LJUBLJANA (Thomson Financial) - Thousands of trade union members from across Europe descended on the Slovenian capital to march for higher wages and protest against calls for pay restraint from EU finance ministers and the European Central Bank.
The European Trade Union Confederation, which organised the demonstration, expected members of 54 unions bussed in from 29 countries to participate in the march through Ljubljana.
'We are asking for a fair share of Europe's prosperity and growth for Europe's workers that are not getting it and not having wages keeping up with inflation and with productivity improvements,' ETUC General Secretary John Monks said.
The unions aimed to send a strong message to EU finance ministers and central bankers meeting nearby in Brdo pri Kranju.
'We are in town to send a message to the ministers and central bankers and to European society: that European workers need a pay rise and a fair deal, a proper share of the fruits of prosperity and the fruits of growth,' Monks said.
'We're here to show that the purchasing power problem is a real European problem,' said Claude Rolin, secretary general of Belgian union CSC.
He said that the unions also wanted 'to tell the finance ministers and (Jean-Claude) Trichet, the boss of the European Central Bank, that it's not workers who should pay the price of the crisis we are seeing.' steve.whitehouse@thomson.com sw COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Financial News Limited 2008. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Thomson Financial News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Financial News.