Luc Cortebeeck, Chairperson of the Workers’ Group

ACTRAV INFO: The 104th session of ILO finished today in Geneva. From the perspective of the workers’ group, how would you say the Conference has gone and how do you see the results?

Luc Cortebeeck: We are happy because overall it was a good Conference. Nonetheless, we did have some difficulties due to the length of the session. Unlike in previous years, the 2015 session was reduced to two weeks and so we had to adapt to the new timetable for the Conference. Overall the work went well in the various committees, except for the Committee on the Applciation of Standards, where the participants had to work very late into the night. We’ll need to see whether we can find better solutions in order to facilitate the work of the delegates during the Conference.

So far as the Committee on SMEs is concerned, the aim was to respect international labour standards and for us workers, the quality of jobs is very important. The conclusions reached at the end of the Committee’s work show the path to follow towards quality jobs in order to ensure a sustainable economy thanks to SMEs.

In the committee dealing with social protection, there were difficult discussions because of the need to ensure a social protection that is adapted to all workers. Discussions will continue within ILO in order to achieve that objective.

ACTRAV INFO: At this session, the Committee on the Application of Standards discussed 24 individual cases relating to violations of international labour standards. From the point of view of the Workers’ Group, how would you evaluate the work of the Committee?

Overall, the work went well in that Committee. We reached consensus conclusions on the 24 cases; that hasn’t happened since June 2011, after the employers attacked the mandate of the experts in 2012, contesting their objectivity and refuting the fact that the right to strike is included in Convention No. 87.

Today, after a lot of negotiation with the employers, a consensus has been found recognizing the right to strike , in general, because it is related to freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining and especially in the specific cases, which was demonstrated in the functioning of the Committee on Freedom of Association. It is possible that the employers will keep contesting the right to strike as an element of Convention No. 87, but the workers will always reaffirm their position on the right to strike as an integral part of that convention. The important thing to note is that the Committee on the Application of Standards is working again; that’s a challenge that we have risen to at this Conference. Because for the workers who don’t have the option of submitting the violations of the rights in their respective countries, the Committee on the Application of Standards offers them that chance.

This year, 24 individual cases were examined and the Committee expressed its expectations of the governments concerned. For example, in Europe there were cases relating to employment policy in Italy and Spain. The Committee called for social dialogue in both these two countries.

Another example is the registration of trade unions, as with the case of Algeria. The Committee called on Algeria to create all the conditions necessary for trade unions to be registered. Regarding Bolivia, the case concerned a delicate subject relating to child labour. As the Nobel Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi reminds us, there can be no exxceptions regarding child labour. All countries must respect these rights including the right to education. In other countries such as Mauritania and Algeria, the government had not even bothered to respond to the experts requests. The Committee explained to them he steps to follow to follow international labour standards. As for Kazakhstan, the government there tried unsuccessfully to contradict the conclusions of the Committee. Some dramatic cases were examined such as the situation in Salvador where some trade unionists were assassinated. The protection of trade unionists remains a major challenge, notably in Swaziland where trade unionists have been imprisoned and the harassment of trade unionists continues in Belarus.

So, despite some progress seen in the area of respect for workers’ rights, the problems relating to forced labour, slavery, and child labour persist.

The Committee on the Application of Standards is thus an opportunity for governments, employers and workers to discuss cases of violations of international labour standards. Which is why it is so important that the ILO supervisory mechanism is operational for the constituents.

ACTRAV INFO: At this conference, the Director-General presented his report on the Future of Work centenary initiative. How would you evaluate the discussions on that theme and what follow-up proposals do the workers have on this issue?

We received very favourably the report of the Director-General during the Conference because it is about preparing the future of ILO, the future of employment and of work. Today, work is continuing to change with digitalisation, new technologies, online commerce, migration etc. Today we are moving towards services rather than industries. These changes will have consequences for the world of work, including workers. It is thus important to prepare for these consequences, to think about the future role of ILO, of governments, employers and trade unions in the light of these changes in the world of work. A committee will be put in place to define the modalities of discussions on this issue in the context of preparations for the ILO centenary in 2019.

ACTRAV INFO: Lastly, the Conference adopted a recommendation on the transition from the informal to the formal economy. In your opinion, what role could the trade unions play in the context of the application of this standard for workers?

This recommendation concerns all vulnerable workers, notably women, young people, migrants, indigenous peoples, domestic workers…

Today more than half of working people in the world live in the informal economy that exists both in developed countries and in the countries of the South. Governments, with the social partners, will therefore need to define informal work in their respective countries, analyse the means and possibilities needed to assure the transition from the informal to the formal economy. Every country will have to analyse its situation in relation to this theme in order to provide decent work and decent pay to workers because the informal economy raises questions linked to strengthening social security, social protection, a living wage. This recommendation is an important step to facilitate this transition from the informal economy to the formal economy.