Global labour agreements · 2014-06-09 · GLOBAL LABOUR AGREEMENTS Global labour agreements: A...

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002 Global labour agreements:

A framework for rightsGlobal labour agreements:

A framework for rights

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE

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GENEVA – In 1967, then Director-GeneralDavid A. Morse seemed frustrated overdebate concerning the image of the Interna-tional Labour Office as it approached its 50thanniversary. “The real problem is to findsomething that makes sense from every pointof view. I am afraid that if I just keep sittingon this problem, nothing will happen”.1

What happened, and how the ILO got its cur-rent logo makes for an interesting tale.

What Mr. Morse was talking about was theOffice logo – then called an “emblem”. A tri-angle with the letters ILO inside had been thelogo, or emblem, since 1938, but by the late1960s, it appeared Mr. Morse and his col-leagues figured it was time for a change.

The tripartite nature of the ILO had beendepicted since 1938 by a triangle with the let-ters “ILO” (in various languages) inside. Thetriangle had been chosen from a number ofdesigns, through what appears to have beenan arduous process. At one point, an ILO offi-cial named Rex B. Hersey had proposed thatthe Office solicit the ILO staff for designs tobe considered by two artists, a Miss Chadwickand a M. Perrin, with the winner receiving abottle of champagne.2

This was rejected out of hand by Assistant-Director A. Tixier who replied on the sameday, “I am not in favour of this idea of askingall staff to come up with a new seal for theoffice. I think that the study should be limit-ed to the Editorial Section only”.

A word of explanation here. The seal was anentirely different matter. From 1921 to 1938,the ILO had only had a seal which depicted aglobe emblazoned with the words “Interna-tional Labour Office” and “Bureau Interna-tional du Travail” surrounding the words“League of Nations.” But times had changed,and following the demise of the League andcreation of the United Nations in 1946, the

ILO had redesigned the seal to replace“League of” with “United”, a design which isstill in use on diplomatic correspondence andthe pouch today.

But history hadn’t changed the name of theILO, so the 1938 triangle remained as the ILOemblem. Then, with the 50th anniversary ofthe ILO looming, in 1966-67 the search for anew, more modern logo began.

“This is...important if we are to make prop-er plans for our 50th anniversary,” Mr. Morsewrote, adding that the triangle should bechanged for the simple reason that a “lot ofcritics poke fun at the present emblem by say-ing that it is a triangle similar to that used bySwiss and other authorities on the Continentwhen a car is damaged and they want to makesure that traffic is diverted and slowed down.They consider it strange that we should havean emblem that says ‘Go Slow’.”3

A number of proposals were considered.Finding one simple logo representing the dif-ferent faces of work around the world by the1960s was, it seems, no easy matter. One idea,first floated in the 1940s, had involved “awrench, a plough, a book and an anchor”,4 toshow a range of professions. Anotherinvolved a motif which C.W. Jenks saidshowed “three clasped hands” to symbolize“human brotherhood, but also...the tripartiteelement”. Surrounding the clasped hands wasa cog wheel, representing a “technologicaltheme”.5 Eventually, the three hands gave wayto three cogs embraced by the UN laurelleaves, and the current ILO logo design wasformally announced to the staff in Director-General’s Instruction No. 325 of 1 September1967.

Some 30 years on, the Office is now in thethroes of another modernization of its logo,which will become only the fourth in the ILO’s83-year history. A new logo, now in develop-

World of Work magazine is publishedfour times per year by the Departmentof Communication of the ILO in Gen-eva. Also published in Chinese, Czech,Danish, Finnish, French, German,Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese, Norwegian,Russian, Slovak, Spanish and Swedish.

EDITOR

Thomas NetterGERMAN EDITION

Hans von RohlandARABIC EDITION

Khawla Mattar, ILO Office, BeirutSPANISH EDITION

In collaboration with the ILO Office,MadridPRODUCTION MANAGER

Kiran Mehra-KerpelmanPHOTO EDITOR

Marcel CrozetART DIRECTION

Paprika, Annecy, FranceCOVER DESIGN

Janusz Kaniewsky, ILO TurinEDITORIAL ASSISTANT

Lucy Ahad

This magazine is not an official docu-ment of the International Labour Orga-nization. The opinions expressed do notnecessarily reflect the views of the ILO.The designations employed do not implythe expression of any opinion whatsoev-er on the part of the ILO concerning thelegal status of any country, area or terri-tory, or of its authorities, or concerningthe delimitation of its frontiers.Reference to names of firms and com-mercial products and processes doesnot imply their endorsement by theILO, and any failure to mention a par-ticular firm, commercial product orprocess is not a sign of disapproval.Texts and photographs may be freelyreproduced with mention of source(except photo agency photographs).Written notification is appreciated.All correspondence should be addressedto the ILO Department of Communica-tion, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland.Tel. +4122/799-7912Fax +4122/799-8577www.ilo.org/communication

Readers in the US should send theircorrespondence to the InternationalLabor Office, Washington Branch, 1828L Street, NW, Suite 801, Washington,DC 20036.Tel: +202/653-7652Fax: +202/653-7687Printed by SRO-Kundig SA, GenevaISSN 1020-0010

WorkT h e W O R L D O F

WorkT H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E I L O

2 WORLD OF WORK, NO. 45, DECEMBER 2002

I L O I N H I S T O R Y

The ILO logo: A brief history

The original 1938 design, used for five years, was a black triangle with white letters. From 1943-44, this was

reversed, with black letters on a white background.

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3WORLD OF WORK, NO. 45, DECEMBER 2002

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As AIDS spreads, “human capital” is at risk

Beedi industry on a downward roll:In India, beedi rollers seek new ways of earning a living

The new mines: In today’s mines, fatigue, humanerror, AIDS are the new dangers

Fundamental rights at work: Southern Africa

Women in the informal sector:Urgent need for maternity protection

A long walk to freedom: Interview with Dr. TayeWoldesmiate, teacher

Getting back to work: At the Hotel Tritone, the“Wild Strawberries” run the place

G L O B A L L A B O U R A G R E E M E N T S

Global labour agreements: A framework for rights 4

Created in 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) brings together governments, employers and workers of its 175 member States in commonaction to improve social protection and conditions of life and work throughout the world. The International Labour Office, in Geneva, is the permanentSecretariat of the Organization.

G E N E R A L A R T I C L E S

Planet Work

News

• Violence in the public health workplace

• World Commission on the Social Dimension

of Globalization holds third meeting

• ILO, ADB join forces to improve labour standards,

promote development

• ILO hosts Congress on a basic income

• Governing Body 285

• Make tripartism happen

• Latest report of ILO Committee on Freedom of

Association cites Belarus, Colombia, Zimbabwe, others

• In the line of fire: Waiting for peace, in the south

of Sudan

Around the Continents

ILO in the Press

Media Shelf

Insert: International Training Center of the ILO, Turin

Training calendar 2003

F E A T U R E S

ment, is intended to be a sign of the times, andreflect graphically and simply the Office’s tripar-tite organization as well as a new world of work– communicating across education levels andlanguages. The new concept departs from the

earlier logos, in that it doesn’t contain the ILO’s initials (which, asMr. Jenks had written already in 1967, were, in his view, “clutter-ing up the emblem with words or letters in several languages”.6)Before entering into use, a new logo has to be checked to makesure it doesn’t copy an existing logo, and assuming it doesn’t,copyright protection then has to be sought. This is to be donethrough a Conference decision. Eventually, as in years past, thestory of how the ILO got this logo may also make an “interestingtale”.

1 David A. Morse, Minute (internal Memorandum),1 February 1967

2 Rex Hersey, Minute, 20 December 1938 3 David A. Morse, op. cit.4 David A. Morse, Minute, 27 February 19675 C.W. Jenks, Minute, 24 February 19676 ibid.

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Framework agreements between multinational corporations andglobal unions are becoming more common. What can theyachieve, and how do they relate to ILO standards? We examine thehost of new global framework agreements which have beensigned between enterprises and unions in the past 12 years, andhow they are changing the face of the world at work. Page 4

A framework for rights

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F R A M E W O R K F O R R I G H T S

F R O M R H E T O R I C T O C O M P E T I T I V E N E S S


© Crozet / ILO

Global labour agreemeA framework for righ t


ramework agreements between multina-tional corporations and global unionsare becoming more common. What canthey achieve, and how do they relate toILO standards? This article examines the

host of new global framework agreements whichhave been signed between enterprises and unions inthe past 12 years, and how they are changing the faceof the world at work*.

GENEVA – When automobile giant Volkswagensigned a “global framework agreement” with itsunions concerning minimum labour standardsrecently, a company spokesman made clear it wouldbenefit both sides of the negotiating table.

Social responsibility is “not just rhetoric”, thespokesman said. Rather, it is “a real support for ourcompetitiveness”.

In what is a growing trend, major global industrialenterprises are signing “framework” agreements withtheir employees which commit them to respectingminimum labour standards around the world. Theyrecognize that for global corporations today, adher-ing to bedrock labour standards seems to be goodbusiness.

Most of the world’s biggest employers are nowglobal. And most of the world’s unions are affiliatedto the sector-by-sector Global Union Federations(GUFs). Companies and unions have started takingsteps to sign such agreements.

And the pace is quickening. The first agreementdates back to 1988, but of the 20 such deals reachedso far, no less than eight have been signed during2002, and a number of others are on the way. Thesepackages now apply to multinationals in a wide rangeof sectors from minerals and mining to telecoms,manufacturing and retailing..

RIGHTS AT WORK Topics most frequently covered are trade union

rights, collective bargaining rights, information andconsultation, equal opportunities, safety and health,minimum wage standards, and the banning of childlabour and forced labour.

Not coincidentally, the agreements concentrate onmany of the issues covered by the core ILO Conven-tions. The texts make prominent mention of thosestandards, often referencing them by number andname. Most cited are the two Conventions bestknown to trade unionists – Nos. 87 and 98 on free-dom of association and collective bargaining. Severalof the agreements cite specific ILO Conventions asthe most important examples of those to be applied.In these cases, a more general commitment to ILOstandards is implied.

Many multinationals already have their own codesof conduct. These often include labour relations andsocial issues. So why is there a need for frameworkagreements? The answer comes down to two words:monitoring and implementation.At the global level as at every other, there is a crucialdifference between an internal company code of con-duct and a union-management agreement.

An internal code has generally been written by thecompany itself for the company’s own purposes. Itsimplementation is monitored, if at all, by the compa-ny or the company’s paid consultants. Some of theglobal framework agreements, on the other hand,give the signatory GUFs the right to raise with cor-porate headquarters management any allegedbreaches of the provisions which have been signed.Often, the agreements specify regular meetings forthat purpose, and some also establish channels formore urgent communication when needed.

For the unions, the advantage is obvious; they cankeep a check on how the company is living up to itscommitments on the ground, and they can quicklybring any problems to the attention of the highestcorporate decision-making level. The agreements“provide the basis for future global dialogue and a

F

* Written jointly by

Ian Graham, a freelance

journalist who has

written widely on labour

issues and Andrew Bibby,

writer and journalist.

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WORLD OF WORK, NO. 45, DECEMBER 2002

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framework for tackling individual problems as theycrop up”, says Philip Jennings, General Secretary ofUnion Network International (UNI). “They are theway forward in democratizing the multinationals.”

But this process is also in the best interests of thecompanies and their stakeholders, as it gives sub-stance and credibility to corporate ethics.

The agreement between construction multina-tional Ballast Nedam and the International Federa-tion of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW),“pro-vides an added value for Ballast Nedam”, saidIFBWW General Secretary Anita Normark at thesigning in March 2002. “The verification of theefforts of the company to live up to internationalstandards can be facilitated through the use of aglobal union network which IFBWW can providewith 289 affiliates in 125 countries!” But, she added,“it is also important for governments to provide alegal framework for the implementation of globalILO and OECD standards”.

All in all, the relationship between ILO standardsand the GUFs is beginning to parallel that betweennational industrial legislation and national industri-al unions. From the nineteenth century onwards, itwas clear that even the best labour legislation neededto be backed by a strong union presence in the work-place. Conversely, the maintenance of that presencewas helped by good industrial law. And manyemployers came to see that good law and good agree-ments with the workers’ representatives were in theirown best interests. Today, those same lessons arebeing learned at the global level.

The automotive industry is one of the latest sectorsto join this trend. In June 2002, Volkswagen (VW)signed its Declaration of Social Rights and IndustrialRelations with the International Metalworkers’ Fed-eration (IMF) and the VW Global Works Council. Afew weeks later, DaimlerChrysler adopted a similardocument, Social Responsibility Principles, in anagreement with its World Employee Committee,

signed in conjunction once again with the IMF.The pioneers of framework agreements were the

food and allied workers’ international, IUF, and theFrench-based multinational, Danone. Negotiationsfor their first agreement began in 1985. Since then,they have signed additional agreements on tradeunion rights, on skills training, and on the measuresto be taken, “in the event that new techniques [or]organizational processes are implemented, or in thecase of substantial changes in production volume,transfer of a substantial part of production, partial orfull closings of facilities and, in general, in all situa-tions whereby working conditions or the nature ofemployment contracts are significantly affected”.

Other landmark examples include the 1998 frame-work agreement between IKEA and the building andwoodworkers’ IFBWW, and UNI’s agreements withCarrefour and Telefónica. Mining and energy work-ers are also well represented in agreements betweentheir International Federation of Chemical, Energy,Mine and General Workers’ Unions (ICEM) and Sta-toil, Endesa and AngloGold.

The VW and DaimlerChrysler agreements eachcover more than 300,000 employees, and with theiradoption almost two million employees worldwidenow work for companies which have signed frame-work agreements. Generally, companies headquar-tered in Western Europe have taken the lead, butthere are also examples from New Zealand (Fonter-ra) and South Africa (AngloGold).VW’s agreement, for instance, commits the companyto seven major principles:• “all employees” have the “basic right” to “establish

and join unions and employee representations”• the company chooses, hires and promotes employ-

ees only on the basis of their qualifications andabilities, “regardless of race, skin colour, sex, reli-gion, citizenship, sexual orientation, social originor political persuasion (as far as it is based on dem-ocratic principles and tolerance towards persons

© AFP

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thinking differently)”• no knowing use of forced labour or involuntary

prison labour• no use of child labour • the “compensation and benefits” for a “normal

work week” will correspond “at least to the respec-tive national legal requirements or to the mini-mum standards of the respective economic sec-tors”

• similarly, work hours will at least be in line withnational or sectoral standards

• VW “meets at least the respective national stan-dards for a safe and hygienic working environmentand in this context will undertake appropriatemeasures to assure health and safety in the work-place so that healthy employment conditions areensured”

The agreement also states that “the future securityof the Volkswagen Group and its employees ensuesfrom the spirit of cooperative conflict managementand social commitment, on the basis and with thegoal of ensuring economic and technological com-petitiveness”.

For the company, this is a big advantage of theagreement. “We have enshrined our corporate atti-tude to conflict resolution,” a VW spokesman toldWorld of Work. “That approach has been very suc-cessful in Germany, and this agreement is now help-ing us to transfer it to other parts of the world.” Thecompany also sees the agreement as part of its fol-low-up to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s Glob-al Compact initiative, which incorporates the basicrights guaranteed by the core ILO Conventions.

The IMF’s Robert Steiert is just as happy with theoutcome. As the Coordinator for the VW Global andEuropean Works Councils, he thinks the agreementwill set an important precedent: “With the big firms,there is always a locomotive effect. It is in the inter-ests of companies to project a good public image,and others will not want to get left behind. In takingthis step, VW is once again emphasizing its stance ofcorporate social responsibility and putting itself outfront. We hope that others will follow suit.”

Certainly, when one or more companies in a sectorsign up, there will be some pressure for agreementswith the others. That pressure may also be felt by theunions. A company which has signed a frameworkagreement may feel exposed if its competitors fail todo likewise after a certain time – exposed, that is, tocriticism both from the competitors and from thecompany’s own shareholders. So the GUFs will feel aparticular need to keep up the momentum. Here,

another factor comes into play. In the nature ofthings, the first companies to sign the agreementshave tended to be those which already have a goodworking relationship with the unions. Other negoti-ations may prove more difficult.

One way around this dilemma may be to reach sec-toral-level global agreements on specific issues. Thisapproach also has its pitfalls, however – not the leastof them being a certain asymmetry in the mandatesof the negotiating partners. While most industrialmanufacturers are in sector-wide bodies at the glob-al level, the relationship between these councils andtheir member companies is not the same as betweenthe GUFs and their affiliated unions.

The potential difficulties are well illustrated by achemical industry initiative which had its origins inan ILO sectoral conference. In February 1999, gov-ernments and chemical industry employers andunions met under ILO auspices. They agreed thatnegotiations should begin for greater participation ofworkers’ representatives in the chemical industry’sexisting Responsible Care programme, which aims toensure universally high health, safety and environ-mental standards wherever the industry operates.

Detailed negotiations were indeed launchedbetween the ICEM and the companies’ InternationalCouncil of Chemical Associations (ICCA), and bythe beginning of 2001, everything seemed set for aworldwide sectoral agreement. However, the deal fellthrough at the last minute, but there is still hope toreach agreement, possibly at the regional level.

More generally, the ILO may well help to promoteframework agreements. After all, the preconditionfor any such deal is to get the unions and the compa-nies together at the international level, and wherebetter to do that than at the tripartite ILO?

The basis for this role has been laid out by theILO’s Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerningMultinational Enterprises and Social Policy (see inseton page 7). As Director-General Juan Somavia pointsout, this Declaration is a universal basic referencepoint for social responsibility in the world of work.Its principles, he says, “foster mutual understanding,participation, transparency and social responsibility -– all prerequisites to sustainable partnerships amongglobal and local actors and markets”.

In a global workplace with global employers, thatis a vital task.


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mportant help for global negotiators is given bya major ILO Declaration, and by a new guide

that explains how to use it to best effect.The Tripartite Declaration of Principles concern-

ing Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy,promotes cooperation between business, labourand governments. The aim is to maximize the posi-tive contributions which investment by multination-al enterprises can make to economic and socialprogress, while at the same time helping to resolvedifficulties to which such investment may give rise.

Designed to encourage socially sustainabledevelopment and human rights in the workplace,the Declaration sets out principles for employment,training, conditions of work and life, and industrialrelations. It calls on multinationals, governmentsand social partners to follow the ILO’s lead in pro-moting decent work by contributing to the realiza-tion of the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Princi-ples and Rights at Work. It also calls forendorsement of the ILO Conventions on child labourand the minimum working age.

The new ILO guide, subtitled Knowing and UsingUniversal Guidelines for Social Responsibility, pro-vides a valuable tool for anyone wanting to use theDeclaration. It gives practical information on cor-porate social responsibility in general, drawing onworldwide experience in tackling issues such ashealth, safety and child labour. The guide alsostresses the value of informed social partnershiparrangements at the local level, with multinationalssharing information with governments and workers’representatives. As it points out, keeping negotia-

tions free of threats of transfer of oper-ations or transfer of workers, is criticalto building confidence across the table.

The guide is available from the ILO Website at:www.ilo.org/public/english/employ-ment/multi/download/guide.pdf or [email protected]

As to framework agreements, theguide analyses fifteen of them in somedetail. It finds that nearly all the agree-ments incorporate the fundamentalprinciples recognized in the Multina-tionals Declaration relating to the elimi-nation of child and forced labour, dis-crimination in employment, and respectfor freedom of association and collective bargain-ing. On the other hand some issues covered in theMultinationals Declaration feature less often; per-haps surprisingly, less than one in five includes ref-erence to ILO standards for vocational guidanceand training, for example.

This may well change as the number of globalframework agreements increases. As the guidesays, “The ongoing process of achieving decentwork involves the building of sound relations withinthe workplace and community of operation basedon closer commitments among business, unionsand government to work together. Because of itsglobal scope, the Declaration is well suited for use,directly or indirectly, in providing baseline contentfor framework agreements.”

I

RESPONSIBILITY AT WORK – A USER’S GUIDE

AREAS COVERED BY THE FRAMEWORK AGREEMENTS AS OF DECEMBER 2002

Total Number of Framework Agreements 20 100%

Freedom of association/collective bargaining 20 100%

Employment discrimination 18 90%

Forced labour 17 85%

Child labour 17 85%

Protection and facilities for workers’ representatives 13 66%

Safety and health and the working environment 13 65%

Minimum wages 11 55%

Employment promotion and protection against unemployment 5 27%

Vocational guidance and training 4 16%Source: ILO

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new study paints a bleak picture of the eco-nomic and social impact of HIV/AIDS insub-Saharan Africa. Not only is the epi-demic far more severe than previouslythought, but it will seriously undermine

the development prospects of affected countries. Atrisk is Africa’s “human capital”. This report examinesthe extent of the crisis, and what can be done about it.

GENEVA – If a cure for HIV/AIDS ever becomeswidely available in sub-Saharan Africa, will anyone bethere to administer it?

The impact of AIDS on “human capital” – thelabour force which provides countries with servicesranging from health care and education to adminis-tration and security – is the subject of a new study1

prepared for the ILO Global Programme onHIV/AIDS and the World of Work.

The study says the epidemic, now entering its thirddecade, will affect social and economic life in waysnever seen before.

Here are some of the areas most at risk:Development: The epidemic is eroding the capac-

ity for development through its effects on workers,savings rates, national security and social cohesion.Social and economic development will be mostthreatened in countries where high levels of HIVprevalence will cause huge losses in the workforce.

Health care: The public health sector will beaffected in the same way by the loss of labour whichprovides care and treatment for people withHIV/AIDS.

Education, including prevention messages: Educa-tion and training systems in sub-Saharan Africa arefailing to make provisions to replace the current andlikely loss of skills in the workforce.

Savings: The epidemic will diminish, if not erase,the savings capacity of households, formal and infor-mal enterprises, and governments, through its directeffects on flows of income and levels of expenditure.Over time this will lead to falling demand, reducedinvestment and output, and declining per capitaincome2.

The full text of the study “Human capital and the HIVepidemic in sub-Saharan Africa”, is available on line at:

www.ilo.org/public/english/protection/trav/aids/publ/index.htm

SCOPE OF THE EPIDEMICThe epidemic is primarily concentrated in the

working age population (15 to 49 years), placing adisproportionate burden on an age group with criti-cal social and economic roles. In Africa, the epidemicplaces a greater burden on women, who experiencemore infections at an earlier age than men, with aconsequent greater loss of healthy years of life and agreater share of the burden of care.

AIDS killed an estimated 2.3 million Africans in2001, and has caused a cumulative total of about 20million deaths since the start of the epidemic, accord-ing to the United Nations Joint Programme onHIV/AIDS. UNAIDS reported an estimated 3.4 mil-lion new infections in 2001, and estimates that some28 million Africans are currently living with HIV.

Some 50 million people will have died ofHIV/AIDS before the end of the present decade, thereport says, adding that assuming about five peoplewithin each immediate family are affected for every

“The main socio-economic impact of HIV/AIDS isits decimation of the labour force, and the level andallocation of savings and investment. This portends ahuge humanitarian disaster with dire economic andsocial consequences,” says Franklyn Lisk, Director ofthe ILO/AIDS programme.

How huge? The study shows that across all occu-pational sectors in sub-Saharan Africa it is becomingincreasingly difficult to replace skilled, as well asunskilled, labour lost to HIV/AIDS. What’s more, thestudy found that because AIDS affects public and pri-vate sector workers who provide essential services,many countries are increasingly unable to find theresources badly needed to sustain even current lev-els of economic development.

“Decades of gains in development, training, skillsand education are being lost forever,” Mr. Lisk says.“The belief that these losses can be replenished froma vast pool of unemployed or underemployed labouris a fallacy.”

A

I L O A I D S


B E E D I S T H E N E W M I N E S S O U T H E R N A F R I C A

S H I F T P O L I C Y N O W . . .

As AIDS spreads, “human

1 Desmond Cohen,

“Human capital and the

HIV epidemic in sub-

Saharan Africa”,

ILO/AIDS Working

Paper 2, Geneva, 2002,

ISBN-92-2-113238-2.

2 UNAIDS estimates that

annual per capita

income of half the coun-

tries of sub-Saharan

Africa is falling by 0.5-

1.2 per cent, and that

GDP in the hardest hit

countries may decline by

8 per cent by 2010.

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WORLD OF WORK, NO. 45, DECEMBER 2002 9

person who dies, some 250 million Africans will beclosely affected by HIV/AIDS within ten years.

Efforts to address these onslaughts on African livesand economies will have long-term implicationsbecause of the difficulty in training new workers, theloss of opportunities for on-the-job learning due tothe deaths of more experienced workers, and theincrease in the number of children who must go towork, who will thus miss opportunities for educationand skills training.

SECTORS AT RISKOne of the most worrying developments is the

impact of the epidemic on education in sub-SaharanAfrica, worsening the performance of an alreadyunderperforming sector, the report says. Among sec-ondary school teachers in Malawi, for example, therate of excess mortality due to AIDS is nearly doublethe expected mortality due to non-AIDS causes,while an additional 60 per cent of primary schoolteachers may die due to the epidemic.

“It is hard to see how the stock of human capitalcan be maintained, given the erosion of capacity inthe education sector presently underway,” the reportsays. “The implications of this for sustainable devel-

opment in the region cannot be assessed accurately,given our present knowledge of the complex interac-tions that are involved. However, even the most opti-mistic assessment is that indicators of social and eco-nomic development are significantly lower as a resultof the epidemic.”

In the public sector, overall mortality in somecountries has risen by ten times over the past decade,largely due to AIDS, and will result in governmentslosing the ability to supply essential goods and serv-ices. In Botswana, for example, increased mortality ofhealth care workers is reducing the capacity to meethigher demands for care for people with HIV andAIDS. Meanwhile, among police officers in Malawi,the epidemic is having a severe impact on junior offi-cers aged 20 to 40 years, thus affecting the quality ofservice and the structure of security.

In the informal sector, which in most African soci-eties accounts for the majority of workers, especiallyin agriculture, data on the impact of HIV/AIDS islimited due to lack of research. However, studies inKenya and Côte d’Ivoire found that sickness andmortality due to AIDS resulted in the dramatic deple-tion of savings, the loss of key skills and organiza-tional capacity, and a fall of up to 50 per cent in food >>

S T E P / W O M A N I N T E R V I E W G E T T I N G B A C K

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production in households where only one memberwas sick with AIDS.

RETHINKING POLICYThe report says a “rethinking of policies and pro-

grammes are needed to reconsider current policiesand adapt those to the new reality of a world charac-terized by AIDS.” These include:

Redefining the objectives of the education systemto be more inclusive and less hierarchical, and adapt-able to the changing needs of economies. This maymean reallocating resources for higher education toprimary and secondary schooling to create a newbase of education and skills.

Redefining attainable tasks in the health sectorand realigning health training to meet the newdemands of HIV/AIDS, and providing new mecha-nisms of delivery for an increasing number of per-sons with HIV/AIDS.

Seeking alternative ways of ensuring that tradi-tional skills are made available to children, especiallyin rural areas, to offset the loss of knowledge andlearning which has been passed down through gener-ations of adults now lost to HIV/AIDS.

Developing new technologies to substitute for theincreasing scarcity of labour, both skilled, unskilled

and professional. This may require new ways of plan-ning, rather than relying on endogenous forces ofproduct and capital markets which are unable toadapt rapidly enough to the changing realities of theAfrican labour market.

The ILO report also called for greater involvementof both employers and organized labour in effortsagainst HIV/AIDS, and for support to governments inassessing and mitigating the impact of the epidemic.

“There have been no consistent workplace pro-grammes for AIDS,” Mr. Lisk said. “We must remedythis by providing advice and technical assistance forworkers and employers, based on the ILO Code ofPractice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work,launched at the UN General Assembly Special Sessionon AIDS [in 2001]. So far, the resources allocated tothis effort have been pitifully inadequate. The inter-national community and African leaders must worktogether to find the resources and the will to establishworkplace policy and programmes across the conti-nent.”


>>

n order to manage time off taken by employees,one company in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa,has limited workers to attending a maximum ofthree funerals a week for people who have diedof AIDS. But is the impact of AIDS really sink-

ing in with company managers? In some cases, yes, butin many others, denial is still rife. South African jour-nalist Alan Fine reports on how South Africa is han-dling the crisis.

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa – For Clem Sunter,a director of Anglo-American Corporation, the epi-demic of HIV/AIDS in his country poses a stark choice:“There are two possible responses by business toHIV/AIDS, either denial or total onslaught,” he says.“Most of us – government, business and the generalpublic – are still in denial.”

How can this be? Latest estimates show about 10 percent of South Africa’s population infected with HIV.

I

AIDS in South Africa:Despite challenges,a glimmer of hope

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WORLD OF WORK, NO. 45, DECEMBER 2002

Among the economically active population, the figureis higher, especially in the 25-35 year age group. So far,deaths from AIDS appear to be about half those due toother causes. But that may change. According to oneGovernment study, by 2010, four out of five deaths ofemployees will be AIDS-related.

The mining industry is the hardest hit. Most of itsworkers are migrants, living away from their rural fam-ilies much of the time. Gold Fields of South Africa esti-mates that 26 per cent of its workforce in South Africais HIV-positive. The equivalent figure in white collaroccupations is perhaps 5 per cent. And it is in the min-ing industry that companies are beginning to takeaction.

One of the first to announce plans was AngloGold,which employs about 70,000 people in South Africa.Though educational programmes aimed at preventingAIDS in the 1980s had limited success, the companyhas announced plans to use its extensive network ofmine-based hospitals and clinics to treat opportunisticAIDS-related infections, primarily tuberculosis. Thecompany is also establishing a network of clinics inrural areas for families of miners, and a more compre-hensive “wellness programme” which includes volun-tary HIV-testing and counselling.

AngloGold chief executive, Bobby Godsell, says hisvision is for the company to become a leader in theevolving world response to HIV/AIDS. The economicpurpose of the programme is to ensure that HIV-infected employees, trained at a cost to the company,are able to continue working for as long as possible. Itis also necessary to assure shareholders that, whileHIV/AIDS is a challenge for the company, it is beingmanaged as effectively as possible.

Gold Fields, the second largest South Africa gold-mining group, employing 48,000 people in the country,also announced a major programme late last year todeal with HIV/AIDS. As with most corporate AIDSprogrammes, consultation and cooperation with theunions – in this case the National Union of Minework-ers – is a crucial part of the development of the pro-gramme.

The Gold Fields programme is, like AngloGold’s,focused on prevention, voluntary testing and counsel-ing, and a “wellness management programme for allemployees living with chronic diseases, including HIV”.

The obvious limit on these programmes is theabsence of antiretroviral treatment for workers withAIDS. Triple therapy currently costs between 15,000and 18,000 Rands a year in South Africa (the currentexchange rate is about 11.50 Rands per US$). Since thisis more than half the annual income of the averagesemi-skilled mineworker, it is not considered econom-

ically feasible. For white collar and other skilled work-ers, the picture changes. Most private medical aidschemes and the schemes covering state employees, arefinding it possible to finance triple therapy because itscost has declined in recent years.

Some industrial companies employing mostlyskilled blue collar workers with different cost structuresand lower HIV infection rates, have begun supplyingthose advanced forms of medication, along with thenormal educative programmes aimed at preventionand treatment of opportunistic diseases. Daimler-Chrysler’s South Africa operation, for example,announced such a programme in 2001, in conjunctionwith the technical cooperation agency of the GermanMinistry of Economic Cooperation and Development.

So while in most of South Africa business is still seento be in a state of denial, there are signs that an increas-ing number are seeing the urgency of the situation, andare putting comprehensive strategies in place to dealwith it.

11

PUTTING THE CODE INTO PRACTICE: NEW EDUCATIONAND TRAINING MANUAL AVAILABLE

In order to succeed, the ILO Code of Practice onHIV/AIDS and the World of Work must be applied.Often, this must be done without the benefit oftraining or support from ILO offices. ILO/AIDS hasnow developed a comprehensive manual toencourage and facilitate the application of theCode in the diverse situations and environmentsoccurring throughout the world of work.

“Implementing the ILO Code of Practice onHIV/AIDS and the World of Work: An education andtraining manual”, is intended as an education andreference document, as well as a tool for training.It provides a guide for negotiators, and an aid for allthose seeking to promote action to limit the spreadand impact of HIV/AIDS in the world of work.

The manual is a comprehensive yet flexible guide todealing with such issues as HIV/AIDS and humanrights, workplace action through social dialogue;legal, policy and gender issues; workplace preven-tion programmes; care and support; and HIV/AIDSand the informal economy.

For more information, please contact ILO/AIDS,International Labour Office, 4, route des Morillons,CH-1211 Geneva 22, or e-mail: [email protected]

23154_f_BIT_angl 6.2.2003 8:08

MANGALORE, India – As the group of indige-nous women rapidly and expertly roll the brown,tube-like indigenous cigarettes called “beedis”, theirspokeswoman worries about the worldwide anti-tobacco movement and how it’s threatening theirjobs.

“I’ve been rolling beedis for years, but now I havelittle work”, says Jalaja during the meeting of a beediworkers’ self-help group held recently in this southIndian village. “The government has banned tobaccosmoking in public places and many people in othercountries aren’t buying beedis anymore. I may soonhave to find another way of earning a living.”

The women have gathered here to discuss thechallenges posed by an increasingly anti-tobacco cli-mate, and the prospects aren’t good. While declinesin smoking are seen as a way to improve publichealth, the women rolling the little brown tenduleaves into slim cigarettes and tying them with fila-ments of bright red cotton thread, worry that anindustry that once sustained them may soon – liter-ally – go up in smoke.

Indeed, the fate of the beedi industry is no smallthing. Once a livelihood for some 4.5 million rollers -– 90 per cent of them women – the little cigarette’sdecline is posing big problems for them. Most areilliterate, in poor health and socially marginalized.

They have no assets of any kind. And they worry thatthe loss of even the dollar-a-day income they nowearn may mean economic hardship, or worse, liketheir underage children taking jobs to make endsmeet.

“These women were working five to six days aweek, but over the last two to three years their workhas been reduced by half,” says Arun Kumar, theNational Coordinator of a new ILO project estab-lished here to help beedi rollers find other jobs.

In fact, unions of beedi workers are eager to learnother ways of earning a living. And their employersalso feel the future of the beedi industry is grim. Inresponse, the ILO Area Office for India, together withthe Organization’s Gender Promotion Programmeand the Government of the Netherlands, haslaunched a new programme to promote decent workfor women workers in the beedi industry.

“Given the global and national trends in thetobacco industry and the working conditions of thevery large numbers of women and their familiesdependent on the industry, the aim of the pro-gramme is twofold,” says Lin Lim Lean, ILO experton gender and employment issues. “For the home-based women beedi rollers, the objective is toimprove conditions of work and extend basic labourstandards, and health and social protection to thesewomen and their families. For those who are losingwork and incomes in the beedi industry, the aim is tohelp them find alternative means of livelihood,including ensuring that poverty is not pushing theirchildren into hazardous labour.”

BEEDI HAZARDS, ILO SOLUTIONSStill, loss of income isn’t the only problem faced by

beedi rollers. Although most of the women don’tsmoke, working conditions threaten both their phys-ical and economic well-being.

Few of the illiterate women are aware of their legalrights as workers, for example, and unscrupulouscontractors sometimes deny them access to identitycards needed to obtain benefits offered by a BeediWorkers Welfare Fund. As home-based workers, theyare often short-changed by the arbitrary rejection of


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B E E D I I N D U S T R Y O N A D O W N W A R D R O L L . . .

Rolling beedis, an indigenous, hand-made cigarette, has provided employ-ment for millions of Indians – most ofthem women – over the centuries. Now,the anti-tobacco movement is cuttingdemand – and in the process threaten-ing their economic health. KiranMehra-Kerpelman visited two beedi-rolling villages in Mangalore, SouthIndia, where the ILO is offering theseimpoverished women new and betterways of earning a living.

In India, beedi rollersnew ways of earning

© Crozet / ILO

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S T E P / W O M A N

finished beedis on the grounds of poor quality –sometimes due to contractors providing them withlow-grade raw materials to begin with. Their health isalso threatened: inhaling tobacco dust can cause asmany problems as smoking the stuff. And differencesin minimum wage across different states have result-ed in a shift of the industry to low-wage areas.

So, it’s an uphill battle for the mostly womenworkers who are either jobless or see a significantreduction in earnings. With no alternative employ-ment or income opportunities and no access to cred-it for self-employment ventures, many communitiesfear their livelihood is at stake.

The ILO programme works in cooperation withtrade unions, employers’ organizations, the LabourMinistry, local authorities and community organiza-tions, as well as with the women directly. One of thefirst activities of the programme was to organize self-help groups, allowing the women to meet to discussproblems and collectively seek solutions.

“We are organizing workshops in which they canassess their opportunities and resources at a locallevel, and explore possibilities of what they can do,”says Mr. Kumar, the project coordinator. “Workingfrom home isolates women from the rest of theworking world. Through group meetings and activi-ties, they are able to receive basic education, becomeaware of their legal rights and find out how to effec-tively claim these rights. They are also taught alterna-tive skills, including entrepreneurship development,health, and family and child welfare.”

To give the women ideas for self-employment, theILO project supports so-called “exposure visits” toincome-generating activities in other areas. Beedigroup spokeswoman Jalaja overcame her shyness tobecome one of those who took part in a recent visit.

“Before, I was afraid of talking to people from out-side, but now I feel more confident,” she says. “More-over, I had no savings earlier, but with the self-helpgroup and our micro-credit arrangement, I havestarted to save. I have been able to take a loan fromthe group to repair my house and buy medicines formy sick son.”

Thanks to an exposure visit, Jalaja is now thinking

of starting her own laundry business in an area wherethere is no facility for washing clothes. Aside fromthat, she may also find a patch of land using micro-credit facilitated by the ILO project and grow vegeta-bles to sell in a nearby market.

The programme works with established localorganizations to provide training and other supportservices to the women. To enhance the capacity ofthese organizations, the ILO is encouraging network-ing, helping them strengthen their institutionalstructures, and improve their training and aware-ness-raising materials.

“Providing technical assistance to local grassrootsorganizations means that the ILO builds capacity andleaves behind sustainable activities, even after theprogramme comes to an end,” says the representativeof Adarsha (Agency for Development Awakeningand Rural Self-Help Associations), one of the localNGO partners involved in the programme.

With the cooperation of a local NGO, Deeds(Development Education Service), semi-literatewomen in Ulal Village have been trained in alterna-tive trades, such as paper recycling and making paperproducts, farming of herbal and medicinal plants,bee-keeping, food processing, vegetable selling andthe preparation of food snacks.

“There is more money in the new work than inbeedi making,” says Zojeth, one of two sisters whoused to roll beedis but benefited from an ILO techni-cal assistance project that taught them a new skill.“Now I can do both things.”

Sustainable and socially empowering interven-tions need to focus not only on livelihoods but alsoon improving literacy and health levels, rights aware-ness, family and child welfare, group dynamics andcapacity building. A related aim of the ILO is to assistthe social partners to better prepare the labour forceto face the growing crisis in the beedi sector.

“Before this programme started, I had no expo-sure to another life, even though I am educated,”Zojeth adds. “Now I know how to live. I don’t stayhome and cook as before. Life now is good. I want totake life in my own hands, and the ILO has shown methe way and given me the means.”

seek g a living

© Crozet / ILO

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ard work in dark, noisy, hot and dusty con-ditions far underground has traditionallybeen seen as a risky existence. Today, how-ever, the stereotype of young miners risk-

ing their lives and health in unsafe mine shafts is nolonger accurate. In modern day mines, a dwindling,often aging workforce faces the new dangers offatigue, stress and AIDS.

GENEVA – Mineral production is increasing asmining employment steadily declines. The oncelabour-intensive mining industry now employs wellunder one per cent of workers around the globe, butthe demand for minerals is stronger than ever.A new ILO report1 prepared for the Tripartite Meet-ing on the Evolution of Employment, Working Timeand Training in the Mining Industry, held in Genevafrom 7 to 11 October, shows that the pressure onminers is increasing. It says that well over 3 millionminers’ jobs have been lost in the past five yearsalone, and that while employment in the sector hasstabilized or even increased in some regions, thedownward trend will continue.

Meanwhile, producers continue to satisfy a mineral-hungry market, by opening new and highly-efficientmines (mainly in developing countries), and byachieving extraordinary gains in productivity atexisting sites through flexible and intensive shiftsworked by teams of highly skilled workers.In coal mining for example, the report shows that inrecent years productivity in Canada, India, and theUS increased by 100 per cent, and in Australia bymore than 200 per cent. In Poland, where coal pro-duction fell by about 60 per cent over a five-year peri-od, employment fell even more, by over 70 per cent.And in South Africa, the value of mine productionincreased by over 250 per cent between 1985 and2000, whereas employment fell by a full 50 per cent.

THE DANGER OF FATIGUESuch achievements can have a price. The reportwarns that current work patterns may have moredebilitating effects on judgement and effectivenessthan was previously thought. Work in mines isincreasingly organized around continuous opera-tions, with miners alternating long and numerousshifts with extended periods away from work. Thehealth and safety consequences of these more flexiblework patterns are not yet clear, according to thereport. The link between longer work shifts andfatigue and human error has not been adequatelyexamined. But fatigue can have as great an effect onwork performance as drug or alcohol abuse.“Employees who exceed alcohol limits are generallyprohibited from working, whereas a worker whohas been awake for 18 hours or more shows thesame symptoms but faces no such barriers,” thereport says.Fatigue and long hours can also have detrimentalsocial consequences on miners’ well-being and onthat of their families.“Studies dealing specifically with the effects of shiftwork on family show that, unless managed cautious-ly, shift work can cause heightened levels of stress anddisruption for the partners and families of shiftworkers,” the report cautions. Night shifts and sleep

H

In today’s mines, fatigue,AIDS are the new dangers

1 The evolution ofemployment, workingtime and training in themining industry,International LabourOrganization,Geneva 2002,ISBN 92-2-113223-4

© AFP

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n the mineral-rich regions of Ukraine,some 500,000 miners leave for work

every day. Since 1991, up to 300 have died atwork every year, notwithstanding the dra-matic decrease in both production andemployment, which has seen their numbersdiminished by half. Geological factors gosome way towards explaining the highaccident rate in Ukrainian mines, consid-ered as some of the most dangerous in theworld, since many of the seams are thin,steeply angled, and more than a kilometredeep. Many mines contain gas, increasingthe risk of an underground explosion. Butthis is not the whole story. Archaic equip-ment and security procedures and an acutelack of investment, training, inspection andsupervision are the major reasons for workaccidents.

Together with these serious safetyissues, the losing battle to keep up withglobal competition means that dozens ofUkrainian mines will close in the next fewyears. The World Bank estimates that 50mines will have to shut down in the nearfuture.

Ukrainian miners and their representa-tives hold asset-stripping, massive corrup-tion, and sometimes outright control bymafia-like organizations, responsible for theappalling work practices and the high deathrate. In such an environment oligarchic net-works of coal-mine directors, new ‘busine-meni’, state officials and in some casescriminal organizations are able to derivehuge benefits from the largely state-owned

mines. Misappropriation of state subsidies,dubious barter operations or coal salesbelow market value from state-ownedmines to privately owned intermediatecompanies are just a few examples of thesituation which prevails today.

According to Ukrainian miner and MP,Mikhail Volynets, President of the Indepen-dent Union of Ukrainian Miners (NGPU),“these oligarches invest only the bare min-imum in the mines to secure a maximumreturn from them”. To keep their jobs, min-ers have to endure sub-standard workingconditions and erratic payment of theirsalaries, which in any case do not exceedUS$100 a month on average. Starved ofcapital, some mines resort to bartering,paying employees with whatever they man-age to exchange their coal for. Volynetsreports that he, his family and his associ-ates have received threats and even beat-ings. Despite such pressures, Ukrainianminers continue to stage large demonstra-tions, demanding payment of their salariesand an end to the cartels.

In such circumstances, few young peopleare attracted to the sector, and the averageage of Ukrainian miners is progressively ris-ing. Some of them are in poor health andbeyond retirement age. And poverty in theDonbass region is such that clandestinemining galleries operate, where safetystandards are appalling or non-existent,further adding to the problem.

Samuel Grumiau

I

n its conclusions, the Tripartite Meetingcalled for more research into the issues

at hand, to help governments, employersand workers address the challenges in thesector. The participants emphasized theimportance of training in dealing withpotential problems arising from an ageingworkforce, and from structural change inthe industry.

They reiterated that HIV/AIDS is a pub-lic health issue, in which employers’ andworkers’ organizations should play a keyrole, both by advocacy and preventionamong the workforce and their families,and by providing care. Together with gov-ernments, they should seek to eliminatediscrimination and prejudice towardsHIV/AIDS sufferers, and implement the pro-visions of the ILO Code of Practice onHIV/AIDS and the world of work.

The conclusions also singled out priorityareas for ILO action, undertaken in concertwith the tripartite partners, to:

Collect, analyse and disseminate data onworking time arrangements in the miningindustry.Carry out or commission research into the

relationship between working time andoccupational safety and health.

Collect, analyse and disseminate informa-tion ... on the evolution of employment in theindustry, including the impact of mine clo-sures on workers and mining communities.Continue to promote the implementation of

the Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and theworld of work, and the principles and rightsenshrined in the Declaration on Fundamen-tal Principles and Rights at Work, and theTripartite Declaration concerning Multina-tional Enterprises and Social Policy.

MINING: WHAT THE ILO CAN DO

human error, CASE STUDY: COAL MINING IN UKRAINE

deficit are pinpointed as specific problems which candisrupt workers’ family and social lives.Global competition is putting particular pressure onolder mines in traditional mining centres, such asCentral and Eastern Europe and the former SovietUnion, obliging them to rationalize or close down.The preoccupation with productivity and the strug-gle to survive has, in the opinion of certain miners’representatives (see box on the Ukraine), led to theneglect of safety in these regions.

AIDS AS A MINING ISSUEIn certain sectors of the mining industry, mainlysouthern Africa, the problem is further compound-ed by the alarming spread of HIV/AIDS among theworkforce. “In some countries the proportion of themining workforce that is HIV-positive is consider-ably above that of the population as a whole (forexample, 20-30 per cent of the mining workforceversus 12 per cent of the general populations inSouth Africa),” says the report. It identifies the prac-tice of accommodating migrant workers in single-sex hostels, with long periods of separation fromtheir families, as a key factor in the high incidence ofHIV infection among the mining population.The report praises the companies and trade unionsin southern Africa which have been at the forefrontin recognizing and tackling HIV/AIDS, and inaddressing the need to focus on schemes for the pre-vention and care of their employees. But currentinfection rates mean that the ability of more andmore miners to work will be compromised, increas-ing the pressure on their colleagues when they areforced to take sick leave or while a new worker isrecruited and trained. Beyond the economic impactof HIV/AIDS, the social and emotional conse-quences on the miners and their families areimmeasurable.Mining is an industry in mutation. Given its occupa-tional hazards, the report warns that current intensiveworking practices “may turn out to be a poisonedchalice for workers, their families, the mining indus-try and society at large some years in the future”.

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Fundamental rightsSouthern Africa

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he ILO is launching a three-year proj-ect to help improve labour adminis-tration in Botswana, Lesotho, Malawiand Zambia. With US$1.8 million infunding from the US Department of

Labor (USDOL), the project, “StrengtheningLabour Administration in Southern Africa”(SLASA), will provide technical assistance andpromote the implementation of the ILO Conven-tions in the Declaration on the Fundamental Prin-ciples and Rights at Work.

Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia sharesimilar labour challenges, including an economybased on one main industry (diamond mining,manufacturing and textiles, tobacco and agricul-ture, respectively), high rates of unemployment,and gender inequality. Official unemploymentranges from about 15 per cent upwards, whilewomen remain far below the glass ceiling. Now, theepidemic of HIV/AIDS is having a growing impactin all four countries. Although they have ratifiedmost ILO core Conventions, implementing themhas not been easy, mainly because of an under-developed legal structure and a severe lack ofresources such as financial and technical support,materials and staffing. The new SLASA project isdesigned to address many of these concerns.

What are some of the daily issues that disrupt thesystem and how will SLASA address these?One of the biggest problems is the huge backlog inthe courts. The lack of effective structures to reviewcases, prevent disputes and resolve issues has virtu-ally crippled the legal system. All four countries areseverely short of modern structures and upgradedpersonnel skills. Registrars in some countries, forexample, still enter cases in a log book using long-hand, a process that is time-consuming and error-

prone. In Malawi there is a backlog of 3,000 cases,and in Zambia they are only now attending to caseswhich arose between 1995 and 1998. And inBotswana, the latest figures show a six-fold increasein the number of new cases filed, from 40 in 1994, to291 in 2001. SLASA will offer technical advisory serv-ices in order to reform these structures as well as thefunction and process in the courts. Judges, assessorsand registrars will be trained on the revised legisla-tion and international labour standards, as well asdispute resolution. The introduction of computersand training in the use of new technology will makethe process more efficient, reduce errors and helptrack information and statistics for policy use. InMalawi, the Industrial Labour Court has alreadystarted a preliminary Web site:http://chambo.sdnp.org.mw/~esaias/irc/irc-info.htm#compo

What are the primary objectives of the SLASAproject?To improve the practical application of the funda-mental Conventions, notably on freedom of associ-ation and the right to collective bargaining. SLASAwill provide training and technical assistance tohelp build a structure which will revise, where nec-essary, and improve execution and enforcement ofthe appropriate laws. This is vital in Zambia, forexample, where labour laws do not conform to theprovisions of the Convention on freedom of asso-ciation and the right to organize. Botswana,Lesotho, Malawi and Zambia have existing statutes;they need support and practical assistance to exer-cise them effectively.

What does this mean in practical terms?SLASA aims to improve dialogue, mediation andbargaining practices between workers, employersand government representatives. In Lesotho, for

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at work:


example, the trade union movement is currentlysplit among three different federations. In Zambiathere are four overlapping unions. Each of the tri-partite groups has to be trained so that they areknowledgeable about ongoing labour issues,equipped to represent their members and able toplay a role in policy-making. Employers will receivetraining on labour standards, collective bargainingand negotiation techniques. Trade union leaderswill be trained in much-needed management andorganizational skills. Through open discussions,these groups will also be able to address criticalissues such as HIV and how to contribute effective-ly to the fight against AIDS in the face of decreas-ing life expectancy.

How will SLASA contribute to enhancing labouradministration?SLASA will start with the assessment of needs ineach country. That is, it will evaluate current prac-tices and legal processes and make recommenda-tions, based on these results, on how to improvelabour administration. None of these countries, forexample, keeps record or tracks informationregarding claims, cases, violations, industry sectorsor labour trends. Labour market data and its analy-sis is an essential element in guiding not onlylabour issues but also economic and overall devel-opment policies. Senior management staff will betrained in strategic planning, monitoring andreporting so that they can share up-to-date infor-mation with key policy-makers. In terms of labourlaws, freedom of association and the right to col-lective bargaining are the principal topics underdiscussion. With training in arbitration, bargainingand conciliation, SLASA hopes to cement goodlabour relations and to provide the parties withskills so they can prevent disputes or settle thembefore these reach the courts.

The gender issue is often ignored in labour rela-tions. How is SLASA planning to sensitize the pub-lic and deal with gender equality?SLASA recommendations will clearly be gender-sensitive and include both men’s and women’s con-cerns. For capacity-building activities, there aremany ways to encourage more balanced participa-tion among men and women. For one, using infor-mal contacts with employers, unions and govern-ments to stress the importance of women’sparticipation, and selecting women as well as menexperts to serve as panellists, authors of papers andtrainers. Seemingly unimportant details can oftenhinder the participation of women in various activ-ities. Examples include holding meetings in distantplaces or far from safe public transportation routes,scheduling events during meal times when womenmust tend to their families, and lack of child care oradequate sanitary facilities. Although it might taketime to fully integrate women into the workplaceand positions of leadership, there have already beenpositive results. Labour ministries in both Malawiand Zambia are led by women. In Lesotho thelabour commissioner is a woman and in the indus-trial relations court of Malawi, one out of twojudges is female.

CHILDREN AT A LUSAKA, ZAMBIA,elementary school doschoolwork in theabsence of their teacher,Sept. 12, 2002. More than1 million African children lost theirteacher to AIDS lastyear, according toUNAIDS.

© Keystone

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or millions of women in the developingworld, maternity health care is almostunavailable. For millions more, othermaternity benefits are even harder to get.Through an ILO research initiative, inno-

vative ways of providing maternity protection topoor women in the informal economy are beingpromoted, Anne Sieger reports.

BUHWEJU, Uganda – For the women workersof this mountainous tea-growing area of southwestUganda, the lack of adequate maternity care can bea matter of life and death.

There are many stories about the tenuous natureof maternity here. One concerns a woman and herchild who may owe their lives to a solar-poweredradio transmitter.

Buhweju is a small village. Taxis don’t comearound here often and the closest hospital is inBusheny, 52 kilometres away down a bumpy road.

Feeling that her baby was about to be born andworried that there might be complications, thewoman rushed to the nearby satellite clinic. The clin-ic had been established by a local community healthinsurance scheme to which she belonged. The nurseon duty realized the woman needed hospital treat-ment, and used the solar-powered transmitter tocontact a private taxi service.

The taxi arrived quickly and the woman was takento a hospital, where she received help in time.

In this Ugandan case, a solar-powered radio trans-mitter has made all the difference. And it is thesekinds of innovative examples which the ILO is usingto promote ways to improve pregnant women’s safe-ty worldwide.

In many developing countries, women face a highrisk of dying during pregnancy or childbirth. Poorhygiene and the lack of access to quality medical careare often to blame.

More and more developing countries have recog-nized the urgent need for maternity protection. Inthe Philippines, the Government is providing freeprenatal checkups at public hospitals. For deliverieswith complications, Bangladesh offers free treat-ment. Government hospitals in India provide vacci-nations for newborns. And Tanzania has developed a“Safe Motherhood” programme.

Still, for many women, especially in rural areas,such vital public services are almost unavailable,either due to financial reasons such as transportationcosts, or cultural traditions such as giving birth athome. For millions more, other maternity benefitsare exclusively for wage earners.

Maternity protection has been a priority in theILO since its founding in 1919, when the first Mater-nity Protection Convention was adopted. Its latestMaternity Protection Convention, adopted in 2000,reached a new level of quality. For the first time, theConvention also applies to women in “atypical”forms of employment, found mostly in the informaleconomy. This refers to women who often have nolegal employer, regular income or little if any accessto statutory health-care services. They may be streetvendors, home workers or part-time labourers in thegarment or agriculture sector. A vast majority sufferfrom social exclusion and poverty.

To extend maternity protection to women in theinformal economy, the ILO Global Programme,STEP1 – Strategies and Tools against Social Exclusionand Poverty – and the Conditions of Work Branch

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F

1 STEP is part of the social

security and development

branch in the social protec-

tion sector

Women in the informal economy: Urgent need for maternity protection

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(CONDIT) have started an initial research effort.The current focus is on community-based health

financing schemes which provide limited, demand-driven benefit packages of health services at afford-able prices. Next to delivery with complications, nor-mal delivery, pre- and postnatal care, many schemesalso engage in preventive and maternity care train-ing, recruit local traditional birth attendants, andorganize awareness-raising activities includingHIV/AIDS.

Including maternity protection in the benefitpackage meets an urgent need among poor women.One lesson learned so far is that schemes are mostsuccessful when they reflect specific maternity needsarticulated by their members. Installing the radiotransmitter is the solution which the scheme in Buh-weju uses to cope with the transportation problem.In other communities, women may choose to receivebenefits not in cash but in food, clothes or medicine,thus avoiding the risk of a family member spendingthe money. Some schemes also cover the health careneeds of the woman’s husband.

Still, to the ILO, the sheer existence of maternityprotection within health micro- insurance schemesis not an end in itself. Rather, to effectively promote

maternity protection, the ILO wants to encouragelinks between schemes at the community level andnational policies and programmes, especially withsocial security institutions.

With all the cultural and regional differencescharacterizing the schemes, there is no “one size fitsall” solution. A set of provisional guidelines is cur-rently being developed by the ILO, based on theinformation gathered in nine countries in Africa,Asia and Latin America. These guidelines can beused by the ILO’s tripartite partners as well as bysocial organizations and other parties active in thehealth sector. The guidelines, as well as selectedcountry working papers, will be published onlineand on paper in early 2003.

The provisional guidelines are just a first step inthe promotion of maternity protection for womenworkers in the informal economy. Further researchand analysis of existing and developing schemes isnecessary. It can then be discussed whether a solar-powered radio transmitter could also make a differ-ence in Asia or Latin America. To some families inUganda it already has.

For further informationcontact:STEP Global ProgrammeSocial Security and Development Branch Tel: +4122/799-6544Email: [email protected]

Conditions of Work Branch Tel: +4122/799-6754Email: [email protected]

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I L O A I D S



n 10 May 2002, Dr. Taye Woldesmiate,President of the Ethiopian Teachers’Association, was finally freed after sixyears in an Ethiopian prison and aglobal campaign for his release. On his

first visit to the International Labour Office inGeneva since his imprisonment, Dr. Woldesmiatespoke to World of Work about the internationalsupport he received, namely from the ILO, and ofhis hopes for the future.

GENEVA – When Dr. Taye Woldesmiatereturned to Ethiopia in 1989 with a fistful ofdegrees from American institutions, he had littleinkling of what awaited him. Instead of a teachingposition, the former visiting professor at Michi-gan University wound up in prison in solitaryconfinement on the grounds of conspiring tooverthrow the government, as a result of his tradeunion activities.

Within seven days of his arrest in May 1996,Education International (EI), a worldwide union ofeducation personnel, and the Ethiopian Teachers’Association, submitted a formal complaint againstEthiopia to the ILO Committee on Freedom ofAssociation. This was the beginning of an interna-tional campaign to free Dr. Woldesmiate, in whichthe ILO played a key role throughout, and whicheventually secured his release last May.

Ethiopia has ratified both the Convention onFreedom of Association and the Right to Organize,1948 (No. 87), and the Convention on the Right toOrganize and Collective Bargaining, 1949 (No. 98).The ILO persisted in calling on the Government toguarantee the application of these Conventions tothe letter as well as in practice, offering its technicalassistance in amending the legislation to do so.

In our interview with Dr. Woldesmiate, we askedhim about his experience and how his patience wasfinally rewarded.

World of Work: What drew you initially to tradeunion activism?Dr. Taye Woldesmiate: Teachers are my favouritesort of people. I saw the teaching profession beingabused. So I wanted to be part of the teachers’union, and to fight for teachers’ rights, for quali-ty education, and for democratic rights in thecountry.

WoW: What were the conditions of your impris-onment?Woldesmiate: The conditions of prisoners are justterrible, especially when you are considered anenemy trying to overthrow the government. Theydeclared that the prison was a correction centre,but in fact it’s the worst kind of political prisoncamp. So they put you in a different situation [fromnon-political prisoners]. I was put in a dark roomand chained ... for 24 hours a day. No books, nolibrary, even though the prison has a library. ... AndI was in solitary confinement. It was horrible.

WoW: What did you know of international effortson your behalf while you were in prison?Woldesmiate: The first three years in prison I wasin the dark and I couldn’t hear anything from mycolleagues. They had been fighting for my rights. ...I didn’t have any access to communications or let-ters. Then the EU Parliament came to visit me, andthey told me that EI was fighting, that there was a“Free Taye” movement in universities and collegesin the US. I learned that Amnesty International haddeclared me a prisoner of conscience. That was abright light ... that kept me going. Letters started tocome in – from teachers, from individuals ..., andfrom schoolchildren. I used to put them on thewalls and look at them all night. The last ChristmasI received 10,000 letters! ... I received lots of sup-port from international organizations.

Interview with Dr. TaO

A L O N G W A L K T O F R E E D O M

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a ye Woldesmiate, teacher

WoW: What did you realize about the role of theILO in your release?Woldesmiate: EI had informed me that the ILOwas involved in my case, and I became aware of theactivities that the ILO had conducted when I cameto visit here. ... I am proud of the stand that the ILOtook. And I’m calling on the ILO and on otherinternational organizations to do more and toguarantee the freedom of association which ourgovernment is committed to by its signature of theConvention.

WoW: How do you see the future?Woldesmiate: I am an optimist by nature. Thoughtoday is dark, teachers should be a torch showingthe brightness of the light. We want to see change.We want to see civil society participate in govern-ment. ... In Ethiopia, freedom of association is inserious trouble. As a human being you have to befree. ... Teachers are leaving the profession whichthey love because they have lost their right to teachwithout interference. This is what we’re calling onthe international community to help with.

© Crozet / ILO

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I L O A I D S



At the Hotel Tritone,the “Wild Strawberries”run the place

G E T T I N G B A C K T O W O R K

nemployment among the estimated386 million people of working ageacross the globe who have disabilities isfar higher than for other working-ageindividuals. In the United Kingdom, as

in most other countries, the number of unem-ployed disabled persons is twice as high as for non-disabled persons. Disabled people have much tocontribute to the work-force however, as seenevery day at the Hotel Tritone in Trieste, Italy.

TRIESTE, Italy – The Hotel Tritone is ownedand run by a social cooperative called Il Posto delleFragole (“Wild Strawberries”). Members of thecooperative also own a bar and restaurant in whatused to be a psychiatric hospital. What is unusualabout this group is that most of its members arepeople with disabilities.

The psychiatric hospital in Trieste, built over 100years ago, still had about 1,400 patients in 1972,when a psychiatrist, Franco Basaglia, decided tomodernize the system by closing down the institu-tion and setting up a social service system whichwould help people with mental health problemslive meaningful lives outside the institution. By1980, most of the patients were living in town.

Il Posto delle Fragole started with a group ofyoung people, mostly unemployed and with drugaddiction or mental health problems, who werenonetheless eager to get on with their lives. Withhelp from nurses, doctors and people involved inthe cooperative movement, they were able to forma cooperative.

First, they set up a bar/coffee shop on thegrounds of the old hospital. This provided a socialservice to the patients still living there, and a placefor young people to gather and to meet others.Concerts and disco nights generated funds whichwere put back into new initiatives to create morejobs for disadvantaged men and women. Accordingto Renate Goergen, one of the founders, “Coopera-tives are about people and promoting their capaci-ties of self-help and autonomy.”

New ways of creating jobs for marginalized peo-ple, such as the “social firm”, are spreading acrossthe globe. Social firms provide employment formany disadvantaged people who want to enjoy thesame rights as other people, and not be perceivedor treated as receivers of handouts and welfare ben-efits.

The structure of social firms depends on thevision of its founders, members and the legal envi-ronment in the country in question. While in Italy,social firms are all “social cooperatives”, in the UKonly about 30 per cent of them are based on acooperative model.

Social firms offer work in a disability-friendlyenvironment, where a significant number ofemployees are people with some form of disability.All employees here have the same rights and obli-gations, are paid a market-rate wage or salary, andthe work opportunities are equal between disad-vantaged and non-disadvantaged employees.

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... continued from page 22

So far, Italy is the only country with a specific lawon social cooperatives. There are about 2,300 of themoperating there. All are required, by law, to employ atleast 30 per cent disadvantaged workers and employa total of 25,000 disabled people. But the social firmmovement is growing worldwide and many morecountries wish to replicate the successes of theseorganizations in creating decent employment, espe-cially in the UK, Italy and Germany.

The ILO Cooperative Branch, in collaborationwith the ILO InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowl-edge and Employability, is developing a trainingpackage, including a handbook and training materi-als, which promotes social cooperatives. The ILO alsoplans to develop a technical cooperation programmewhere social cooperatives will play a key role in pro-moting social inclusion.

Similar cooperatives exist in other parts of theworld such as the Bigay-Buhay MultipurposeCooperative (BBMC) in the Philippines. TheBBMC is a workers’ cooperative primarily amongpeople with disabilities. Established in 1991, itaims to facilitate independent living for its mem-bers by taking them off welfare services and pro-viding them with work.

BBMC’s businesses are adapted to the disabil-ities of its members. Its carpentry workshop pro-duces mainly desks, tables and chairs fabricatedby its orthopedically impaired worker-members,while the polishing process is carried out by visu-ally impaired persons. The cooperative also has abag production unit in which its deaf-mute work-er-members are in charge. For the mentally chal-lenged worker-members, the cooperative runs acomputer centre where basic computer servicesare provided to students and other people in thecommunity.

By establishing workplaces/workshops suit-ably arranged to solve the mobility problems oftheir orthopedically and visually impaired mem-bers, the BBMC has been able to show that peo-ple with disabilities can be productive membersof society.

The concept is being replicated in other areasof the Philippines to reach out to a greater num-ber of people with disabilities. The estimate isthat 10 per cent of the population – about 8 million– have some form of disability.


S T E P W O M A N I N T E R V I E W G E T T I N G B A C K

© Hotel Tritone (ILO compositions)

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F E A T U R E S

P L A N E T W O R K A R O U N D T H E C O N T I N E N T S I L O I N T H E P R E S SN E W S

■ A “winter of discontent”? Firefight-ers in the United Kingdom pressedtheir demands with on-off labouractions, getting support from teachersand municipal workers. In Portugalhundreds of thousands of public work-ers – or 15 per cent of the country’sworkforce – held their first generalstrike in ten years, severely disruptingessential services and closing mostpublic institutions for a day. Thousandsof workers marched in Italy to protestrestructuring at car maker Fiat. InFrance, air traffic controllers groundedthousands of flights, and State employ-ees gathered in Paris. New Zealandhospitals braced for walkouts by hospi-tal workers. And in Turkey, the Con-federation of Public Sector WorkerUnions has called on the Governmentto establish a timetable for introducingworkplace reforms, including a mini-mum wage and workplace rights.

The issue? Most often voiced are fearsof loss of job security, wages and pensionrights.Words like modernization, restruc-turing and privatization make workersedgy amid economic downturns, accord-ing to the international trade unions fed-eration, Public Services International(PSI). Says one PSI official,“there’s a waveof strikes and there will be more whileinsecurity is in the air”.– Sources, BBC News reports, TRT 2Turkish television, November, VOANews, The New Zealand Herald, PSI,November 2002

■ Miners in Poland are back on thebarricades. Workers in the coal pitsnear the southern city of Katowice haveresorted to demonstrations and evenhunger strikes to protest a new coalrestructuring programme. They alsoformed a trade union called“August80”, in a reference to the strikesby miners and other workers over 20years ago which gave birth to the Soli-darity trade union, and a new govern-ment and political system. This time,however, it’s different. Workers say thenew programme will cost thousands ofjobs in coal processing plants cooperat-ing with the mines, and the govern-ment is listening.– Source, PAP News Agency,November 2002

■ What price labour strife? Calculatingthe cost of a recently resolved labour dis-pute at West Coast US ports may proveimpossible in the long run, analysts say.Apparently, the dispute involving dock-workers and shippers affected not onlythe 29 West Coast ports, but had animpact on truckers, US and Asian com-panies and other sectors. Still, while theports handle an estimated US$300 bil-lion in cargo per year, or 40 per cent of allUS waterborne trade, experts believe thenet cost to the economy may, in the end,be “relatively small”.– Source, Los Angeles Times,November 2002

■ Less work down under? A new sur-vey indicates that one in four Aus-tralian workers wants shorter workinghours. The study of 8,000 workers bythe Australian Council of Trade Unions(ACTU) found that 28 per cent wantedto work fewer hours, while another 10per cent were unhappy with their rosterpatterns. Just over half wanted to keepworking the same hours, while only 9per cent wanted to work more. ACTUofficials say the survey reflects difficul-ties in balancing working hours withpersonal and family time.– Source, The Age, Melbourne,November 2002

■ Age discrimination may soonbecome the most common form of dis-crimination claim in the workplace.According to the Equal EmploymentOpportunity Commission (EEOC) inthe US, 17,405 claims were filed in2001, the highest number of claimssince 1995. Legal advisers are tellingemployers to avoid asking potentialemployees their age or making “sweep-ing comments such as ‘our company islooking for young, aggressive people’”.– Source, Business Wire, October 2002

■ A new poll by the charity, Age Con-cern, says nearly two million UK work-ers are “in the dark” about a new EU“ageism” law. The poll says 1.8 millionpeople between the ages of 55 and 64have suffered age discrimination atwork. According to the survey, thisworkplace “ageism” costs the UK econ-omy about 31 billion pounds a year.European Union legislation to protectthe rights of older workers is to comeinto effect in 2006, but Age Concernsays employers should begin changingattitudes now.– Source, BusinessEurope.com,8 November 2002

■ Employers in Ireland are facinghigher costs as a deadline approachesfor adapting their workplaces for thedisabled. Government acceptance ofthe European Union’s employment dis-crimination law calling for such adap-tations by December 2003, meansemployers must help disabled personsgain access to facilities, participate in allwork-related events, and have equalopportunities for advancement andtraining – unless such measures wouldimpose a disproportionate burden onthe employer.– Source, Irish Times, November 2002

P L A N E T W O R K A REVIEW OF TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN LABOUR ISSUES

WORKPLACE ISSUES DISCRIMINATION

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M E D I A S H E L F

■ A South African insurance firm isgiving new meaning to the word“downsizing”. Old Mutual is helping itsheavier employees get medical anddietary advice, counselling and exerciseas part of what the company called“weight management”. The assistance isa response to growing awareness thatobesity-related problems such ashypertension, heart disease and dia-betes are bad for productivity. Thecompany says it’s the first in the coun-try to offer such services.– Source, Business Day, South Africa,November 2002

■ Meanwhile, employers in otherparts of the world are also giving newfocus to the value of “sweat equity”.New studies indicate that 70 per cent ofan organization’s benefit costs areincurred through injuries which couldbe prevented through physical activity.In Canada, many companies are tryingto reduce absenteeism by offeringwork-site wellness programmes.Reports have shown that performanceis 70 per cent greater among exercisersthan non-exercisers and there is a sig-nificant decrease in turnover amongemployees who participate in fitnessprograms.– Source, Canberra Times,November 2002

■ According to the National SleepFoundation in Nigeria, only 30 per centof adults are getting the requisite eight

hours of sleep each night and 40 percent claim that lack of sleep interruptstheir work. The Foundation said toolittle sleep can cause sadness, stress,anger and poor performance, leadingto accidents on the job. One sign of notenough sleep, according to the study:needing an alarm clock to get out ofbed.– The News (Lagos), April 2002

■ In an attempt to raise morale amida wave of redundancies and pay cuts,companies in the US are improvingprogrammes to recognize outstandingemployees. According to a survey of391 firms conducted by the NationalAssociation for Employee Recognitionand the World at Work, more than fourout of 10 employers said that they werestepping up efforts to commend topperformers.– Source, The Wall Street Journal,November 2002

■ Information or knowledge? Accord-ing to a report by a UK-based businessstudy, there’s a difference. Employeeswho refer to knowledge during inter-views are more likely to share it withtheir colleagues and hence be moresuccessful. Meanwhile, employees whorefer to information appear less likelyto share and thus post lower perform-ance at work. The study estimated thata tendency toward “knowledge-shar-ing” has become a basis for hiring deci-sions which boost productivity.– Source, Computing magazine, UK,November 2002

■ What is the cost of grief? A newstudy by the Grief Recovery Institute(GRI) in the US indicates that Ameri-can businesses incurred more thanUS$75 billion in costs last year becauseof lost productivity, accidents andimpaired decision-making brought onby personal grief. Among the core find-ings of the “2003 Grief Index” were that

death of a loved one costs US businesssome $37.6 billion annually; divorce,$11 billion; family crises such as illness,addiction and adolescent misbehav-iour, $9 billion; financial woes includ-ing bankruptcy and debt, $4.6 billion;and pet loss, $2.4 billion.– Source, Grief Recovery Institute, Sher-man Oaks, California, USA, November2002

■ This year’s newest endangeredspecies in the world of work? Consul-tants. Corridors that once reverberatedwith keen young MBAs are increasing-ly silent as industry cuts the ranks ofconsultants by up to a third. Andaccording to industry analysts, morecuts – and less consultants – may be onthe way in a sector glutted with overca-pacity due to the worldwide economicdownturn. The main culprits of theconsultant cuts? Crashing dot.comsand a “crisis of confidence” that hasheavily reduced business opportunitiesfor management consultant firms.– Source, The Economist, October, 2002

■ Will East Timor be the next Brunei?While more a trickle than a flood, expatworkers ranging from engineers tohairstylists are heading for the capital,Dili, lured by the possibility of makingmoney on eco-tourism and otherindustries, including oil and gas. Busi-nesses are also moving over to theworld’s newest State, opening restau-rants, cake shops, construction offices,beauty salons and vehicle spare-partsshops. East Timor’s 800,000 peoplenow depend on subsistence farmingand fishing for a living, but that couldchange. Foreign investment is expected– especially in the oil and gas sectors.– Source, Borneo Bulletin,November 2002

■ Ready for the EU? In Poland, 95 percent of all small and medium-sizedenterprises say they are, according to

HEALTH AT WORK

MANAGEMENT

MEANWHILE

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© AFP

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the Polish Confederation of PrivateEmployers. What’s more, 83 per cent areconfident they can overcome obstaclesto success in the EU market after entry.How confident? Only 25 per cent claimto be “definitely ready” or “ready” forthe challenge, with 80 per cent listingEU competition as a major risk.– Source, Polish News Bulletin,14 November 2002

■ Erotic dancers from Club Creme inBristol, England, have turned to theGeneral, Municipal and Boilermakers’Union (GMB) in a bid to improveworking conditions. The trade unionaccepted the “International Union ofSex Workers” last March, saying that so-called “sex workers” hadn’t in the pastbeen represented among its ranks. Thedancers, who must avoid physical con-tact with customers, say they have nolocal grievances, but fear for the safetyof women in some clubs who work inprivate booths without security. TheNetherlands is the only other Europeancountry where sex workers enjoy main-stream union support.– Source, BBC NEWS, November 2002

F E A T U R E S

Nearly five years after California’sgroundbreaking anti-smoking law tookeffect, two new polls for the State’sDepartment of Health Services showoverwhelming support for smoke-freebars and restaurants. The poll says 75 percent of bar owners and employees nowprefer to work in smoke-free environ-ments, while nearly 80 per cent of barpatrons reportedly agreed that smoke-free dining and drinking establishmentsare important to their health.

Surprisingly, even smokers seem toagree.

Some key findings of the “bar estab-lishment” survey:- 77 per cent of bar managers and

employees surveyed said a smoke-free environment in their bar is “very”or “somewhat” important to them,compared to 53 per cent of those sur-veyed in 1998.

- The majority of bar managers andemployees said complying with thelaw has been “very” or “fairly” easy.

- More than eight in ten bar managersand employees said they think thesmoke-free workplace law protectstheir health and the health of other baremployees, while only 15 per centthink it does not.

- The majority of bar patrons (87 percent) – including smokers (71 per cent)

– said they are more likely to visit bars,or haven’t changed their bar-goingbehaviour, as a result of the law.

■ California’s Law for a Smoke-freeWorkplace (AB 13) has required nearly allworkplaces to be smoke-free since Janu-ary 1, 1995. The smoke-free bar provisionwent into effect on January 1, 1998. – Source, Business Wire, November 2002

■ Meanwhile, some 800 employees at acigarette-producing plant in Australiahave kicked the habit – with some help –after 50 years of smoking on the job.Company officials banned smoking,shunting diehards into ventilated indoor“smoking rooms” and offering workers aone-time payment of Aus $7,800 toreplace a monthly allowance of up to fourcartons of cigarettes. Apparently, offi-cials grew concerned about non-smokingemployees’ exposure to second-handsmoke – and worried that some were giv-ing cigarettes to children. “This is notabout litigation,” one official said, “it’sabout responsibility. We wanted to do theright thing.” – Source, Australian Herald Sun, November 2002

STOP SMOKING: IS IT GOOD FOR YOUR JOB?

P L A N E T W O R K

W A N T T O D E - M O T I V A T E W O R K E R S ? H E R E ’ S H O WA Bangkok training and consultancy

firm has prepared a tongue-in-cheekguide on how to de-motivate Thai workers.Among the points:• Create a mai sanook (not fun) work

environment• Make people sia nah (lose face) as

much as possible• Create fewer kan eng (valued) relation-

ships

• Implement a matrix organizationalstructure without clear lines of commu-nication

• Give unclear instructions• Hold training on weekends as often as

possible• Use yourself as the standard• Be punctual every time (in other words,

embarrass staff for being late or lockthem out).

“If you have any tips for de-motivatingThais, please do not hesitate to contactme and we can share your ideas withother readers,” concludes Mr. KriengsakNiratpattanasai, founder of the consultan-cy. Point made.

– Source, Bangkok Post, November 2002

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A R O U N D T H E C O N T I N E N T S I L O I N T H E P R E S S M E D I A S H E L FN E W S

Violence in the public health workplace:New guidelines launched

GENEVA – The joint task force – comprisingthe International Labour Office (ILO), theWorld Health Organization (WHO), Public Ser-vices International (PSI) and the InternationalCouncil of Nurses (ICN) – launched a set of“Framework guidelines for addressing work-place violence in the health sector”, at the ILO inOctober.

The initiative comes in the face of a mountingproblem in hospitals and other health work-places worldwide, both in developed and devel-oping countries. Research* shows that nearly 25per cent of all violent incidents at work occur inthe health sector, and that more than 50 per centof health care workers have experienced suchincidents.

“Our current knowledge is only the tip of theiceberg,” adds international safety and healthspecialist Vittorio di Martino, who has studiedviolence in the workplace for the task force.“The enormous cost of violence at work for theindividual, the workplace and the community atlarge is becoming increasingly apparent.”

The study notes that violence in the healthsector goes well beyond assaults or affronts tothe individuals, threatening the quality of healthcare as well as productivity and development.Says di Martino: “The consequences of violence

Violence at work afflicts on averagehalf the world’s 40 million healthworkers. Now, a joint programme oflabour, health, and public serviceorganizations has launched a new ini-tiative aimed at helping health profes-sionals fight fear, assault, humiliationand even homicide where they work.

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at work in the health sector have a significantimpact on the effectiveness of health systems,especially in developing countries.”

In accordance with the European Commis-sion, the guidelines define workplace violence as“incidents where staff are abused, threatened orassaulted in circumstances related to their work,including commuting to and from work, involv-ing an explicit or implicit challenge to their safe-ty, well-being or health”. Although workplaceviolence has become a serious problem in allservice sectors, reports* show that health work-ers are among those particularly at risk:• In the United States, health care workers face a16-times greater risk of violence than otherservice workers. More than half of the claims ofaggression in the workplace in the US comefrom the health sector.• In the United Kingdom, nearly 40 per cent of the

National Health Service (NHS) staff reportedbeing bullied in 1998.

• In Australia, 67.2 per cent of health workersexperienced physical or psychological violencein 2001.

• Widespread violence at work against health per-sonnel is not limited to the industrialized world.More than half of the health personnel in Bul-garia (75.8 per cent), South Africa (61 per cent)and Thailand (54 per cent), and 46.7 per cent ofhealth workers in Brazil, experienced at least oneincident of physical or psychological violence in2001.

• Research also shows that psychological violencein the health sector – including verbal abuse,bullying and mobbing – is more frequent thanphysical violence, and between 40 and 70 percent of the victims report significant stresssymptoms.

• Workplace violence affects all professionalgroups, genders and work settings in the healthsector. The highest rates of offences, however,were reported by ambulance staff, nurses anddoctors. Large hospitals in suburban, denselypopulated or high-crime areas, as well as thoselocated in isolated areas, are particularly at risk.

• In many countries, reporting procedures arelacking and perpetrators are not prosecuted.Strategies to combat workplace violence in thehealth sector still have a long way to go, startingwith raising awareness and building under-standing among health personnel and other par-ties concerned at all levels.

The guidelines are intended to support allthose responsible for safety in the workplace, bethey governments, employers, workers, tradeunions, professional bodies or the general pub-lic. In particular, the guidelines show how healthworkers can approach the problem of violencein the sector, while considering all types ofintervention and involving all parties concernedin a coherent, non-discriminatory, culturallyand gender sensitive manner. They show how toidentify, assess and reduce the risks through pre-ventive action, minimize the impact of violenceand prevent its recurrence.

The guidelines prioritize the development of ahuman-centred workplace culture based on dig-nity, non-discrimination, equal opportunityand cooperation, including a clear policy state-ment on violence at work from the top manage-ment, and awareness raising initiatives at all lev-els. The ILO is expected to adopt a Code ofPractice on Violence and Stress at Work in Ser-vices – A Threat to Productivity and DecentWork, in October 2003.

* Cary L. Cooper and Naomi Swanson, Workplace vio-

lence in the health sector – State of the Art, ILO, WHO,

ICN and PSI 2002. ISBN 92-2-113237-4.

Vittorio di Martino, Workplace violence in the health sec-

tor – Country case studies (Brazil, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Por-

tugal, South Africa, Thailand, and an additional Aus-

tralian study), Synthesis report, ILO, WHO, ICN and PSI

2002. ISBN 92-2-113441-5.


F E A T U R E S


>>

THE VISIT OF HERMAJESTY, QUEEN RANIAAL ABDULLAH OF JORDAN, to the interna-tional Labour Office onThursday 3 October 2002.The Queen met with theDirector-General, JuanSomavia, and other seniorofficials of the ILO. HerMajesty has a specialinterest in children’sissues, and her visitfocused on the launchingof an expanded pro-gramme against childlabour in Jordan initiatedby the ILO InternationalProgramme for the Elimin-ation of Child Labour.

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M E D I A S H E L F

World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalizationholds third meeting

The major areas to be considered includeglobalization and political processes; new pro-duction systems and technology; internationaleconomic and financial policies and institu-tions; responses to globalization in strategies forgrowth, development and employment; andcross-border movement of people. Gender,employment, culture, voice and representationare major themes which have emerged acrossthe board. In all these areas, the Commissionwill be looking both to assess the situation andto make practical proposals for implementation.

The objectives of the Commission are to helpmove the debate on globalization from con-frontation to dialogue, and to articulate a realiz-able vision for a fair and sustainable model ofglobalization to meet the needs of people,around which consensus can be built. The aim isto look at globalization through the eyes of peo-ple. More specifically, it aims at policy recom-

mendations to make globalization a more inclu-sive process, and a resource to foster growth anddevelopment, reduce poverty, and to promoteemployment and decent work. The Commissionwill identify policies, processes and institutionalchanges necessary to realize this vision.

The Commission met separately with HörstKohler, Managing Director of the InternationalMonetary Fund (IMF), and Dr. Supachai Pan-itchpakdi, Director-General of the World TradeOrganization (WTO). The discussions reflectedan active interest to find pragmatic and sustain-able ways of making globalization more inclu-sive.

The Commission is expected to complete itswork in the second half of 2003 and issue a reportby the end of the year. Additional informationabout the work of the Commission can be foundon its Web site, at http://www.ilo.org/wcsdg

At its third meeting, from 12 to 15 October, the Commission movedtowards general agreement on a framework of issues which it will address inits final report, and heard statements by the chiefs of IMF and WTO. TheCommission, which is co-chaired by President Tarja Halonen of Finland andPresident Benjamin Mkapa of Tanzania, has embarked on a process of iden-tifying and assessing various policy proposals in certain major areas beforeits next meeting in February 2003.

© M. Crozet / ILO

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ILO,ADB join forces to improve labourstandards, promote development

The International Labour Office (ILO) and theAsian Development Bank (ADB) have joinedforces to improve labour standards as a means ofpromoting development and reducing poverty inthe Asia-Pacific region.

In a joint workshop recently, the ILO and theADB concluded that government commitment toimproving labour standards is crucial to ensuringbroad-based and sustainable development in theAsia-Pacific region. The meeting recommendedthat governments, the ADB and the ILO highlightlabour standards in policy dialogue with govern-ments, promote improved labour standards bydesigning projects (e.g., to address child labour,improve occupational safety, reduce discriminationat the workplace or eliminate bonded labour),strengthen monitoring of working conditions in theregion, and, develop capacity-building and aware-ness-raising activities to improve labour standards.

The two organizations agreed to strengthencooperation in order to promote decent workingconditions which would reduce poverty, raise liv-ing standards and enhance the quality of growthby increasing productivity, according to AkiraSeki, Director-General of the ADB’s Regional Sus-tainable Development Department.

“Failing to take account of labour standardsharms development in definite and measurableways,” said Lee Swepston, Chief of the Equality andEmployment Branch of the ILO. “Respect for basichuman rights at work, and for the legal and regula-tory structures necessary to give effect to them,helps workers, employers, and economies as awhole. It is also an essential measure for povertyreduction. The ILO calls this process ‘Decent Work’.”

Of the estimated 1.2 billion people living inpoverty around the world, some two-thirds livein the Asia-Pacific region. According to ILO fig-ures, some 127 million of the world’s 246 millionchild labourers aged 5 to 14 live in the region. Inaddition, many of the world’s 20 million bondedlabourers live in the area, while many countriesreport discrimination in the workplace on thegrounds of gender, race, caste, age, religiousbelief and political opinion. The ILO estimatesthat more than 350 million decent jobs will be

needed in the region over the next decade.The ILO and the Bank also discussed labour stan-

dards for public and private sectors as part of socialcorporate responsibility. Details on how to conductsocial audits, as currently performed by SocialAccountability International or private audit firmswere discussed by high level representatives fromemployers, unions and other organizations.

The drive to improve labour standards is gainingsupport from many countries, development agen-cies, companies and civil society organizations.

“This does not mean that developing countriesshould be pushed into adopting regulations andprotections that stifle flexibility, competitivity andgrowth”, Mr. Swepston said. “The difficulty inpractice will be to find the appropriate level of reg-ulation and protection in each case. This willrequire a new approach to viewing situations andfinding solutions to problems of poverty, exclusionand development.”

For a report, statement and further details, see:www.adb.org/Documents/Events/2002/Core_Labor_Standards/default.asp

© J. Maillard / ILO

© J. Maillard / ILO

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ILO hosts Congress on a basic income

GENEVA – How do you save 1.2 billion peoplefrom dire poverty? There is an obvious answer –give them a job. But creating 1.2 billion decent jobsis no easy matter. BIEN’s idea is to give those wholive on less than a dollar a day a guaranteed basicincome of one extra dollar, every day. This, theysay, would prevent starvation while laying thefoundation for a more permanent solution.

Countries as diverse as Brazil and the US havesuccessfully experimented with basic incomeschemes. In welfare states, replacing unemploy-ment handouts with a basic income could elimi-nate “unemployment traps”, whereby those on lowincomes lose benefits if they take jobs. Guy Stand-ing, co-Chair of the Congress and Director of the

ILO socio-economic security programme, saidthat the issue was moving up the political agenda.“When we first introduced this, we were regardedas mad, bad and dangerous to know. But we arenow welcomed by many policymakers,” Standingtold reporters. In his address to the Congress, ILODirector-General Juan Somavia welcomed thedebate on the issue, and pinpointed income inse-curity as one of the most pernicious consequencesof global inequality. “To escape this global povertytrap, people need security. The security that comesfrom going to bed at night, knowing that you andyour family are not going to wake up hungry andhumiliated the next day,” he stated.

A basic income could also be justified otherwisethan on grounds of social justice. Mr. Somavianoted that, “We have all seen how the absence ofeconomic and social security leads to desperationand the temptation to act destructively.”A divided,unequal world where anger against a wealthy, age-ing population in the North runs high, is an attrac-tive prospect for no one.

BIEN’s challenge is now to convince the interna-tional community that the scheme is feasible.Their 10th Congress is scheduled to take place inBarcelona in 2004.For more information see www.basicincome.org

A basic income for all... the solu-tion to world poverty? According tothe Basic Income European Network(BIEN), which recently held its 9thCongress at the ILO, one solutionwould be to provide a daily allow-ance to cover the basic needs of theimpoverished around the world.

Governing Body 285: Focus on tripar-tism, situation of workers in occupiedterritories, Myanmar, Colombia

The ILO Governing Body (GB) concluded its285th Session in November following discussionson tripartism, the situation of workers in theoccupied Arab territories and Myanmar, and a“Global Social Trust” which could ultimately helpto provide basic social security for up to 100 mil-lion people in the least developed and low-incomecountries.

Regarding the appointment of the Director-General, GB delegates confirmed that the election

should take place at its 286th Session in March2003. The five-year-mandate of the Director-Gen-eral will take effect on 4 March 2004. The currentDirector-General Juan Somavia of Chile was elect-ed to his position in March 1999, and his first termwill be completed by March 2004. During the dis-cussion several speakers expressed their supportfor a second term for Mr. Somavia.

The GB also followed up on a resolution adopt-ed by the International Labour Conference in June

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COUNTRY ISSUESDelegates examined reports on developments

since June of this year concerning the obser-vance by the Government of Myanmar of theILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29).Delegates discussed the possibility of the ILOsending a mission to Myanmar to conclude aplan of action for the elimination of forcedlabour in the country, provided that such a planof action between the Liaison Officer and theauthorities in Yangon advanced in a satisfactorymanner. The sending of a mission was left to theconsideration of the Director-General.

The GB also gave strong support for the cre-ation of a Palestinian Fund for Employment andSocial Protection, which had been proposed bythe Director-General in a report on the situationin the occupied Arab territories issued duringthe International Labour Conference in June.The ILO has called for capacity-building ofsocial partners, creation of an employment and

social protection fund and the establishment ofa platform for Palestinian and Israeli con-stituents for social dialogue. Having noted thepractical approach by the ILO, the GoverningBody members encouraged the Office to assistin the establishment of the Fund, and appealedto the donor community to support it. Theyrequested a progress report for the March 2003session of the Governing Body.

The Governing Body also considered develop-ments in Colombia and the special cooperationprogramme called “Project Colombia”, whichhas been established to secure the rights ofColombian trade unionists, promote freedom ofassociation and the right to organize in thecountry, and further social dialogue as a meansof stopping violence. The Vice-President ofColombia, Francisco Santos Calderon addressedthe Governing Body saying that the new Gov-ernment would do everything in its power tostop violence in the country.

GLOBAL SOCIAL TRUSTThe Governing Body authorized

the Office to initiate a project totest the idea of addressing thechallenge of alleviating povertythrough an internationallyfinanced social protection mecha-nism known as a Global SocialTrust. With 1.3 billion people liv-ing on less than US$1 a day – andwith the world communityresolved in the Millennium

Development Goals to halve that number of peo-ple by 2015 – the Global Social Trust concept is toraise family income in the poorest countriesthrough the provision of basic social security.Financing would come from networks of individ-uals in developed countries who would systemati-cally make regular, voluntary donations of a few

dollars a month to create basic social protectionsystems in developing countries and support ben-efit payments until those systems become self-sup-porting.

The core benefits would consist of basic incomesecurity benefits, education and health services.Following up on a study authorized last year by theILO Director-General and presented this week, theGoverning Body authorized that the test willinclude one donor country and one developingcountry together in setting up a concrete anti-poverty social protection benefit in the latter. Thepilot project would last several years and the Gov-erning Body and the public will be informed aboutthe progress at regular intervals. The project willbe accompanied by an advisory board which willmonitor the progress of the pilot project and theGlobal Social Trust concept in general.

designed to strengthen the tripartite structure ofthe 83-year-old Organization and enhance the roleof its employer and worker representatives. Underthe resolution on tripartism, delegates approvedproposals for concrete action, including “socialdialogue audits” or reviews of key ILO activitieswithin the four ILO technical sectors, directlyinvolving the unique expertise and specific man-

dates of the ILO Social Dialogue Sector and itsunits. The Governing Body requested the Direc-tor-General to put in place a comprehensive cross-cutting plan of action for strengthening tripartismand social dialogue throughout the office.

© M. Crozet / ILO

© M. Crozet / ILO

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Make tripartism happen:ILO Governing Body gives the Organizationnew direction

The Governing Body followed up on a Resolu-tion adopted by the International Labour Confer-ence in June designed to strengthen the tripartitestructure of the 83-year-old Organization andenhance the role of its employer and worker repre-sentatives. The Social Dialogue and Tripartism Res-olution reaffirms the importance of the tripartitenature of the ILO, which makes the ILO uniqueamong world organizations in that employers’ andworkers’ organizations have an equal voice withgovernments in shaping its policies and pro-grammes.

The spokesperson of the workers’ group in theGoverning Body, Leroy Trotman, referred to the Res-olution as a means to “bridge the gap between thecommitment to ILO standards and their practicalapplication. The Resolution will make tripartismhappen at the national level.” On behalf of theemployers’ group, Mr. Funes de Rioja insisted on “theneed to strengthen the tripartite structures of the ILOand to ensure that the ILO works with and for theconstituents of the Organization.”

The Resolution invites the governments of mem-ber States to ensure that the necessary preconditionsexist for social dialogue, including respect for theright to freedom of association and collective bar-gaining, sound industrial relations, and respect forthe role of the social partners. It further asks govern-ments as well as workers’ and employers’ organiza-tions to promote and enhance tripartism and socialdialogue, especially in sectors where these principlesare absent or hardly exist.

In particular, the social partners should be involvedin “a meaningful consultative process in labourreforms”. In order to enhance the capacity of labouradministrations and workers’ and employers’ organ-izations to participate in social dialogue, the Resolu-tion instructs the ILO to carry out in-depth studies ofsocial dialogue in collaboration with the Organiza-tion’s constituents.

The Resolution also aims to improve the way theILO operates. It calls for a strengthening of theOffice’s tripartite structures and for appropriate tri-partite consultation when selecting civil societyorganizations with which to work.

Under the Resolution on tripartism, delegatesapproved proposals for concrete action, including“social dialogue audits” or reviews of key ILO activi-ties within the four ILO technical sectors, directlyinvolving the unique expertise and specific mandatesof the ILO Social Dialogue Sector and its units. Socialdialogue audits are meant to mainstream best socialdialogue practices into ILO activities aimed at imple-menting the Decent Work Agenda for the benefit oftripartite constituents. The Governing Body request-ed the Director-General to put in place a comprehen-sive cross-cutting plan of action for strengthening tri-partism and social dialogue throughout the office.

The Governing Body is the executive tripartite body of the International Labour Office (the Office is the secretariat of the Organization). It meets three times ayear, in March, June, and November. It takes decisions on ILO policy, decides the agenda of the International Labour Conference, adopts the draft Programmeand Budget of the Organization for submission to the Conference, and elects the Director-General.

It is composed of 56 titular members (28 Governments, 14 Employers and 14 Workers) and 66 deputy members (28 Governments, 19 Employersand 19 Workers). Ten of the titular government seats are permanently held by States of chief industrial importance (Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy,Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States). The other Government members are elected by the Conference every three years.

In 1941, US Presi-dent Franklin D.Roosevelt recalledthe founding of theILO with the fol-lowing words: “Tomany it was a wilddream. Who hadever heard of gov-ernments gettingtogether to raisethe standards oflabour on an inter-national plane?Wilder still wasthe idea that thepeople themselveswho were directlyaffected – theworkers and theemployers of thevarious countries –should have a handwith the govern-ments in determin-ing these labourstandards.”

© M. Crozet / ILO

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Latest report of ILO Committee on Freedom of Association citesBelarus, Colombia, Zimbabwe, others

GENEVA – Belarus, Colombia, Ecuador,Venezuela and Zimbabwe are among the seriousand urgent cases cited by the ILO Committee onFreedom of Association in its latest report, adoptedby the 285th Session of the ILO Governing Body,for serious infringements of the principle of free-dom of association and violations of trade unionrights.

In its thrice-yearly report* to the GoverningBody, the Committee drew special attention to thecase of Belarus, where the Committee noted withdeep alarm the absence of progress towards imple-mentation of previous recommendations and aserious deterioration in respect for trade unionrights in the country.

The Committee repeated recommendations forinformation on the need to amend a PresidentialDecree (No. 8) “so that workers’ and employers’organizations may benefit freely, and without pre-vious authorization, from the assistance whichmight be provided by international organizationsfor activities compatible with freedom of associa-tion”.

The Committee also expressed concern overmeasures which appeared to be a manipulation ofthe trade union movement, and could lead tofinancial difficulties for trade union organizationswhile further undermining the right of workers toelect their own representatives freely. It said that itregrets certain declarations in a speech made inSeptember this year by the President of Belarus tothe Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus (FPB)which “represent a clear attempt to transform thetrade union movement into an instrument for thepursuance of political aims”.

Regarding the recent elections of the President ofthe Federation of Trade Unions of Belarus, formerDeputy Head of the Presidential Administration, aswell as some other branch and regional tradeunions, the Committee urged the Government toinstitute an independent investigation immediately

into the allegations relating to government inter-ference, with the aim of rectifying any effects of thisinterference, including, if necessary, the holding ofnew elections.

Finally, the Committee requested that its Chair-person make special contacts with the Governmentrepresentatives of Belarus in order to express theCommittee’s serious concern over the issues in thiscase.

In the case of Colombia, the Committee notedthat while violence affects all sectors of the popula-tion, it was obliged to express its “deep concernonce again at the situation of violence against tradeunion officials and members”. It reiterated that“freedom of association can only be exercised inconditions in which fundamental human rights,and in particular those relating to human life andpersonal safety, are fully respected and guaranteed”.

The report lists allegations of attempted mur-ders, abductions and threats, showing that the situ-ation of violence in Colombia continues to beextremely serious. Even the Government, in itsreply, had indicated that the situation is deteriorat-ing rather than improving.

Since the last examination of the case in June2002, 45 murders, 37 abductions and nine attempt-ed murders have been reported to the Committee.The Committee observed that the facts suggest thatthe measures adopted are insufficient to put an endto or reduce the violence directed against tradeunion officials. It deplored that, despite numerousrequests, the Government has thus far not reportedany convictions of individuals for the murder oftrade unionists.

The Committee urged the Government to doeverything in its power to achieve verifiable resultsin dismantling paramilitary groups, and other vio-lent revolutionary groups and to take the necessarymeasures to put an end to the intolerable situationof impunity and to punish all those responsible forthe innumerable acts of violence.

* Report of the Committeeon Freedom of Associa-tion, Governing Body,ILO, November 2002,GB285.9

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In the aftermath of serious allegations of viola-tions of the right to strike in Ecuador, including theinvasion of plantations by hundreds of armed andhooded men who wounded 12 workers andharassed female workers, the Committee decidedto place this case among those it considers to be ofan especially serious and urgent nature.

The Committee further noted the complainants’emphasis that the employers were responsible forthese actions. While noting certain steps alreadytaken by the Government, the Committee urgedthe Government to ensure that an investigationand legal proceedings are commenced immediatelyto find out what happened, define responsibilities,punish the guilty parties, award compensation andprevent such incidents from happening again.

The case of Venezuela concerned allegations ofunfair dismissal of 3,500 workers in the regionalgovernment of the State of Trujillo within theframework of reorganization. While orders forreinstatement were made in respect of some ofthese workers, the regional entity failed to comply.The Committee therefore urged the Governmentto ensure that these rulings were implemented, andrequested the Government to carry out an urgentindependent inquiry into the reasons for this massdismissal and to ensure that, if it is established thatthese dismissals were made on anti-union grounds,the workers are reinstated with back pay.

In the case of Zimbabwe, the Committee exam-ined a raid on the headquarters of the ZimbabweanConfederation of Trade Unions (ZCTU) by plain-clothes representatives of the Zimbabwean Repub-lic Police, who threatened to use force to disbandthe meeting unless they were allowed on the prem-ises. The ZCTU was finally prevented from pro-ceeding with the scheduled meeting.

Noting that the High Court in Zimbabwe foundthat the police did not have a right to monitor themeeting and that it issued an order prohibiting thepolice from attending meetings of the ZCTU Gen-eral Council, the Committee requested the Govern-ment to ensure in the future that the principles ofnon-interference by the authorities in the meetingsand internal affairs of trade unions are respected,and to ensure implementation of the High Courtorder as concerns police intervention. The Com-mittee further noted with grave concern, the alle-gations concerning the intention of the authoritiesto deregister the ZCTU, and the anti-union attitudebefore and during the electoral campaign, and

strongly urged the Government to refrain from anyaction in this respect.

In the case of Japan, the allegations concernedthe current and upcoming reform of the country’spublic service. The Committee recalled that theright to organize was distinct from the right tostrike, and urged the Government to amend its leg-islation so that fire-defence personnel and prisonstaff may set up organizations of their own choos-ing. As concerns the general prohibition of theright to strike for public employees, the Committeerecommended that the Government reconsider itsintention to maintain this blanket strike interdic-tion and requested it to amend its legislation tobring it into conformity with freedom of associa-tion principles in this respect.

As concerns collective bargaining, the Commit-tee recalled that public servants should enjoy suchrights, with the possible exception of the armedforces, the police and public servants directlyengaged in the administration of the State, andrequested the Government to bring its legislationinto conformity with these principles. Finally, theCommittee strongly recommended that full, frankand meaningful consultations be held soon withall parties concerned, on the rationale and sub-stance of the public service reform, to obtain awider consensus on the subject and to bring thelegislation into conformity with freedom of asso-ciation principles.

“For a detailed story on the history of the CFA, seeWorld of Work No. 44, September-October 2002,cover story “Freedom, Security and Voice atWork: 50 years of action by the ILO Committee onFreedom of Association”. In print or at:www.ilo.org

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In the line of fire: Waiting for peace,in the south of Sudan

T R I P R E P O R T

SOUTH SUDAN – The mission was organizedto assess the recovery needs of the thousands ofpeople displaced by war in the south of Sudan.

Ongoing negotiations between the Govern-ment of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples LiberationMovement (SPLM) have raised hopes that apeace agreement will soon be reached. In themeantime, the violence of the factions whichcontrol the country’s most desolate lands, andcarry out wanton shootings and killings among adesperate population, continues.

In the south, most people have fled to the rela-tive safety of garrison towns, little enclaves wherethe Sudanese Government forces defend invisi-ble boundaries never longer than a few miles. Allare surrounded by minefields and territorywhere unruly militias hold sway in a whirlwindof violence and constantly shifting alliances.

The garrison town of Wau is a kind of ghosttown. It still appears on the map, but has beenlargely destroyed. Three Russian-built Antonovplanes lie in pieces on the airstrip. There are fewother signs of a once bustling community: thedaily newspaper is gone and the fruit-processingplant that used to can dried mangoes andpineapples for export is long closed. Thosebuildings that are still standing have been con-verted into military barracks. The only sign ofcommerce are a few shops – a carpenter and abicycle repairman are busy until dusk, whentheir daily work is halted by evening prayers andthe curfew.

At the Marial Ajiith displaced people camp,villagers are pessimistic about their future. Own-ership issues may trigger new clashes in theabsence of a well-established administration andjudiciary system. Most are simple farmers whosay they want to go home, but first need tools toresume their work: farm implements, fishingnets. Many show symptoms of what NGO repre-sentatives called “relief syndrome”: not wantingto give up such basic services as clean water, san-itation, and education, which they received inthe camps for the first time.

The East Bank camp hosts 12,000 internallydisplaced persons, mostly from the Dinka andJur ethnicities. Well built tuculs (huts) are sur-rounded by mango trees. The people say theyneeded grinding mills, cattle, and shelters inorder to restart their lives.

Monica, a determined young woman, learnedhow to make clothes while in the camp. She saidshe and some 250 other women could even starta business and sell the clothes at the market, ifthey could obtain sewing machines.

“We are all for Peace,” says a postercommon in Sudan, showing northernand southern Sudanese convergingidyllically in a peaceful march,embraced by the wings of a dove. Butpeace is proving hard to find, as Dona-to Kiniger-Passigli of the ILO InFocusCrisis Programme discovered during arecent visit to the region.

© D. Kiniger-Passigli / ILO

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A lack of services is, in fact, the problem. “Long pastare the days when we could make a spear and go fish-ing, “ recalled an old woman, adding “Now we can onlywait for the food rations of the UN and hope that the fliessticking on our skin won’t bring us diseases”. Peter Bap-tist Abakar, Director-General of the Welfare Departmentof Wau, said there is an urgent need for vocational cen-tres, like the ones that ran 10 years ago. Most of thesecentres were turned into military garrisons, but they areimportant, he said, to teach essential skills in masonry,carpentry, electricity, mechanics, and others.

At the end of the mission, after visiting the oil-richWestern-Upper Nile region, the inter-agency group wascaught in the middle of a battle between two militias,and left the site by emergency evacuation, together with

the rest of the UN contingent and NGOs. Such violenceis part of everyday life for displaced people in the Southof Sudan. They lack access to clean water, education,health and sanitation. They have no fishing nets, or cat-tle to herd. Caught in the midst of inter-ethnic and inter-factional conflict, in regions still lengths away frompeace talks, they are deprived of every kind of security.

The failure of the international community to supportlocal authorities in addressing the needs of the estimat-ed four million internally-displaced people of Sudancould undermine the fragile reconciliation process, juststarted after 19 years of war. Launching programmesthat could help give these people a livelihood is animperative with which the ILO can assist.

DEARTH OF SERVICES

Donato Kiniger-Passigli, ILO IFP/CRISIS, andAbdel-Aziz Boutaleb, Sub-Regional Office forNorth Africa, Cairo, represented the ILO in aUnited Nations inter-agency mission to Sudanfrom the 3rd to the 17th of November. They respec-tively visited the regions of Bahr el Gazhal andUnity State in south Sudan, and Darfour in west-ern Sudan. The mission formulated a strategy forsupporting federal and regional authorities inaccommodating internally displaced persons and

returning refugees.The ILO component of the inter-agency missionidentified some crucial activities that could beundertaken to support the peace process. Theyinclude skills surveys, rehabilitation and labourintensive projects, development of vocationaltraining centers, capacity building for civil ser-vants, microcredit and revolving loan schemes toassist returning displaced and other vulnerablegroups.

© D

.Kin

iger

-Pas

sigl

i / I

LO

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■ Child domestic workers are par-ticularly vulnerable to exploitationand abuse, and like the adults in thesector they are frequently ignored bypolicymakers and excluded from leg-islation. The plight of child domesticworkers was at the heart of the ILO-Japan-Korea Asian Tripartite Meetingin Bangkok from 2 to 4 October. Gov-ernment, employers’ and workers’representatives from 16 countries inthe region discussed the nature of theproblem and possible solutions to it.Participants also drafted a frameworkfor national plans of action, the pre-vention of child domestic labour, andsupport mechanisms for the rehabili-tation of child domestic workersengaged in hazardous work.

For further information on the agree-ment reached by delegates, visithttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/region/asro/bangkok/newsroom/pr0212.htmor contact Stephen Thompson, the ILOPublic Information Officer inBangkok, phone: +662/288-2482; fax: +662/288-3062; email: [email protected]

which commits the parties to promoteILO core labour standards. The pactcalls for sustainable practices in gold-mining operations, including safetystandards and the best practices inindustrial relations. ICEM General Sec-retary, Fred Higgs, called the agreement“a major breakthrough for Africa and agiant step forward for the global min-ing industry. It acknowledges theimportance of social dimensions ofsustainable development.” AngloGoldCEO, Bobby Godsell, said his companywas “pleased to be part of a processwhose intention is ... to promote dia-logue and sound labour relations.”

For further information on the ILO Tri-partite Declaration of Principles concern-ing Multinational Enterprises and SocialPolicy, please visit www.ilo.org/multior contact the Multinational EnterprisesProgramme, phone: +4122/799-6481; fax: +4122/799-6354; email: [email protected]

will discuss other critical issues, such asthe advantages and disadvantages ofbeing more integrated in the global sys-tem, and the Russian Federation’saccession to the World Trade Organiza-tion (WTO). Following the ILO Direc-tor-General’s visit to Moscow, the Russ-ian Government had requested theOrganization to help in assessing thesocial consequences of its accession.

For further information, please contactthe ILO office in Moscow, phone:+7095/933-0810; fax: +7095/933-0820;email: [email protected]

A REGULAR REVIEW OF THE INTERNATIONAL LABOURORGANIZATION AND ILO-RELATED ACTIVITIES AND EVENTSTAKING PLACE AROUND THE WORLD.

A R O U N D T H E C O N T I N E N T S

Domestic child labourin the spotlight

Social dimension of globalization inRussia■ The First National Round Table onthe Social Dimensions of Globalizationfor the Russian Federation, took placein Moscow on 25 September 2002. Rus-sia was chosen as one of the first coun-tries to pilot a series of roundtables onthe impact of globalization on people’swork and lives currently being promot-ed by the ILO World Commission onGlobalization. Upcoming roundtables

WTO chief calls forcloser ties to ILO

Women of Keralademand security■ In a remarkable demonstration ofsolidarity and determination, 32,000women in the rural state of Kerala,India, turned up for a rally precedingan ILO seminar on “Decentralizationand Socio-Economic Security”. Themeeting explored the linkages betweenglobalization and social policy decen-tralization, pointing out the potentialpitfalls and the conditions which haveto be met in order to strengthenwomen’s security and welfare in localcommunities.

For further information, please contactthe InFocus Programme on Socio-Eco-nomic Security,phone: +4122/799-8893; fax: +4122/799-7978; email: [email protected]

■ Supachai Panitchpakdi, the newDirector-General of the World TradeOrganization (WTO), said that a majorfocus of his tenure would be better“coherence of policies” between theWTO and other international organi-zations, including the ILO. “In order tobe able to make real use of trade forsustainable development, the WTOwould need to be working in tandemwith other responsible organizationslike the World Bank, UNCTAD, IMF,UNDP, ILO, WHO ... to be always intouch with one another, to be jointlydeveloping certain programmes [so]that we could enhance the instrumentsof trade for sustainable development,”said Supachai, on 2 September.

■ AngloGold, the world’s leadinggold producer, signed an agreement on13 September with the InternationalFederation of Chemical, Energy, Mineand General Workers’ Unions (ICEM),

Mining companypledges respect forILO standards

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social costs of the informal economy,and the role of trade unions and NGOs.

For further information, please contactthe ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities,phone: +4122/799-7021; fax: +4122/799-6570; email: [email protected]

Moldovans facelabour market insecurity■ The ILO InFocus Programme onSocio-Economic Security, and theDepartment for Statistics and Sociologyin the Republic of Moldova, conductedan Enterprise Labour Market FlexibilitySurvey to assist in the development ofpolicies which alleviate social and eco-nomic insecurities, and improve pro-ductivity and working conditions inMoldovan enterprises. The surveypoints to an economy in which workerssuffer from economic insecurity, andunemployment runs rampant. Thecountry needs to establish an efficientmanufacturing capacity which willabsorb more people in productiveemployment. According to presentdevelopments however, this will notoccur in the foreseeable future. The sur-vey also points to pervasive problems ofdisguised unemployment (estimated atalmost 40 per cent), wage arrears(reported by 79.9 per cent of surveyedfirms), and declining wages and bene-fits. The breakdown of social welfarehas led to untold misery for the majori-ty of the population.

For further information, please contactthe InFocus Programme on Socio-Eco-nomic Security,phone: +4122/799-8893; fax: +4122/799-7978; email: [email protected]

official rates of economic activity,women’s employment in the countryalmost doubled between 1980 and2000, from 14.7 per cent to 24.6 percent, exceeding the rate of growth ofmale employment in the same period.“Within these changes”, said MaryKawar, ILO Senior Gender Specialist,“one overlying factor seems to be anincreasing visibility of women work-ers in the manufacturing sector, par-ticularly in textiles and garment mak-ing. This is due to the economicreform process, the new and evolvingrole of the private sector, and theexpansion of export-led industries.”

For further information, please contactthe ILO Regional Office for the ArabStates in Beirut,phone: +9611/752-400; fax: +9611/752-405; email: [email protected]; Web site: www.ilo.org/beirut

Breaking the wavesfor decent work

■ On the occasion of the secondmeeting of the High-Level TripartiteWorking Group on Maritime LabourStandards (ILO, Geneva, 14-18 October2002), the Spanish Government pre-sented a model of its hospital boat,“Esperanza del Mar”, as a gift to the ILO.Because the ship was constructed toabide by ILO maritime labour stan-dards, it is a symbol for decent workonboard ships. The Working Groupexamined the components for a newconsolidated maritime labour Conven-tion to be submitted for adoption to theInternational Labour Conference in2005. Particular attention was paid tothe provisions for inspection and con-trol onboard ships. Another topicalissue discussed at the meeting wasimproved security of seafarers’ identifi-cation. A new instrument on this ques-tion is to be adopted by the Internation-al Labour Conference in June 2003.

For further information, please contactthe ILO Maritime Activities Team, phone:+4122/799-6512; fax: +4122/799-7050;email: [email protected]

Trade unions and theinformal economy■ As a follow-up to the general dis-cussion which took place at this year’sInternational Labour Conference, thenext issue of Labour Education will bedevoted to the informal economy. Inaddition to an interview with ChristineNathan (India) who chaired the work-ers’ group and served as its spokesper-son at the Conference, contributions tothis issue tackle regional perspectives aswell as topics such as microcredit, the

More women enterJordan’s labour market■ Employment trends in Jordan areslowly changing in favour of women,according to the ILO Regional Officefor Arab States, in Beirut. Despite low

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Articles have been excerpted and are not always in the exact format in which they appear originally. They are trimmed and rearranged sometimes, for space reasons.


Al-Safir (Beirut)

ILO starts its 285th Session of the Governing Body

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Concern about public health and theincreasing cost of health care, have madethis sector one of the most debated politicalissues in many countries. The vital role ofthe social partners (governments, employ-ers’ and workers’ organizations) and ofsocial dialogue among them has been rec-ognized, so that there is an acknowledgedneed to implement dialogue in order toadvance and sustain reform processes inmany areas of the health sector. However,the institutions and the capacity for socialdialogue still need to be strengthened.This report gives an overview of the issues,and details changes in institutions, newreforms in management, and national andinternational trends of employment in thehealth services, as well as financing ofhealth-care delivery. Approaches whichfacilitate social dialogue, the role of thesocial partners and the challenges to aworking relationship are also discussed.The report introduces the ILO’s approach tobuilding a framework which will bolster therole of social dialogue in general, and par-ticularly in the health services.

■ A Statistical Profile ofthe Teaching ProfessionMaria Teresa SiniscalcoILO, Geneva, 2002, andUNESCO, ParisISBN 92-2-113115-7Price: 15 Swiss francs

This text assembles much of the mostreliable data on the teaching professionproduced in the last few years. It focuseson the main points, including the conditionsunder which teachers work and the policytrade-offs governments face while trying tomeet the expectations of citizens for univer-sally accessible and high quality education.The publication outlines different teachingcontexts by contrasting demand and supplybetween developed and developing coun-tries. It examines the composition of theteaching force in various regions and coun-tries, and offers a comparative analysis ofthe qualifications of the teaching force. Italso addresses the conditions of service,including working and teaching time, classsize and salary, and analyzes the changesin the structural characteristics of educa-tion systems and how they affect teaching

and learning conditions,translating these into costper student.

■ LABORDOCAvailable online at:www.ilo.org/labordoc

ILO, Geneva, 2002LABORDOC is the International Labour

Office (ILO) Central Library catalogue ofbooks, reports, journals, and documents. Itcontains over 320,000 references to theworld’s most significant literature on labour,including international coverage of majortopics, such as employment, labour rela-tions, labour law, working conditions, voca-tional training, social security, occupationalsafety and health, women workers, childlabour, migrant workers, economic andsocial rights, and all labour-related aspectsof economic and social development.LABORDOC provides multilingual access(English, French, German and Spanish) tospecialized documents indexed and classi-fied using the ILO Thesaurus. This cata-logue is an invaluable tool for policymakers,entrepreneurs, business managers, andemployers’ and workers’ representativesdealing with problems of unemployment,job creation, poverty alleviation, and indus-trial restructuring, or those facing suchcomplex issues as stress, AIDS, violence,sexual harassment, and productivity andcompensation in the workplace. Toresearchers, students and others interest-ed in the social sciences, economics, anddevelopment studies in relation to work andemployment, it offers non-English literature,including original and translated versions ofinter-governmental and nongovernmentalpublications.

■ Statistics on occupa-tional wages and hours ofwork and on food pricesOctober Inquiry results,2000 and 2001ILO, Geneva, 2002ISBN 92-2-011379-1

Price: 35 Swiss francsThis is an annual publication by the

International Labour Office, prepared bythe Bureau of Statistics. It presents theresults of the two most recent rounds ofthe ILO October Inquiry on occupationsand industry groups which fall within thescope of the ILO Industrial Committees.This publication is a reference source forall who are interested in conditions ofwork and life, including professionallabour statisticians, governments, em-ployers, labour organizations, investors,lawyers, the media and consumers. Forviewing and downloading data, please goto: http://laborsta.ilo.org

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■ The evolution of employment, workingtime and training in the mining industryILO, Geneva, 2002ISBN 92-2-113223-4Price: 17.50 Swiss francs

Although employment in the formal partof the mining industry has fallen, productiv-ity has risen across the board in recentyears. This report surveys the state of themining industry, recent changes to it, andthe various issues affecting the formal sec-tor. Modernized mines are capital-inten-sive, requiring fewer workers per unit ofproduction, yet necessitating several crewsto enable continuous operation. New minesare likely to be in remote locations, often indeveloping countries, where attracting andretaining competent, diligent, and motivat-ed workers requires special and sustainedeffort. As mines close and employmentdrops dramatically, restructuring pro-grammes are needed to address mineworkers’ concerns, such as training, use ofequipment, safety, female employment,stress, fatigue due to extended workingtime, and AIDS, as well as the welfare ofminers’ families and communities. Thereport also discusses how the ILO can con-tribute to the mining industry’s continuedoperation in a context of sustainable devel-opment, while ensuring decent work for all.

■ The promotion of goodindustrial relations in oiland gas production and oilrefiningILO, Geneva, 2002ISBN 92-2-112812-1Price: 15 Swiss francs

The oil and gas industries, on which theeconomic health of many countriesdepends, rely on the quality of the work-force and good industrial relations to main-tain a healthy production and a stable sup-ply of petroleum products. This reportexamines developments in the rapidlychanging world of the oil and gas industriesfocusing on recent changes in industrialrelations and social dialogue, as well as theimpact of these changes on employment.The report also addresses the issues ofwelfare, industrial relations, freedom ofassociation and collective bargaining.

■ Social dialogue in thehealth services: Institu-tions, capacity and effec-tivenessILO, Geneva, 2002ISBN 92-2-113232-3Price: 15 Swiss francs

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■ International LabourReview, vol. 141, No. 3 ILO, Geneva, 2002 ISSN 0020-778030 Swiss francs

This issue of the Reviewoffers an eclectic mix of

articles on: how to maximize benefit trans-fer to the poor; how migration might bene-fit everyone (migrants and host countrynationals); the rights of senior citizens tofreedom of organization; and highlightsfrom a symposium on the protection ofworkers in times of uncertainty andchange.

Targeted public works programmes(PWPs) seek to create physical assets atwages not exceeding market wages forcomparable work. In “Maximizing benefittransfers to the poor: Evidence from SouthAfrican employment programmes”,Lawrence Haddad and Michelle Adatoexamine how successful PWPs are atpoverty reduction, genuine job creationand their performance relative to that ofuntargeted benefit transfer programmes.Using new data from South Africa, theyfocus on 101 projects in seven PWPs inWestern Cape Province, in the mid-1990s.They estimate the Rands of public expen-diture needed to transfer one Rand to thepoor, then compare this ratio with thatgenerated by a hypothetical, untargetedtransfer programme. They find that mostof the PWPs considerably outperform thebenchmark.

Eric Weinstein explores the idea of“Migration for the benefit of all” proposinga new paradigm for economic immigra-tion. Stating that migrant worker pro-grammes (MWPs) offer the promise ofincreased productivity, lower consumerprices, cultural interchange and higherliving standards for workers coming frompoorer countries, he points out that theyare regularly bedevilled by various abusesand unintended consequences. Such fail-ures have tended to mitigate popular sup-port among native workers and citizensand this, in turn, has kept MWPs belowthe levels wanted by employers for maxi-mal productivity. In this article, the authormakes an argument for new, market-based MWPs that seek to align the sup-port and interests of native workers,

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employers, consumers, governments, andthe interests of migrants.

In “Senior citizens: Social dignity, statusand the right to representative freedom oforganization”, authors Gideon Ben-Israeland Ruth Ben-Israel argue that senior citi-zens’ interests and rights are not ade-quately provided for in existing legalframeworks, which mostly predate the full-scale emergence of this new populationgroup. Taking a rights-based approachcentring on the concepts of “social soli-darity” and “social dignity”, they proposeto broaden the operational scope of this“human right framework”. Their sugges-tions include a legally recognized statusconferring a range of socio-economicrights to senior citizens; non-discrimina-tion on grounds of age; greater flexibility inpension and retirement systems; andorganized representation modelled ontrade unionism and collective bargaining.

Finally, this issue of the ILR contains a“perspective” on “The dynamics ofchange and the protection of workers”, inwhich are summarized two leading topicsdiscussed at the second ILO/France Sym-posium on: “The search for new securitiesin a world of growing uncertainties”, heldin Lyons, in January 2002. The first topicrelates to the implications for statistics,public policy, collective bargaining andlabour law of the increasing frequencyand diversity of transitions betweenemployment and/or non-employment situ-ations. The second is the question of rec-onciling career and family life. Job cre-ation, training and social protection areclosely linked to security, but Europe isdivided between the necessity of protec-tion and the fashionable appeal of taxcuts.

ILO publications for sale can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or directly from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, 4 route des Morillons, CH-1211Geneva 22, Switzerland. Tel: +4122/799-7828; fax: +4122/799-6938; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http//www.ilo.org/publns. Catalogues or lists of new publications are available free of charge fromthe above address. The ILO Publications Center in the US can be contacted at tel: +301/638-3152; fax: +301/843-0159; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.un.org/depts/ilowbo.

This ILO guide offers an extensiveintroduction to consulting: its nature,professional standards, current devel-opments and future perspectives.Today, the information and knowl-edge-based economy is constantlycreating new opportunities and chal-lenges for consultants, provided theyare able to cope with complex and

rapidly changing conditions and meetthe demands of increasingly sophisti-cated clients.Wide-ranging and highly practical,this new edition:• offers relevant, up-to-date guidance

on e-business consulting• provides a timely discussion on the

social role and responsibility ofbusiness

• presents useful recommendationson company transformation andrenewal

• highlights valuable approaches tototal quality management

• explores consulting in knowledgemanagement and the use of knowl-edge management by consultantsthemselves

• includes essential information onpublic administration

• covers key aspects of intellectualproperty

• contains numerous checklists, dia-grams and examples to illustratekey concepts

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MADRID (ILO News) - The Real Madridfootball club and the InternationalLabour Organization (ILO) are teamingup to raise a "Red card" to child labourin its worst forms – a practice thattraps one of every eight children - orsome 180 million worldwide – inexploitative, often dangerous work.

Real Madrid and the ILO will bring the"Red Card to Child Labour" campaign toMadrid's Santiago Bernabéu Stadiumon 18 December – World Football Day –when the football team marks its cen-tennial anniversary with a matchagainst a world selection team.

In a pre-game ceremony at 9.30 p.m,football players will enter the stadiumaccompanied by 22 children wearing Tshirts with the logo of the Campaignand raise special red cards to demon-strate support for the campaign to endchild labour.

A 30-second ILO video on child labourwill be shown on the stadium's gianttelevision screen at the beginning ofthe ceremony. Antena 3 TV will broad-cast the campaign spot at half time ofthe match. As the only official match tobe played in the world on that day, thematch is expected to receive a largetelevision viewership and extensivemedia coverage worldwide.

At a public ceremony in the SantiagoBernabéu Stadium at 12.30 a.m. on theeve of the match, Kari Tapiola, ILOExecutive Director and FlorentinoPérez Rodríguez, the President of RealMadrid, will sign an agreement ofmutual collaboration on the Red Cardcampaign. The agreement has beenfacilitated by the International Organi-sation of Employers (IOE) and the Span-ish Employers' Confederation (CEOE).

Representatives of the Spanish gov-ernment and the social partners,including Eduardo Zaplana, Minister ofLabour and Social Affairs, MiguelAngel Cortés, Secretary of State forInternational Cooperation and LatinAmerica, José María Cuevas, Presi-dent of CEOE, Cándido Méndez, secre-tary general of the trade union confed-eration UGT, José María Fidalgo,secretary general of the trade unionconfederation CC.OO., AntonioPeñalosa, General Secretary of IOEand Joseph S. Blatter, President ofFIFA, will witness the ceremony.

ABOUT THE CAMPAIGN

The Red Card to Child Labour campaignwas launched on 18th January 2002 inBamako, Mali, at a ceremony chairedby Mali's Prime Minister and Ministerof Integration. During the ceremony,ILO and the African Confederation ofFootball (CAF) signed a Cooperationagreement.

The next important phases of the cam-paign will be the FIFA World YouthChampionship (U-20) in the United ArabEmirates (March/April 2003), the FIFAWomen's World Cup in China (Septem-ber/October 2003), the 2004 CopaAmerica in Peru and the 2006 FIFAWorld Cup in Germany.

For more information:www.ilo.org/ipec; e-mail: [email protected]

Real Madrid football club teams up with ILOto fight child labour

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