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With unprecedented public demand for decent jobs, and pressure mounting on banks and the finance industry, the 2011 World Day for Decent Work today features over 400 actions across more than 80 countries.

"More than 200 million people worldwide are unemployed according to official figures, and hundreds of millions more lack decent, secure jobs.

"People’s rights at work are under attack as never before, and governments lack the vision and commitment to fix a global economy which is failing working people," said ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow.

Actions on the World Day for Decent Work this year aim at tackling "precarious work" – the deepening trend towards casual, temporary and insecure jobs, often with little legal protection. Young people and women in the workforce are most likely to be affected, with their incomes and earning potential suffering as a result.

"This is an issue that affects all workers. Teachers and other public sector workers especially are in the frontline, as governments try to make them carry spending cuts on their backs. That is not the way forward! Rights at work, job creation policies, social protection and social dialogue involving unions are crucial to turning the global economy around and generating the tax revenues for governments to tackle the fiscal situation," said Fred van Leeuwen, EI General Secretary.

Today’s events include some 50 activities across Japan, with marches, conferences and youth meetings in several African countries and meetings and mobilisations throughout Russia and Ukraine. A series of activities in Latin America includes initiatives by trade unions in Peru and Chile to get official government recognition of the World Day for Decent Work.