Key Note Address
Salutations
Mary Read, Deputy Director, ILO
Subregional Office for the
The International Labour
Organization has been invited to address this meeting of the Council of Human
and Social Development on the subject of “Labour
Issues in the Global Arena, Lessons for the
Today, I will to focus on the following areas:
Decent Work
The question many of you may be
asking yourselves is: “What is Decent Work?”
Very simply put, Decent Work is what all people strive for as regards
their working lives. It is the primary goal of the ILO today.
More specifically, the objectives of decent work are four fold and include:
Decent work represents the convergence of these four
points into a coherent policy approach to manage economic growth and social
development in a balanced way. It is
important to note that these objectives reflect major themes in the
international development agenda- namely respect for human rights as part of
human development, the need for people to benefit from economic growth, social
inclusion, and strengthening participatory democracy. This involves stepping
out of predefined roles in the line Ministries to ensure that actions taken in
one part of government do not adversely effect employment or rights at work.
Decent Work involves making quality job creation central to national and
regional economic and social policies.
The Decent Work Agenda has been widely accepted and has high-level international endorsement as a development agenda. This support has been demonstrated through the conclusions adopted at the following fora:
The United Nations General Assembly, which adopted a Resolution on policy coherence and employment for a fair globalization.
The outcomes of the UN’s World Summit in 2005, which specifically supported policies and programme to realize a fair globalization.
The OAS’s Fourth Summit of the Americas which adopted the “Declaration of Mar Del Plata” and “Plan of Action” on “Creating jobs to fight poverty and strengthen Democratic governance”.
The EU
summit with Heads of Government from Latin American and
The ILO’s 16th
Americas Regional Meeting, which adopted Conclusions and decided to
celebrate a “Decade of Promoting Decent Work in the
The UN Economic and Social Council which adopted the UN Ministerial Declaration on Full and Productive Employment and Decent Work in July 2006.
It is also worth noting that the goals of decent work are included within the articles of the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramus, specifically
Article 70 on Macro-Economic Policies which provides for the promotion of economic development in CARICOM Member States “without prejudice to securing high-levels of employment”[1] , and
Article 73 on Industrial Relations. Paragraph (a) provides for the promotion of “objectives of full employment, improved living and working conditions; adequate social security policies and programmes; tripartite consultation among government, workers’ and employers’ organizations; and cross-border mobility of labour.” [2] This Article also provides for COHSOD to consult with COTED to formulate proposals.
There is also CARICOM’s Declaration on Labour and Industrial Relations Principles, which sets out the general labour policy to which the region aspires, as well as the CARICOM Charter of Civil Society.
All of these Treaties, Articles, Declarations and Charters speak to the need for comprehensive and coherent policies and actions that transcend the separations between Finance, Trade, Investments, Labour and Employment.
Decent Work was the subject of the recently concluded
Tripartite Caribbean Employment Forum. The
Forum brought together high-level representatives of governments, employers’
organizations and trade unions from 13 countries and a number of the
territories of the English- and Dutch-speaking
Fundamental principles and rights at work
The participants at the Forum identified a number of areas where success had been achieved as well as a number of areas where further efforts and actions were needed to achieve real advancement in the area of fundamental principles and rights at work. Let me start with the positive.
Almost all ILO member States in
the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean have ratified the ILO’s eight core
Labour Conventions under the Declaration of Fundamental Principles and Rights
at Work. The fundamental principles and rights cover four areas which are now
widely recognized as human rights. They are:
Another positive point is that the ILO’s Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations has noted a number of cases where they have been able to express their satisfaction and/or to note with interest, measures taken by the Governments of the Caribbean in regard to various ratified ILO Conventions over the past 2 years, namely Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago.
On the other hand: Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines still have to ratify the ILO Convention on the minimum age for entry into employment and Suriname still has to ratify three of the eight core Conventions, namely the ILO Conventions on Minimum age, equal remuneration and on the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation.
As regards reporting on ratified Conventions, let me simply say that most other countries of the world do better.
Perhaps the most disturbing fact however is that there are still gaps and sometimes even major gaps, between the provisions of national laws and the actual application and enforcement of those laws.
The participants at the Forum identified the following areas that needed urgent attention and action:
Raising awareness of and promoting respect for fundamental principles and rights at work as well as ratified ILO instruments;
Conducting a thorough review of national legislation and policies in order to ensure that it is in accordance relevant ILO Conventions;
Collaborating in efforts to harmonize labour legislation; and
Improving compliance with national legislation, regulations and codes.
As one of the participants said
at the Forum, “We not only must have a level playing field, we need to level
the playing field up to the level of the best, rather than leveling it down”.
Employment and incomes
Not surprisingly, the most of the discussion took place under the heading of “creating greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and incomes”.
As many of you are aware, per capita incomes in the region
fall into two groups - either US$9,000 and above, or US$4,500 and below.
Interestingly enough the lower income group of countries includes the three
relatively populous mainland countries (
As regards growth rates, during the period 2000-2004, most
countries, except
The labour force participation rates during the past ten
years have increased very slightly to 61.5% . This rate, however, is still low
compared to the world and
A major issue of concern is the general decline in
productivity and the erosion of competitiveness in the
Although the
It is worth noting that young people have accounted for a
significant share of the unemployed across the region since the early 1990s.
Unemployment among youth is sometimes twice or three times higher than the
national average.
Of particular interest, the participants at the Tripartite Caribbean Employment Forum identified a number of areas where advances could and indeed needed to be made. They are:
Of special note was the discussion that was held in relation to education and employment. There is widespread agreement that the populations of the countries of the Caribbean are much more highly educated than in the past. This has not however translated itself into a better, more productive and competitive workforce. Most employers heartily agree that the persons coming out of the formal education system are less qualified and less employable today than in the past. They require more basic skills training before becoming effective in the workplace. As one employer put it, the formal education system is teaching a generation of students how to pass exams.
This paradigm points to areas where the current systems of education are failing the population. More emphasis and importance needs to be placed on alternatives to the formal academic education being emphasized under current systems. It is our society’s duty to provide people with alternatives to academic education so that they too can become productive members of society. This alternative can be provided through comprehensive skills training and vocational training.
Social protection
In the area of social protection, the participants again noted a few positive examples. Namely,
Some of the main areas identified for urgent action were
:In this regard I would like to highlight the existence of the “HIV/AIDS workplace policy for the Education Sector” as a tool already available to assist the education sector to develop appropriate HIV/AIDS workplace policies. I also recognize that a model HIV/AIDS workplace policy will soon be available through the efforts of the Caribbean Tripartite Council working with the PANCAP programme.
Strengthen tripartism and social dialogue
As regards social dialogue and tripartism, there are
indeed a number of areas where the
As stated earlier, all countries have ratified the basic ILO human rights Conventions as regards freedom of association and collective bargaining, and
Most countries have established councils/committees/boards where tripartite discussions on ILO Conventions and national legislation can take place.
On the other hand, there remain a number of areas where more attention and action is needed and where mechanisms need to be strengthened.
There is a pressing need to revitalize the mechanisms in place for social dialogue,
There is a need to broaden the scope of the social dialogue mechanisms to ensure that the goals of decent work and full employment are not compromised in national economic and social-policy making.
There is a need to strengthen the capacity of the social partners to take on the wider development role.
There is a need to give effect to the 1995 CARICOM Declaration of Labour and Industrial Relations Principles and the 1997 Charter of Civil Society.
Lessons learnt from other regions
So what are some of the lessons
learned by the ILO from the experiences of other regions that might now apply
to the
There
is a need to achieve economic growth that also includes employment growth. Without employment, the population of the
A conscious decision has to be made to adopt full employment as a policy. Many countries are experiencing economic growth without the concomitant growth in jobs.
Polices and programmes need to address the specific question of creating good jobs as opposed to jobs that are on the lower end of the skills and knowledge range.
It is essential for the education sector to take into account the types of skills and the diversity of skills required so that the population can find and keep productive and competitive work.
There is a pressing need to take into account the positions and advice of the workers’ and employers’ organizations in the education debate. They have valuable advice and legitimate concerns about the future of the workforce.
There
is a need to set priorities at the national and regional levels, to take action
and actively collaborate with regional institutions such as the CARICOM and its
bodies, the OECS and CDB, to mention but a few.
In conclusion, I would invite you
to examine in detail the “Tripartite Declaration and Plan of Action for
Realizing the Decent Work Agenda in the
I would like to thank the CARICOM
Secretariat for providing the ILO with the opportunity to address this Council
and I wish you a productive and fruitful meeting over the next three days and
look forward to working together with the CARICOM Member States and the Secretariat
to ensure that Decent work receives the attention, and more importantly, the
action that it so rightly deserves.