Welcome to Hard Talk on the BBC World Service with me, Stephen Sacker. My guest today lays claim to represent the interests of close to 200 million workers across the world, thanks to her leadership of the International Trade Union Confederation, the ITUC.

Sharon Burrow is an Australian, a former teacher from a family of labor activists who rose

through the ranks of Australian and international teaching unions to become the boss of the

global union movement.

She's had the job for more than a decade, but what has she achieved?

Well, the number of unionized workers across the world is

actually falling. Right now, workers the world over are feeling a severe squeeze on their

living standards as inflation bites. In many countries, union membership is seen as a threat.

Is it possible for one organization to represent the interests of the Scandinavian

office worker and the Indian farmer, the train driver and the bicycle courier? Well, Sharon Burrow

joins me now from Brussels. Welcome to Hard Talk. Good evening. Good to have you on the show.

Let's look at what is happening in the world right now.

We have a spike in energy costs right around the world.

We have rising inflation in many countries and a squeeze on the cost of living.

How grim do you think the prospects for your members, for workers around the world,

are right now? I think you have to take note of workers. They're on strike all around the world.

They can't live on the wages that they're being paid. They know that this is a huge injustice

when it's profits that are driving inflation.

In fact, the union movement has a new term. It's called proflation because it's a myth to say

that wages are driving inflation. Even the EU were confirmed just this week, that there is

no feedback loop between wages and inflation,

and it's not likely that there will be while real wages remain negative.

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