Paris - Leaders of major international and European trade union federations on Wednesday urged the Group of Seven nations to take actions which go beyond those taken so far to deal with the current global financial crisis.

The call comes two days before the G7 finance ministers meet, with the general secretaries of the ITUC, ETUC and TUAC in their open letter urging a major recovery plan to stave off the risks of a global recession that goes beyond the coordinated cuts in interest rates announced by six central banks.

"The mounting financial chaos is taking its toll on the real economy with sharply falling employment in the United States now spreading into a global recession, threatening jobs around the world with especially severe impacts on the poorest countries," they said.

"The G7 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors must put in place a coordinated recovery plan targeted at stimulating the real economy in the G7 and beyond. There should be further coordinated interest rate cuts as necessary," the letter added.

It also argued that since "large parts of the financial system are being supported by the public taxpayers" then governments should take equity stakes and act as activist investors to protect the public interest and ensure that taxpayers are eventually reimbursed.

The G7 group of leading industrial nations includes the US, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Canada and Italy. The G7 ministers meeting is to take place in Washington, where currently the International Monetary Fund/World Bank annual meeting under way. (dpa)