Articles
April 2009
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Gender equality at the heart of decent work
01 April 2009
Over the past year the ILO’s Bureau for Gender Equality has held a major awareness-raising campaign: Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work. In the following pages World of Work looks at themes of the campaign so far and interviews Jane Hodges, Director of the Bureau for Gender Equality.
December 2008
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The ILO at 90: Working for social justice
01 December 2008
As we mark the 90th anniversary of the ILO, the Organization’s values and mandate endure.
August 2008
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The Decent Work Agenda - Looking back, looking forward: A growing consensus
01 August 2008
Ten years ago, on 15 June 1999, Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen addressed the 87th Session of the International Labour Conference, commenting on ILO Director-General Juan Somavia’s ground-breaking report Decent work. This article presents some extracts from that speech,1 together with the views of other distinguished leaders and thinkers on the ILO concept of decent work.
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A dynamic vision of prevention: The International Social Security Association (ISSA)
01 August 2008
Social security is everybody’s business. It affects our daily life by protecting us against work and life risks – health care needs, disability, old age and unemployment. ISSA Secretary General Hans-Horst Konkolewsky explains how social security and the prevention of occupational accidents and diseases go hand-in-hand.
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Promoting safe and healthy jobs: The ILO Global Programme on Safety, Health and the Environment (Safework)
01 August 2008
The adoption in 2006 of a far-reaching ILO Convention (No. 187) and Recommendation (No. 197) concerning the Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health provides a key tool in the struggle to meet the challenges of OSH in today’s fast-paced, globalized economy. In this article Dr. Sameera Al-Tuwaijri, Director of the ILO Safework Programme, describes these challenges and how the ILO is responding to them.
July 2008
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Microinsurance and OSH: helping to cope with workplace risks, Work-related accidents and diseases take a grim toll every year.
09 July 2008
Work-related accidents and diseases take a grim toll every year. Although prevention can help improve occupational safety and health (OSH), microinsurance can also play a complementary role in coping with workplace risks and provide direct benefits to employers and workers.
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Shining a light of hope: Occupational safety and health in the informal economy. Hundreds of millions of workers worldwide suffer from work-related diseases and accidents.
09 July 2008
The ILO estimates that hundreds of millions of workers worldwide suffer from work-related diseases and accidents, the poorest and the least protected being the worst sufferers. Bringing occupational safety and health to those working and living in the informal economy represents a particular challenge as this report from the slums of Pune in India shows.
April 2008
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No vacuum: Cleaning up cleaning contracts
01 April 2008
A hidden army of workers is at work each day cleaning the world’s office blocks. Many office staff never meet the people who empty their garbage and dust their desks, for cleaning contracts often specify that the work is to be undertaken out of normal work time, in the early morning or evening periods. Yet cleaners are an essential part of modern office life. Andrew Bibby reports.
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We’re in business! From Better Factories to Better Work. World of Work looks at a country project that grew into a major global programme.
01 April 2008
The ILO’s work with the private sector is not new. But in recent years there have been some interesting developments in ILO support to companies in their CSR-related activities. World of Work looks at a country project that grew into a major global programme, and interviews Ros Harvey, the Better Work Global Programme Manager.
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The Multinational Enterprises Declaration
01 April 2008
The story of the ILO’s Multinational Enterprises Declaration goes back more than three decades from before 1977, when it was formally adopted, to the end of the 1960s when the activities of multinationals were first beginning to attract serious attention – and, from some quarters, serious criticism.