GENEVA -- Union leaders from Europe and North America said Thursday world trade and the WTO that oversees it had to be given a "more human face" to win back public confidence.


In a statement issued in Brussels and Geneva, they also called on global business and political leaders meeting in the Swiss mountain resort of Davos this weekend to "commit themselves to work towards universal social justice."


Developing countries' governments see such demands as mainly aimed at protecting Western jobs from competition by goods produced more cheaply, and exported at lower prices.