IMF, European Labor Leaders Meet to Discuss Crisis Response

This has been particularly true in Europe, where organized labor is an important social force in many crisis countries.

In an effort to deepen this interaction, labor union leaders from six European countries attended a week-long seminar (January 11-15) at the Joint Vienna Institute (JVI)-a training institute co-sponsored by the Austrian government and the IMF-to discuss the crisis and the policy response undertaken in countries with IMF-supported programs.

The 29 leaders from Bosnia Herzegovina, Hungary, Latvia, Romania, Serbia, and Ukraine represented 14 national union organizations. In addition, three officials from the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) attended.

While union leaders have attended JVI seminars in the past, this was the first event dedicated solely to trade union issues, and it was the first time the ITUC and the IMF co-sponsored a major meeting away from IMF headquarters. IMF officials from Washington and resident representatives based in the program countries participated in the discussions in Vienna.

"This seminar was an important step in the development of relations between the Fund and labor," said Jeremy Mark, IMF Deputy Chief of Public Affairs, who participated in the event. "The IMF has cooperated closely with the ITUC over the past few years, and has tried to broaden its consultations with national unions in the program countries. But it was very important to bring together under one roof labor leaders from difference countries to compare experiences with Fund...