ILO Director-General calls for Globalization Policy Forum
ILO Director General Juan Somavia has called
for a "Globalization Forum", bringing
together actors such as the
ILO,
International Monetary Fund
(IMF),
the World Bank,
the World Trade Organization
(WTO) and the
United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP). In a speech at the Center for
Strategic and International Studies in Washington in
May, Somavia expressed the hope that the forum might
address "the numerous interdependencies between
trade, finance, labour and development
questions."
The Forum would be charged with agreeing on a
coherent set of policy proposals to stimulate
sustainable growth and decent work.
Further progress in working conditions in the Cambodian garment industry
Two new ILO reports show further improvement of working conditions in garment factories located in Cambodia which produce apparel for sale in North America, Europe and other developed countries.
The fifth and sixth synthesis reports represent the findings of independent monitoring of the working conditions which was done under an ILO technical cooperation project. The monitoring reports are systematically published and posted on the ILO's web site, ensuring that the findings are transparent and reliable.
The project was established following an agreement signed in January 1999 by the governments of Cambodia and the United States, which was amended and extended in December 2001.The agreement offered a possible 18 per cent annual increase in Cambodia's export entitlement to the United States provided the Cambodian Government supported a programme to improve working conditions in the textile and apparel sector, including internationally-recognized core labour standards, through the application of Cambodian labour law.
The plants concerned in the two new reports employ 21,000 workers of whom 19,000 are women. Cambodia has 200 garment factories employing 200,000 workers. In 2001, these factories were responsible for producing approximately 77 per cent of the country's total exports with 1.1 billion dollars in garment exports. Monitoring found evidence of minor incidents of child labour but no evidence of forced labour in the 34 factories covered by the fifth synthesis report, and no evidence of child labour or forced labour was found in any of the 30 factories covered under the 6th report.
While problems still remain and progress is uneven between the different factories, overall there has been improvement in ensuring freedom of association, and to a lesser degree, the correct payment of wages and ensuring overtime is voluntary and within legal limits.
Vietnam reaffirms commitment to ILO standards
Vietnam has "reaffirmed its ILO commitments" in a bilateral apparel agreement signed on April 25 between Vietnam and the United States. Under the terms of the agreement, the labour ministries of the two countries agreed to "meet to review progress toward the goal of improving working conditions in the textile sector in Vietnam". The pact differs from a similar accord with Cambodia that ties higher textile quotas to improvements in worker rights.
Chile, Singapore trade pacts affirm ILO members' obligations
The United States, Singapore and Chile have each affirmed their country's "obligations as members of the International Labour Organisation" after completing trade agreements guaranteeing workers' rights. The US involvement builds on negotiating objectives set down by Congress in the Trade Act of 2002, which called on US negotiators to "promote respect for worker rights and the rights of children consistent with core labour standards of the ILO" such as ILO Convention 182 on abusive child labour. The US-Singapore free trade agreement states that the two nations will "strive to ensure that its laws provide for labour standards consistent with the internationally recognised labour rights… and shall strive to improve those standards in that light", while America's agreement with Chile introduces monetary penalties to enforce labour and other provisions. The United States are now in negotiations with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua on a Central American free trade agreement.
More than 1000 companies commit to Global Compact
More and more companies from all over the world are signing up to the UN Global Compact, thus endorsing the four principles set forth in the ILO's 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.Their commitment to the Compact means the companies, which include not only major multinational enterprises such as BP, Carrefour, Daimler-Chrysler, Dupont, Hewlett Packard, Novartis, Nike, Pfizer and Shell but also many smaller enterprises from developing and transition countries, have agreed to uphold and promote freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, the elimination of all forms of forced and compulsory labour, the abolition of child labour and the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation.
Companies participating in the Global Compact, which also includes principles on human rights and the environment, commit themselves to making the nine principles of the Compact part of their daily operations and helping their suppliers do the same.For a full list of the companies that have written to the UN Secretary-General pledging their support for the Global Compact and information on Global Compact activities more in general see www.unglobalcompact.org
New framework agreement in the metal industry refers to ILO standards
The German-based engineering company GEA, covering 15,000 employees in more than 50 countries, the GEA European Works Council and the International Metalworkers' Federation have signed a Declaration on Principles of Social Responsibility. It is the fifth international framework agreement signed by the IMF. The agreement at GEA – a company specialized in process technology, thermal and energy technology as well as air treatment and dairy farm systems – acknowledges the company's social responsibility, its support of and compliance with "internationally accepted human rights", and the basic right of all employees to establish and join unions and employee representations in accordance with ILO Conventions No. 87 (Freedom of Association) and No. 98 (Right to Collective Bargaining).
The company "supports and expressly encourages" its contractors to take this declaration into account in their own respective corporate policy. The first framework agreement for the metal industry was signed at Merloni Elettrodomestici, in December 2001. Since then, the IMF has signed framework agreements with Volkswagen, DaimlerChrysler, Leoni and now GEA.
Insuring uninsured women in the Phillipines
An ILO project in the Philippines funded by the Norwegian government offers hope for a solution to an enduring problem of developing countries: providing health insurance for the poor. The project is entitled "Extending Social Protection through Health Micro-insurance for Women in the Informal Economy", and aims to provide women working in the informal sector with access to healthcare.
Set to run through to mid-2004, the project involved ILO negotiations with government agencies, trade unions and local non-governmental organizations to map out existing "micro-insurance" health plans and assess their effectiveness. The ILO is at present working with government agencies and local groups to set up flexible health insurance plans to reach more workers in the informal economy.
Guidelines to control tuberculosis
The ILO and the World Health Organization have issued a 74-page booklet on the control and treatment of tuberculosis. The guidelines, which are aimed at tackling a disease that infects 8 million people and kills some 2 million each year, can be used by governments, employers, workers, and health professionals. Striking mostly at individuals in their productive prime, between the ages of 15 and 54 years, TB has serious economic as well as humanitarian costs. As the booklet highlights, the disease disrupts workflow, reduces productivity, and increases both direct costs, such as care and treatment, and indirect costs, such as the replacement and retraining of workers.
The booklet underlines various ways in which employers can combat the negative impact of TB by identifying sufferers, referring them for diagnosis and giving them the support needed to complete their treatment. The booklet stresses that workplace programmes should take into account women's greater vulnerability to TB, and its impact upon them due to higher levels of poverty, sex discrimination and the increasing incidence of HIV among women.
Improving social and economic security in Africa
A two-day consultation in Dar es Salaam has highlighted some of the problems of globalization in Africa. The gathering took into account 23 African countries and demonstrated that traditional support networks had been eroded, but had not been replaced by modern alternatives. Focussing on People's Security Surveys of Africa, Ghana, South Africa and Tanzania, the consultation found the most significant causes of financial crisis to be healthcare costs and the financial costs of old age.
Just one in every 25 women and men in some countries expects to be financially secure in old age, and just one in four women earns an income that she can keep for herself. Yet the workshop, which was opened by the Tanzanian minister for Labour, Dr Juma Kapura, concluded with a positive message. The consultation's 70 delegates demonstrated that significant improvements in social and economic security could be made without involving substantial financial or technical resources. In addition, the exercise showed that most people retain values of social solidarity, believing inequalities should be reduced and ways found to compensate those affected by disasters, ill health and disability.
ILO Director-General calls for decent work in Africa
Slow growth in sub-Saharan Africa in the 1990s elevated the number of people living in poverty by 25 per cent, to nearly 500 million. At a meeting of Foreign Ministers of the African Union on 8 July during the 2nd African Union Summit, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia warned that unless new ways are found to create opportunities for decent work for the world's poor, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of reducing poverty by half by the year 2015 will remain beyond the reach of many countries in the region.
"We know that work is the best route out of poverty", Mr. Somavia says. "But we cannot legislate employment in and poverty out. It is a long and complex process requiring all elements of society to work together. We must harness the unique power of governments, employers and workers – the global community of work represented by the ILO's constituents – to a concerted global drive against poverty."
Sex discrimination in the workplace
A symposium in Tokyo, Japan has focused on the persistent problem of sex discrimination in the workplace in four industrialized democracies—Canada, Germany, Japan and the United States. The International Symposium on Women, Work and the Law: Promoting Gender Equality in the Workplace, was organised under the auspices of the ILO, with sponsorship by the Asia Foundation, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, and the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo.
In Japan, women's share in managerial and administrative jobs is 9%, one of the lowest in the world. Women earn 50% to 60% of wages earned by men, which is also one of the lowest among the industrialized countries. Although their share has increased in recent years, women comprise only 10% of parliamentarians in Japan, and only 12.6% of all officers in central workers' organizations. Participants shared experiences and discussed ways in which work environments could promote gender equality.
Full disabled access for new ILO Lima Office
Providing full access for disabled people was a foremost consideration in the construction of the new ILO office in Lima. It is the first ILO office to be fully accessible to people with disabilities.
All public areas on the first floor, including the bathrooms, are suitable for use by the disabled, and facilities on all office floors are open to the disabled. Elevators, servicing both underground parking levels and the six stories of the building itself, are also designed to accommodate wheelchairs. Augustin Muñoz, ILO Regional Director for the Americas, spoke of the project as an exemplar for buildings of a similar nature: "We are proud to be the sponsors of this model project in the construction community of Lima, and are honored now as well in the awareness of our uniqueness within the ILO community." The Minister of Labour was present at the laying of the first foundation stone, on 12 May.