102nd International Labour Conference
Workers call for respect of rights
GENEVA-The worker vice-president of the International Labour Conference, Luc Cortebeeck, called today for the urgent respect of workers’ rights in several countries for better implementation of the ILO objectives related to the Decent Work Agenda and Social Justice.
In his opening remarks at the 102nd annual International Labour Conference (ILC), which took place at Geneva, Luc Cortebeeck underlined the role that ILO should play in the context of the current global crisis.
“We are now entering a truly global crisis which will create further obstacles to poverty reduction and the realization of decent work. The race to the bottom in respect of workers’ rights that we are currently experiencing in several countries is an extremely worrying trend”, said Cortebeeck.
“The Workers’ Group believes that the ILO has a crucial role to play to reverse these trends and put decent work, rights and social justice at the centre of economic and social policies as well as recovery measures”, he added.
On behalf of the Workers Group , Luc Cortebeeck expressed his confidence that in the Committee on the Application of Standards “workers and employers will be able to agree on a list of cases and that this year the Committee will be able to fulfill its essential mandate of supervising the application of standards”.
“Despite the many references to the importance of Work and Workers ‘rights in conclusions and recommendations of global and regional bodies beyond the ILO, improvements in reality remain to be seen”, concluded Mr. Cortebeeck in his statement.
The Conference elected Dr. Nidal Katamine, Minister of Labour from Jordan as president of the 102nd session of ILC; Mr. Rytis Paulauskas (Lithuania) as Governments Vice-President, Mr. Kamran Rahman (Bangladesh) , as Employers Vice-President, and Ms. Eulogia Familia (Dominican Republic) as Workers Vice-President.
During the two weeks conference, around 5000 delegates representing governments, workers and employers from the ILO’s 185 Member States will discuss issues including social protection in an ageing world, sustainable development and social dialogue.
In his opening remarks at the 102nd annual International Labour Conference (ILC), which took place at Geneva, Luc Cortebeeck underlined the role that ILO should play in the context of the current global crisis.
“We are now entering a truly global crisis which will create further obstacles to poverty reduction and the realization of decent work. The race to the bottom in respect of workers’ rights that we are currently experiencing in several countries is an extremely worrying trend”, said Cortebeeck.
“The Workers’ Group believes that the ILO has a crucial role to play to reverse these trends and put decent work, rights and social justice at the centre of economic and social policies as well as recovery measures”, he added.
On behalf of the Workers Group , Luc Cortebeeck expressed his confidence that in the Committee on the Application of Standards “workers and employers will be able to agree on a list of cases and that this year the Committee will be able to fulfill its essential mandate of supervising the application of standards”.
“Despite the many references to the importance of Work and Workers ‘rights in conclusions and recommendations of global and regional bodies beyond the ILO, improvements in reality remain to be seen”, concluded Mr. Cortebeeck in his statement.
The Conference elected Dr. Nidal Katamine, Minister of Labour from Jordan as president of the 102nd session of ILC; Mr. Rytis Paulauskas (Lithuania) as Governments Vice-President, Mr. Kamran Rahman (Bangladesh) , as Employers Vice-President, and Ms. Eulogia Familia (Dominican Republic) as Workers Vice-President.
During the two weeks conference, around 5000 delegates representing governments, workers and employers from the ILO’s 185 Member States will discuss issues including social protection in an ageing world, sustainable development and social dialogue.