Articles

April 2005 

• After the Tsunami: In the wake of the disaster, ILO helps rebuild lives and livelihoods
  The massive earthquake and Tsunami that hit Asia last December left hundreds of thousands dead. What's more, an estimated 4 million people in India, Indonesia, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Somalia and Thailand faced the loss of their livelihoods and the risk of sinking deeper into poverty. ...
• A tailor-made future for prosperity: Cambodia
  In the past few years, a great deal of progress has been made in improving the working conditions of textile factory workers in Cambodia. An ILO monitoring process has helped employers and workers create not only a safer working environment, but better working conditions. ...
• Promoting ILO Conventions and Recommendations The cooperatives experience
  The adoption of new ILO Conventions and Recommendations by the annual International Labour Conference typically follows many months and years of preparatory work and debate. What happens then, however, is not the end of a process but rather the beginning. ...
• Checking your pay online Feeling underpaid? Check "Wage Indicator"!
  If one thing is certain, few people feel overpaid for their work. But many of us worry that we may be earning less than the next person. Usually, this is privileged information. Now, a new on-line service, "Wage Indicator on-line" is changing that. Journalist Andrew Bibby explains how www.wageindicator.org offers new transparency to the age-old question of who earns what.
• Tanzania: A life-cycle approach to gender equality and decent work
  The Government of Tanzania, in partnership with the ILO, is seeking to alleviate poverty through education and training for poor women and children, as well as promoting gender equality. This article explains how ILO projects have contributed to change the lives of poor women and their families in the country

November 2004 

• First global analysis: HIV/AIDS to have major impact on world of work
  An estimated 36.5 million people of working age have HIV, and by next year the global labour force will have lost as many as 28 million workers due to AIDS since the start of the epidemic. So says a new global report ( Note 1) by the International Labour Office (ILO) that paints a grim picture of the impact of HIV/AIDS on the world of work.
• European Companies and Nordea "Societas Europeae": Ancient name, new concept
  After years of debate and discussion, the European Union's plan to allow multinational companies to incorporate as "European Companies" is about to become a reality. The statute, together with an accompanying directive covering worker involvement, was passed in October 2001, to come into force three years later. ...
• Global economic security in crisis: New ILO report finds "world full of anxiety and anger"
  A new ILO report ( Note 1) says that economic security promotes personal well-being, happiness and tolerance, while benefiting growth and social stability. Yet it finds the overwhelming majority of people in a state of economic insecurity, and raises doubts over rich countries' ability to turn wealth into happiness.
• Ten years after: A decade of progress for indigenous peoples
  The United Nations International Decade for the World's Indigenous People has focused new attention on the plight of these vulnerable peoples. Now, more than a decade after the adoption of the ILO Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989 (No. 169) - World of Work examines what progress has been made, and what problems still face these people in today's globalized world.
• Mining out child labour in Santa Filomena
  They still mine for gold in Santa Filomena, a remote mining community far from Lima, Peru. But these days, they do it without the children. With the help of the ILO, this village of 1,500 inhabitants was able to declare itself child labour free this past June - providing a new sheen to the miners and their community.
• Youth unemployment at all time high
  Half the world's unemployed are under 24, according to a new ILO study that charts the skyrocketing of youth unemployment over the past decade. Global Employment Trends for Youth, 2004 ( Note 1) puts the global youth unemployment rate at 14.4 per cent in 2003, a 26.8 per cent increase in the total number of unemployed young people over the past decade. ...

June 2004 

• From cockle pickers to computer programmers: New approaches for migrant workers
  In February 2004, 20 Chinese citizens were drowned on the coast of northwest England while picking cockles (a speciality shellfish). The workers were irregular migrants, employed by an organized gang. Their fate highlighted the precariousness of many migrants' existence, their exposure to exploitation, and the need for action to regulate migration around the world. ...
• The new postal sector: Why "snail mail" still matters
  How did this copy of World of Work reach you? If it's a printed copy, the answer is likely to be simple - through the postal services. Despite today's high-speed electronic mail, so-called "snail mail" still reaches an enormous number of people and provides some five million jobs worldwide. This article explains why the post still matters.
• Globalization: The quest for a level playing field ILO considers action for fair globalization
  The report of the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, "A fair globalization: Creating opportunities for all" ( Note 1), called for an "urgent rethink" in the way globalization is governed. ...
• World Day Against Child Labour: New report highlights plight of children working as domestic labourers
  Millions of children - there is no fixed number - work night and day outside of their family homes, toiling as domestic child labourers - fetching water, minding infants, cleaning the house or tending the garden. Nearly all are exploited, exposed to hazardous work and subject to abuse. All, without exception, are at risk because of the very nature of child domestic labour. ...
• China Employment Forum: Focus on decent work for all
  At a recent employment forum, China and the ILO adopted a "common understanding" aimed at forging greater cooperation to create more and better jobs as the key to continued development in the world's most populous country. ...
• Second Global Report on freedom of association and collective bargaining
  Freedom of association and collective bargaining are called fundamental rights in the workplace for good reason. These are the rights which make it possible for both workers and employers to join together to promote their interests and to defend other rights. The ILO Constitution upholds these rights, and they are set out in core Conventions. ...
• "Do no harm": How social dialogue benefits patients, too
  Today's under-resourced health services are putting both workers and patients at risk. But with "quick-fix" solutions unfeasible, how to address this global problem? ILO expert Susan Maybud explains how increased cooperation between workers, employers and governments will not only benefit those working in the health services, but their patients as well.

March 2004 

• Asbestos in the workplace: a difficult legacy
  Once used nearly universally for its fire-retardant qualities, asbestos - and the illnesses it causes - has become a major issue for the industries which used and produced it as well as individuals who contracted various diseases and cancers as a result of exposure in the workplace. ...
• Strangers in a foreign land - Migration's hidden risk: Increased child trafficking
  In many parts of the world, migration is adding a new dimension to the child labour problem, exposing many children to potential exploitation by traffickers. This article explains how migrants can fall into the trafficking trap and how the ILO is working to stop this worst form of child labour.