REPORT OF THE
PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON LABOUR ON THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE, DATED 27
FEBRUARY 2007
The Portfolio Committee on Labour, having been represented
by a multi-party delegation at the International Labour Conference, reports as
follows:
The Committee resolved to send a multi-party delegation to
attend the annual International Labour Conference (ILC) in
2. Introduction
The report gives a synopsis of the proceedings of the 95th
Session of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) which took place in
Standing items
* Report
of the Chairperson of the Governing Body and the Director-General
* Global
report under the follow-up to the ILO Declaration on the Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work
* Programme,
budget and other questions
* Information
and reports on the application of Conventions and Recommendations
Agenda:
* The
occupational safety and health- standard setting, second discussion with a view
to adopt a Convention and a Recommendation.
* The
employment relationship-standard setting, single discussion with a view to
adopt a Recommendation
* The
role of the ILO in technical co-operation- general discussion
The official opening took place on 31 May in Palais des
Nations and was addressed by Mr Trotman (Worker Vice-President). The following people were elected as
officials of the 95th session of the Conference:
President: Minister Khalil, Minister of
Labour:Jordaan
Worker : Sir
Employer: Mr
Having
outlined the procedures and identified other officers at the meeting, the
Chairperson suspended the plenary until
The Africa Group met daily under the co-ordination of
The representation
of the African group in Committees was agreed as follows:
Committee on
Finance and Administration:
Committee on
Employment Relations:
Committee on
Occupational Safety and Health:
Committee on Technical
Cooperation: Morroco
Committee on
the Application of Standards:
The group had an honour of being
addressed by President Johnson-Sirleaf of
5. Governing Body
Membership
The
Governing Body is the executive council of the ILO that takes decisions on
policy and establishes the programme and budget of the 178 member states of the
ILO. This body meets three times
annually in
The Governing Body elected
Minister Mdladlana as Chairperson for the 2006/07 session. Sir Leroy Trotman, General Secretary of the
Barbados Worker’s
The
Governing Body also approved the Report of the ILO Committee on Freedom of
Association and examined 102 cases.
Reports of the
Director-General and Governing Body
Report on the changing patterns in the world of
work
The report
on changing patterns in the world of work provided a synthesis of the global
context in which the ILO was advancing the decent work agenda. It also provided an integrated view of the
multiple changes and processes in the world of work and how the ILO tools could
be used, shaped and adapted to address these changes.
The report
was aimed at putting experiences and knowledge about work in the global
perspective. It acknowledged the
centrality of work as a source of dignity and fulfilment in people’s
lives. Whilst work is recognised as
diverse, the report alluded to the dignity of work having been devalued and
thought as simply a factor of production. However, that connects with the
reality of the ILO’s mandate. The report
stimulated a debate around issues that will contribute to the achievement of
the strategic objective of making decent work a global and national reality.
The report
acknowledged changes brought about by the liberalisation of trade and capital
flows resulting in more workers and employers competing in a global market.
The report
related to the significance of human rights as an anchor of values at
work. It argued that the management of
change in the workplace will depend on the quality of work organisation. It
called for the balance of the need for flexibility and security which required
a strong based approach to the governance of labour markets that foster social
dialogue.
The item
on the creation of work was part of the report.
It emphasised the importance of investment and enterprise development
and skills development in the creation of work.
The
Director-General commended the manner in which tripartism had contributed to
explaining and promoting the decent work agenda. He reiterated that although tripartism was
not perfect in every country, the decent work programmes would progressively
become the main instrument for co-operation by members states. He acknowledged that the ILO was faced with a
challenge of stepping up its efforts in translating the global political support
into policies that make decent work a national reality. He also suggested that if the decent work
agenda had a connection with politics, there was a need for the ILO to assist
governments and social partners to align this approach to policies and translate
it into meaningful change in people’s lives.
The ILO is
working with multilateral, regional and individual development co-operation
agencies, including the International Monetory Fund and the World Bank, to
systematically integrate the objectives of productive employment and decent
work in their policy dialogue .
The
Director-General pointed out that while the international community was analysing
and giving support to the decent work agenda, the ILO had continued its regular
business of discussing, negotiating and agreeing on action on some key policy
approaches to make that agenda happen.
In order to respond to the challenges that might be faced, there would
be a need to strengthen the capacity of the ILO. There should be a global commitment and
recognition of the role that tripartism played in stabilising societies,
ensuring consensus building, as well as having good industrial relations.
Global Report under the follow-up to the ILO
Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
The
Director-General of the ILO, as part of the follow-up to the Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted by the Conference at its 86th
Session in 1998, is expected to table a report annually that provides a global
picture that relates to one of the four categories of the fundamental
principles and rights.
This
year’s global report focused on the effective abolition of child labour in
member states that have ratified and those that have not ratified the relevant
fundamental ILO Conventions, namely the Minimum Age Convention, 1973 (No. 138)
and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No. 182).
The report
indicated that the involvement of children in work had declined, especially in
the areas of harmful work. The highest
incidences were, however, still found in Sub-Saharan Africa. According to the report, in 2004 it was
estimated that out of 317 million economically active children in the world,
218 million were child labourers. Of
these, 126 million were engaged in harzardous work.
The report
also focused on the different policy choices governments made to address child
labour and why certain countries have managed to reach a critical threshold in
achieving universal education and the elimination of child labour. It concurred that coherence in policies such as
poverty alleviation, provision of quality education, social protection
measures, including the protection of worker rights, were important to eliminate
child labour.
The report
pointed out that co-operation between employers and workers was critical in the
fight against child labour. Corporate
social responsibility and capacity building were also identified as important
elements in addressing child labour.
Mainstreaming
of child labour issues was highlighted as one of the interventions in dealing
with child labour. The focus was on
gender mainstreaming, i.e to promote gender equality and get children back to
school.
What
emerged from the report was that although there was a high rate of activity in
policy formulation and the adoption of plans of action, limited attention was
given to the most vulnerable children and even less to the situation of
girls. It was also felt that very few
governments were giving attention to forced and bonded labour. Less action was reported on improving
legislation against the use, procuring or offering of children for illicit
activities.
The value
of Time Bound Programme (TBP) measures was discussed thoroughly in the report. The TBP is a tool that was developed to deal
effectively with the worst forms of child labour. The effectiveness of the TBP could be
achieved through the empowerment of key agencies and institutions, governments,
organised business and labour, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
Committee on Freedom of Association
Special
attention was drawn to the cases of
With
respect to
In the case
of
In the case
of
The Committee also drew the
attention of the Governing Body to the case of the Islamic Republic of
Iran. It urged the government to
institute an independent inquiry into allegations of interrogation, threats and
harassment by the Ministry of Intelligence against trade unionists and to keep
it informed of the outcome.
Committee
on Application of Standards
This Committee is a standing Conference Committee whose
terms of reference are defined in article 7 of the Standing Orders of the
Conference. Its mandate is to report on
the extent to which member states fulfil their standards-related obligations.
The
work of this Committee is based on the report of the Committee of Experts on
the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, which is composed of legal
experts from different regions of the world.
Part of the general discussions in this Committee included
examining the General Survey of the Committee of Experts concerning the
following:
* Labour
Inspection Convention, 1947 (No. 81);
* The
Protocol of 1995 to the Labour Convention, 1947 (No. 81);
* Labour
Inspection Recommendation, 1947 (No. 81);
* Labour
Inspection (Agriculture) Covention, 1969 (No. 129);
* Labour
Inspection (Mining and Transport) Recommendation, 1947 (No.82); and
* Labour
Inspection (Agriculture) Recommendation, 1969 (No. 133).
The Committee
elected its officers as follows:
Chairperson: Mr Sergio Paixao Pardo
(Government member,
Vice
Chairpersons: Mr Edward E Potter
(Employer member, US);
Mr Luc Cortebeeck (Worker
member,
Reporter: Ms Carine Parra
(Government member, France).
The Committee’s work during this session involved the
examination of individual cases. Twenty-Five
governments were invited to discuss the implementation of the law and practice
of specific ratified Conventions. Of
these, five were African countries. In
addition to fundamental Conventions, several technical Conventions such as
those relating to indigenous people, asbestos, wages, vocational rehabilitation
and employment of disabled persons, were covered. These Conventions were of great importance to
achieve decent work in the context of the poverty reduction strategy.
The Committee requested the Office to adopt all possible
measures to improve the situation and solve problems mentioned by governments. It further suggested that particular
attention be given to countries that were registered at the Conference.
Committee
on Occupational Safety and Health
The 93rd Session of the Conference decided, by
resolution adopted on 15 June 2005, to place on the agenda of its 95th
Session an item entitled ‘Occupational safety and health“ for the second
discussion, with a view to adopt a Convention and a Recommendation.
The Committee, however, during the 95th session discussed Report IV (2A) on the Promotional
framework for safety and health which was drafted on the basis of contributions
from governments, employers and workers organizations. It also focussed on Report IV (2B) which
contained the texts of the proposed Convention and Recommendation These were linked to other relevant ILO
occupational safety and health instruments, particularly the Occupational
Safety and Health Convention, 1981 (No. 155).
The Convention further called for member states to consider steps that
could be taken at national level to ratify and implement some key ILO
occupational safety and health instruments.
The Conference adopted a resolution concerning asbestos
which aimed to help prevent the unnecessary asbestos diseases and deaths in the
future. This resolution reaffirmed the ILO’s
longstanding policy on the protection of workers from cancer-causing
substances.
Committee on Employment Relationship
The Conference dealt with this important subject for the
second time in three years. The aim was
to examine the increasingly frequent situations in which it was difficult to
establish the existence of an employment relationship. The Conference considered the possible
adoption of an international labour Recommendation on the basis of a draft. The main lines were drawn from the debate,
general discussion and conclusions on the employment relationship which took
place at the 91st session of the ILC in 2003. The draft encouraged member states, in
consultation with the social partners, to formulate and adopt a national policy
that aimed to guarantee effective protection for workers carrying out their
work in the context of an employment relationship.
The Conference dealt with two reports as a basis for this
item. The first report, namely The
employment relationship, Report V (I) International Labour Conference , 95th
Conference, 2006, which contained a general presentation and a comparative
analysis of the question, as well as a questionnaire to which governments were
asked to give reasoned replies, in consultation with the representative organisations
of employers and workers. The second
report which consisted of Report V(2A) and Report (2B) included summaries of
replies received and Office commentaries, and the proposed Recommendation to be
submitted for discussion respectively.
The Recommendation, however, addressed the key issue in the
world of work, and employment relations as the foundation on which most labour
standards were built. The Recommendation
recognizes that there were threats to the employment relationship which arose
from different sources such as disguised and ambiguous employment, multiple and
contractual arrangements and develops helpful responses to such threats.
The Recommendation provides for criteria, indicators and
mechanisms to determine the existence of an employment relationship. It also addresses the gender dimension of the
employment relationship and the challenges faced by women, as well as the
cross-border movement of workers. The
instrument also recognizes that laws and regulations, as well as their
interpretation, should be compatible with objectives of decent work. The Recommendation laid a solid basis for
future work by the ILO through guidance it gives to member states.
Committee on Technical Co-operation
Since 1999, significant changes took place in the approach
and modalities for the development and implementation of ILO programmes and
activities. The 2006 report of the
Conference dealt with how the recent changes had affected ILO technical
cooperation, and outlined the current developments in international development
policies and programmes with a view to assist the Conference in making its
views known on the role of technical cooperation in promoting the ILO decent work
agenda.
The report dealt with trends in technical cooperation,
reviewed the substantive work conducted under strategic objectives and raised
cross-cutting issues of mainstreaming tripatism and gender equality. Subsequently, in reviewing the programming
framework for technical cooperation, the report described the integration of
technical cooperation into the system of strategic planning and budgeting,
discussed reform in the United Nations (UN) system aimed at harmonizing
activities and creating synergies and partnerships, assessing the needs of
constituents, and described Decent Work Country Programmes.
The Committee adopted conclusions that will lead the ILO’s
work in the coming years, and recognized that technical co-operation was at the
core of the ILO’s work. The conclusions
identified priorities for action and challenges ahead of the ILO. The Conference reiterated that decent work
country programmes would require an active involvement of social partners and
the mobilization of financial and human resources for their operation. Tripartism and social dialogue were recognized
as fundamental pillars in the design, implementation and evaluation of
technical co-operation activities and in the realization of the decent work agenda. In the area of public-private partnerships,
the conclusions clearly stated that the Governing Body should establish and
monitor the implementation of clear guidelines and criteria for such
partnerships.
Finance
Committee
This
Committee is responsible for discussing and concluding the budget of the
ILC. The items discussed during the 95th
session included the following:
* The status
of the collection of contributions;
* The assessment of the contributions
of new member states;
* The scale of assessment of contributions
to the budget;
* The composition of the Administrative
Tribunal on the ILO; and
* The programme and budget proposal for
2006/7.
7. Instruments adopted
The Conference adopted the following instruments:
* The
Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Convention, 2006 (No.
187);
·
The
Promotional Framework for Occupational Safety and Health Recommendation, 2006
(No. 197); and
·
The
Employment Relationship Recommendation, 2006 (No. 198).
The Committee notes the following resolutions of the
Conference:
·
Employment
Relationships;
·
Resolution
on asbestos; and
·
Occupational
Health and Safety
With respect to employment relationships the Committee
resolved the following:
(1)
The
Committee should commission a study, with the assistance of DOL, on the impact
of labour brokers in
(2)
The
Committee should invite DOL to present to it all the instruments that were
adopted in the 95th International Labour Conference.
(3)
The
budget of the Committee should be increased to allow for more members to attend
the International Labour Conference.