By the World Bank's estimate, the price surges will add 100 million to the number of extreme poor in the world, which the Bank recently adjusted upwards to 1,4 billion before the food and financial crises.

"If vigorous action is not taken, the Millennium Development Goals such as halving global poverty by 2015 will not be attained.

The IMF and World Bank must increase and expedite aid to the developing countries suffering the consequences of the food, fuel, and now, the financial crisis," said the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) general secretary Guy Ryder.

"Global unions are pleased that the IFIs are responding to the crises with emergency aid, but they should reconsider previous IFI policies that have contributed to food security problems, for example, and change them accordingly."

Ryder added: "The IFIs must ensure that none of those suffering from food price hikes suffers even more because of certain policy measures they put forward."

In its statement for the IFIs' meetings, the ITUC and other unions point out that the elimination of subsidies to reduce prices of basic foodstuffs in favour of greater "targeting" of aid, which the IFIs have proposed, can result in many of the needy losing access to assistance.

The statement also recommends that the IFIs support increased minimum wages and the protection of freedom of association so that workers can seek to prevent further deterioration of their real incomes through collective bargaining.

This past month IMF managing director Dominique Strauss-Kahn seemed to echo the international trade union movement's demands for better regulation.

"This crisis is the result of regulatory failure...

We must ensure it does not happen again," he wrote in September.

Ryder said: "It would be unacceptable that the private financial sector, which put the world economy into the current mess, would have greater influence over the design of new regulations than those who are suffering the consequences of the inadequate regulation that the private institutions lobbied for."

Unions have also demanded that the World Bank cease to use its Doing Business publication to encourage developing countries to deregulate their economies, citing its abuse in IFI country reports and by many outside the IFIs eager to do away with any and all labour market regulation.

The World Bank's highest circulation publication falsely claims that the deregulation it promotes results in higher economic growth and increased job creation.

- ITUC Online

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