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It is an honor to bring to this Congress the greetings of the Council of Global Unions and of my own organization: Education International. Let me start by congratulating Rosa on her election as your new General Secretary. Welcome, Rosa, to one of the most trying positions in our movement. We look forward to working with you and to help you in every way possible to meet the high expectations of your membership.

There can be no doubt that the world economic and debt crisis, the unprecedented attack on the public sector, growing inequalities and the weakening of our democratic institutions, all affected by globalization, have raised the expectations of all national trade unions in their global organizations. I for one believe that we can meet (at least) some of these expectations, that we can make a difference, yes, that, ultimately, we can turn the tide, provided that we work together, nationally and internationally, that we bring more focus to our work and resist the temptation to spread ourselves too thin.

As I am speaking on the last day of your Congress, I think three quick reminders are sufficient.

First reminder: We must reinforce our Quality Public Services – Action Now! Campaign. It is important that we never forget that public services and public service values are about a lot more than trying to hold onto what we have already won. For some, the value of public services may not be self-evident. Even for us, it requires reflection.

• We need to recognise what public services mean to society and better articulate our vision.
• We need to overcome defensive habits and affirm that we believe in what we do. We are proud of our contributions to making this world a better place to live.
• And, we need to examine our own performance, national, regional, and international.

We all know public services from what we do; whether we are teaching school, healing the sick, putting out fires, keeping our streets safe, providing clean drinking water, delivering electricity, collecting taxes or garbage. But, we too rarely reflect on what those collective contributions mean for society.

The market economy has value, but it is without values. It does not, inherently, bring social justice or equality; it does not bring quality of life; it does not bring the respect of rights or democracy. And, it does not clean up after itself.

As public sector trade unions, we are the nexus between organized labour and the world of public services. Both are essential for democracy. Trade unions help distribute power in society, defend rights and serve as “schools for democracy”. In fact, the public sector is the infrastructure of democracy. And public service values are fundamental to it – to the very notion that the State works for citizens rather than the other way around.

Second reminder: We must expose the bankruptcy of austerity policies.When you’re stuck in a hole, colleagues, the first thing you should do is stop digging. We need to convince finance ministers to throw down their austerity shovels and find a way out of the economic hole we’re in. As I heard somebody say a couple of days ago after a meeting of the EU finance ministers: “They should stop acting like the living dead”. Their austerity policies seek to slash public deficits and debts, but these are symptoms not the cause of the crisis.

The evidence is absolutely clear: we need to invest in, not cut back  public infrastructure and services. Public investment is needed to offset the collapse in private sector spending and investment, and this is the time to invest in people!

We can find the resources to make these investments. A Global Union study on taxation, - which we published a year ago, shows that - thanks to tax havens and tax loopholes -, governments around the world are losing between ten and fifteen trillion dollars of revenue that could be used to fund the quality public services and programs we need. A couple of months ago we presented this study to the head of the IMF, Ms. Christine La Garde, requesting her to start helping governments close those loopholes rather than forcing them to go down the austerity path. [She promised to look into this question. But they have yet to call back.]

Governments should replace cuts with collection. Let’s step up our campaign for tax justice and a global Financial Transactions Tax. It would not only raise revenues, it would act as a brake on the worst excesses of the casino economy.

An even more vicious form of austerity is cutting the fundamental rights of workers. Good labour laws and strong trade unions promote fairness and sustainable growth. We all understand that. Political leaders should as well.

Let me thank all of you for mobilizing against the revoking of collective bargaining right in Wisconsin and other US States. Let me also thank you for the campaigns mounted against the imprisonment of colleagues in Turkey and in the Middle East. I am happy to report that the day before yesterday the Vice President of the Bahraini Teachers Association was released from jail. Yes, international pressure helps! Which brings me to my

Third Reminder: Solidarity works!

Globalisation has steadily weakened and even erased national borders. Globalising social justice means that we must realize that trade unionism is one cause and one struggle that is indivisible and cannot be neatly divided into competing national, regional, and global compartments.

The same is true of leadership. If we are to inspire, motivate and mobilise members, we need a depth of leadership and a sharing of responsibility as never before. Only, then can we build a trade union lever that can move the world. There are no shortcuts or gimmicks. We know from our history that solidarity works. And, nothing can change that simple truth.

I began my remarks by welcoming Rosa to the ranks of global union leadership. I would like to end them with a special thanks to Peter for his effective and energetic leadership of the Council of Global Unions.

Thank you, Peter, for your hard work and your strong commitment to our cause; thank you PSI for providing leadership to our global union movement and for standing with us. We will continue be standing with you.