Sharan Burrow

For the unions, it is simple. There are no jobs on a dead planet.

Many governments and corporations take no moral responsibility for the enslavement of migrant workers and freely do business with states built on the back of slave labour. Illicit financial flows and tax evasion are ignored in the interests of some nations and their corporations, stripping the tax base that is so vital for essential services.

Illicit trade corrupts corporations and governments alike, allows dictators to survive, and obscures oppression, including modern day slavery.

A new business model based on old principles of social justice where people matter - now that's a revolutionary way to reduce inequality.

A new model of business and economic development must ensure everybody's sons and daughters are treated as we would expect for our own.

When minimum living wages, bargaining for fair wages, pensions, and job security are denied in too many countries, it is not rocket science to understand the drivers of inequality.

As we contemplate a world which is still choosing to deploy technological innovation in a way that deepens inequality and divisions within and between nations, we need to set global foundations back on track.

Care work contributes enormously to the well-being of our societies and to the sustainability of our economies.

When women are expected to bear the burden of unpaid work, everyone loses.

There is no doubt that the participation of women in the workforce is a serious productivity boost, but to enable this ambition, there must be investment in care - child care, aged care, disability care, health, and education - which are essential social support structures to enable women to work.

When working men and women have secure jobs with living wages and social protection, they can invest in the economy at levels which will increase demand and help overcome the twin challenges of ageing populations and economic stagnation.

The environment, stabilizing the climate, needs urgent attention from all of us.

Climate impacts hit working people first, and with extreme weather events, changing seasons, and rising sea levels, whole communities stand on the front lines.

If multilateral institutions cannot bring about peace and the rule of law because of the vested interests of their members, then both national democracy and global governance will continue to be rocked by crises.

Wealth is being generated off the back of oppression and abuse.

The rules of the global economy are rigged against those who have to work to earn a living and in favour of multinational corporations and the ultra-rich.

When corporations refuse to practice due diligence by not establishing grievance mechanisms for remedy of abuses against the hidden 94% of their workforce in their global supply chains, they perpetuate a depraved model of profit-making that has driven inequality to a level now seen as a global risk in itself.

When governments are cowed or simply don't care to enforce fundamental human and labour rights or to ensure corporate tax is paid so that they can invest in social protection and in the health and education of their people, they cede control to corporate greed.

All business must have a social license to operate.

Democracy is becoming collateral damage in a world where global risks have been ignored or exacerbated by those with the power to act.

No country can afford to lose a generation to unemployment.

Labour is not a commodity.

Inequality is a poison that is destroying livelihoods, stripping families of dignity, and splitting communities.

We need economic growth, yes, but growth can be jobless, so a sustainable development framework for employment must include a job creation strategy.

Out of the fires of desperation burn hope and solidarity.

Globalization has much potential. It could be the answer to many of the world's seemingly intractable problems. But this requires strong democratic foundations based on a political will to ensure equity and justice.

I've had an enormously privileged working life.

Many women drop out of the work force altogether, which holds back our economy with a loss of skills and personnel.

We need to decarbonise our societies and economies.

#MeToo shows this bias is systemic, that people get away with violence against women, get away with discrimination - whether in work or society in general - because, for too long, silence has been the answer.

You can't deny that if you have, you know, people who think it's okay to talk about women, to disregard the rights of workers, we're in trouble as an inclusive world.

Collective bargaining, and the fundamental human right, freedom of association, is seen as an anathema to American business, and people just - it doesn't seem to register that there's no universal social safety net that people can touch.

In terms of emerging economies, we absolutely believe that the prescription is social protection and a minimum wage on which people can live.

There is a great deal of sympathy amongst workers for the Occupy Wall Street movement. We understand their frustration.

If you put stimulus into an economy, you know there is a time lag in terms of depending where you invest it. If it's family transfers, it might be quick. If it's infrastructure, it might be two, three, five years.

You cannot fuel demand, or consumption-led demand, on credit forever.

The corporate community understands the need for rules. Indeed, it argues for regulation to protect intellectual property, physical property rights, and contract law. So why does it oppose global regulation to protect people and the environment?

Globalization can be shaped to ensure that people matter.

Market-led globalization is leading to a race to the bottom, where efficiency and profit matter more than a fair share for working people.

What Qatar chose is a system where a worker is owned by his employer. When your employer forces you to live in squalor, makes you work longest hours in extreme heat, doesn't allow you to change jobs, doesn't pay your wages on time, abuses you physically and psychologically, you have no way out, you can't leave. You are trapped.

If there are not jobs or adequate forms of social protection, there is not enough income to create the consumption base that drives demand and sustainable economic growth.

When work is not underpinned by social protection, people risk falling into poverty traps.

If people do not have jobs, they do not have a secure income, and they do not have a sense of security.

My job is to represent working people.

Stark inequality, poverty, and unemployment are driving increased social unrest and, consequently, social and economic risk. Environmental deterioration may well intensify social inequality.

Where laws recognize rights to collective bargaining, the truth is that employee rights to negotiate with employers are denied in many countries.

Securing a sustainable future will take all of us working together.

Public opinion must be heard.

We all need to work together, because there are no jobs on a dead planet; there is no equity without rights to decent work and social protection, no social justice without a shift in governance and ambition, and, ultimately, no peace for the peoples of the world without the guarantees of sustainability.