as-usual policies that caused the crisis in the first place.  It also underlined that the core International Labor Standards, especially those guaranteeing freedom of association and collective bargaining, must not only be defended in the midst of the crisis, but are key to recovery because they will contribute to demand-driven growth.    

Workers and their families did not cause the financial crisis or the Great Recession, but they became the biggest victims.  In the United States, workers paid with their jobs, with their homes and with billions of their tax dollars to prevent the total collapse of Wall Street.  And for what?  Now, one year later, as the Director General's Report to this Conference on "Recovery and Growth with Decent Work" so clearly points out, the most serious financial and jobs crisis since the Great Depression is far from over despite some signs of recovery.   

While the U.S. economy has been growing slightly for last three quarters, much of that's been due to policy support, not expected to continue much longer. Sustainable private and wage-driven consumer demand is still far too weak to reduce staggering unemployment in a meaningful way.  Private employers in the United States added only 41,000 jobs last month, more evidence that the recovery is still fragile.  

One of the cruelest aspects of this crisis is its unequal impact on the most vulnerable. In the United States, young workers and people of color have been disproportionately affected. Specifically, teenagers, Hispanic and African Americans in their twenties and non-college educated young workers have been hurt the most.   

As the Director General has reported, "there is no sustainable recovery without jobs recovery and the test we face is to secure and accelerate a jobs rich recovery."  

As his Report warns, the recent European sovereign debt crisis has resulted in calls for drastic fiscal austerity in many countries.  But such measures would weaken if not destroy our beginning recovery and drive workers and their families deeper into poverty and recession by slashing wages, jobs, pensions and social protections.  The implications are clearly global, and premature "exit strategies" could undo any recovery.  

We must do more in the ILO and other major international institutions to achieve and sustain the vision and promise of the Jobs Pact.  This includes integrating the ILO's work with, and in, the World Bank, IMF, the Regional Development Banks, the multilateral agencies and the WTO to advance the Jobs Pact and the Decent Work Agenda.  The ILO needs the support and resources to assist in the realization of the Jobs Pact, and play its important advisory role in national level tripartite dialogue and negotiations. We must support and expand the ILO's role in the G20.  Governments must support the Global Unions' call for a permanent Workgroup on Employment and Social Protection at the G20, involving both workers and employers in regular consultation.  

Finally, we all have an important role to play to ensure that the financial recovery is also a jobs recovery. The AFL-CIO looks forward to working with the ILO and with our partners here to ensure that the jobs we create are good jobs, which respect the fundamental rights of workers, and that the benefits of our future prosperity are broadly shared.