Trade unions from G7 countries convened in Paris on 5 May for the 2026 Labour 7 Summit, warning ministers on the eve of the G7 Trade Ministerial: the French presidency’s goal of addressing global imbalances cannot succeed without placing workers’ rights and decent jobs at the centre of trade policy.
The L7 brought French Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Farandou, Trade Minister Nicolas Forissier, European Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, and senior representatives from the OECD, WTO, IEA and ILO into direct dialogue with trade union leaders across five sessions spanning decent work, inequality, geopolitical shifts, just transition, and trade.
In the communiqué handed to Minister Forissier at the Summit, the L7 argues that persistent trade imbalances are rooted in the systematic suppression of wages and erosion of collective bargaining. In countries with sustained and persistent trade surpluses, wages held below productivity sustain their comparative advantage at the expense of domestic demand. On the other hand, countries with already large trade deficits and shrinking manufacturing have less options to boost employment and job quality, trapping workers on both sides in a race to the bottom on wages, labour standards, and working conditions.
To break this cycle, the L7 demands the adoption of a G7 Action Plan on Trade and Decent Jobs – a coordinated framework to strengthen labour market institutions, restore the link between productivity and wages, and curb the spread of precarious work across G7 economies.
When wages fail to keep pace with productivity in order to boost export competitiveness and profits, workers on all sides of the equation pay the price. The G7 must use this moment to put enforceable labour standards and collective bargaining at the heart of trade policy – not as an afterthought.
A dedicated session with economist Thomas Piketty examined the structural drivers of the global inequality crisis. Data from the World Inequality Lab shows that since 2000, the top 1% has captured nearly 41% of new wealth while the bottom half captured just 1% – reinforcing the L7’s position that rising inequality is not inevitable but the product of deliberate policy choices, and can be reversed.
Against the backdrop of escalating tariff wars, it is more urgent than ever to address the root causes of trade imbalances. G7 Trade Ministers must act: no market access or tariff liberalisation without the effective implementation of fundamental principles, democratic trade union rights at work and ILO core conventions.
The French presidency hosts the G7 Leaders’ Summit in Évian on 15–17 June.
Read the full L7 Communiqué to G7 Trade Ministers here.
