24.07.2025

South Africa’s trade union Federations to Host L20 Summit ahead of G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting

Media Statement

MEDIA STATEMENT

South Africa’s trade union Federations to Host L20 Summit ahead of G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting
21 July 2025

South Africa’s four trade union federations - COSATU, FEDUSA, NACTU and SAFTU - will jointly host the Labour 20 (L20) Summit on 28 and 29 July 2025 at Fancourt in George in the Western Cape. Convened under the global G20 framework, the Summit represents an important step for the labour movement in the Global South, offering a platform for workers to shape international employment policies under the theme: “Fostering Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability through a New Social Contract.”

As the South African government continues its host duties of the G20 Presidency, this L20 is both historic and urgent. Workers across the world, particularly in developing economies, continue to face worsening conditions; informal employment is on the rise, real wages are stagnating, social protection systems remain fragmented, and the labour income share of GDP continues to decline. These crises are worsened by geopolitical instability, a deepening climate emergency, and rapid technological disruption through artificial intelligence and algorithmic management.

The L20 Summit will provide a worker-led response to these intersecting crises.

Trade unionists from across the globe, together with national and international policymakers, will gather to present progressive, worker-centered policy proposals ahead of the G20 Labour and Employment Ministerial Meeting (LEMM). These proposals, among others centre around several critical priorities:
1. Decent Work and Wage Justice: The Summit will call for time-bound decent job creation targets, the realisation of living wages, and increased collective bargaining coverage across sectors as key measures to reverse inequality and strengthen social cohesion.
2. Fighting Inequality: Delegates will demand a reversal of the decades-long decline in the labour income share of GDP and an end to the systemic undervaluation of labour, particularly of women, youth, and informal workers.
3. Regulating Algorithmic Management and AI: As digital technologies reshape the world of work, the Summit will advocate for adequate responses from trade unions that will prevent risks while maximising the benefits for workers. 
4. Green Industrial Policy and a Just Transition: Unions will call for climate policies that guarantee decent green jobs, reskilling programmes, and strong social protection to ensure workers are not left behind in the transition to a low-carbon economy in light of the fact that most climate policies have not adequately considered the needs of workers and the importance of countries growing their industrial base in a sustainable and inclusive manner.
5. Expanding countries’ fiscal space - The role of the L20 in promoting progressive taxation and sustainable responses to the debt crisis: This discussion will address how rising debt levels and inadequate taxation systems restrict countries' capacity to fund essential public services, strengthen social protection, and support workers and their families. The discussion focuses on the L20’s role in advocating for progressive taxation policies and debt relief mechanisms that shift the burden away from workers and promote fiscal justice. 

The four federations call on the G20 Labour and Employment Ministers to engage seriously with these proposals. The world cannot afford a recovery that reproduces the structural inequalities of the past. Now is the time for bold commitments that centre workers, formal and informal, urban and rural, young and old, as agents of inclusive economic renewal.

Issued by:
COSATU, FEDUSA, NACTU and SAFTU
 

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