Working families economic forum

NEW YORK – The global union movement will explore how today’s global economy drives down living standards for working people worldwide in a Working Families Economic Forum here Jan. 31. Workers from around the world, union members and community and religious leaders join AFL-CIO President John Sweeney at the workers’ forum. Panelists include workers from China, Guatemala and Mexico as well as garment, auto, service and steelworkers from the United States.

The forum will be followed by a Rally for Global Justice calling for an end to sweatshops.

The events will take place on the first day of the annual World Economic Forum, which brings together 1,000 of the world’s corporate and political elite.

As part of an effort to deliver labor’s message inside as well as outside the World Economic Forum, Sweeney and AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka will lead a delegation of U.S. union leaders who are official participants.

At the same time, AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson will lead a delegation of unionists to the World Social Forum, an alternative forum, in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

For more information on the activities, call the New York City Central Labor Council at ( 212) 604-9552, ext. 220.