Publications

2006

1. Globalization and the sectors

   01 January 2006

   This issue of Labour Education 2006/1,No. 142 on “globalization and the sectors”, does not set out to be exhaustive. The Global Union Federations (GUFs) have to battle on many fronts. They encounter problems that are specifi c to their sectors.However, their efforts all feed into a joint approach to the challenges facing the trade union movement in the world today. Those challenges include promoting respect for human and trade union rights worldwide and defending equality, as well as strengthening the ranks of the trade union movement and its capacity to mobilize, negotiate and bring a sectoral approach to bear on the aim of decent work for all.

2. Organizing out of poverty: stories from the grassroots - How the SYNDICOOP approach has worked in East Africa

   01 January 2006

   The ILO SYNDICOOP approach shows that workers can be organized in a way that offers some improvements in their daily lives and provides the voice that workers need.The stories in this publication describe the difference that this approach has made in East Africa.

2005

1. The global challenges of labour inspection

   04 April 2005

   In this issue of Labour Education 2005/3-4 No. 140-141, labour inspectors and ILO experts suggest possible paths towards more effi cient labour inspection. How can changes in the world of work be taken into account? How can the new challenges be taken up? How can energies be channelled into achieving maximum impact?

2. Fight Poverty – Organize!

   02 January 2005

   In this Labour Education 2005/1-2 No. 138-139 we analyse what does “Fight Poverty – Organize!” mean? First and foremost, it means trade unions that become an even more effective and well-honed tool for workers to escape poverty, fear, exploitation and the violation of their basic human dignity. It means being a force to replace misery and despair with progress and hope.Second, it means organizing, collective bargaining and other forms of creative social dialogue and engagement. Third, it means organizing effective trade union participation in the design and implementation of public policy based on the priorities of their members and the body of social policy enshrined in ILO Conventions. It also means engaging in the struggle for democratic governance, employment and quality public services to the unemployed, underemployed, and working poor if they are to lift themselves out of poverty.

3. Trade Union Action against HIV/AIDS in Uganda: A Workers' Education Manual

   01 January 2005

   This manual has been developed jointly with the National Organisation of Trade Unions in Uganda and is aimed at educating trade union members on the subject of HIV and AIDS. The manual has a special focus on Uganda, but we believe it is also useful in helping trade unions and other organizations in other countries to advocate for active involvement of the workplace as the arena to fight stigma, discrimination and hostility associated with the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

2004

1. Trade unions and workers with disabilities: Promoting decent work,combating discrimination

   01 April 2004

   Labour Education 2004/4 No. 137: Although much has been done by the ILO to protect and promote the human rights of people with disabilities and to fi ght with them for equal opportunity and equal treatment in society and at the workplace,much more needs to be done. The International Labour Office has, since its very inception in 1919, considered that disabled people have equal rights to decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity, and has worked to promote these rights through its international labour standards, its research and publications, and its advocacy and technical cooperation activities.

2. Policy proposals for decent work and employment for young people

   01 March 2004

   It is neither the objective of this publication to come up with tailormade solutions to the dramatic problem of youth unemployment, nor to claim that simple answers exist. In this issue of Labour Education 2004/3 No. 136, our contributors all insist on policy-mix and seek to provide for a better understanding of youth employment issues.And yes, they insist on providing developing country governments with the policy space to pursue a higher level of aggregate demand and faster economic growth.

3. Trade unions and poverty reduction strategies

   02 January 2004

   The contributors to this edition of Labour Education 2004/1-2 No. 134-135, do not just point to the gaps in the current PRSP process. They are unanimous in stressing the potential for developing country governments to devise policy options that truly reflect national priorities, including employment-creation strategies, social protection and better health and education.

2003

1. Violence at work

   01 April 2003

   Labour Education 2003/4 No. 133: Violence has always been part of working life. Millions of workers are scarred by it on all continents. In fact, the problem may be far worse than estimated as there is evidence that the incidence of workplace violence is still being under-reported. In most countries, however, violence is no longer considered to be acceptable.

2. Decent work in agriculture

   03 February 2003

   Labour Education 2003/2-3 No. 131-132: This is not the fi rst time that Labour Education has focused on workers in agriculture, nor will it be the last. The fate of these women and men should remain at the top of our agenda. Not only because of their numbers, but also because of the contribution they make to all of our daily lives. Because of their crucial role in sustainable development. Because of the terrible living and working conditions under which they produce our food, while themselves often surviving on the most meagre of rations. And because their right to decent work has yet to materialize.

3. Trade Unions and Poverty Alleviation in Africa

   01 January 2003

   This book is a direct outcome of the regional workshop on ""Poverty Alleviation through Social Dialogue: the Role of Trade Unions in English-speaking African Countries"" which was held in Nairobi, Kenya in December 2001.

4. Bridging Africa's Digital Divide: The Role of Trade Unions in English-speaking Africa

   01 January 2003

   This is a report of the training workshop held at the Tom Mboya Labour College, Kenya in July 2003. The training workshop brought together 23 participants from 7 English-speaking African countries (Kenya, Lesotho, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zanzibar), resource persons from Kenya and Mauritius, and specialists from the ILO (Harare and Turin). In addition, there were representatives from regional trade union organisations (the African Regional Organisation of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU-AFRO) as well as the African Regional Organisation of the Union Network International (UNI-Africa).

5. Corporate social responsibility: Myth or reality?

   01 January 2003

   Labour Education 2003/1 No. 130: These days, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is common currency but a “currency” that is rather devalued. The phrase is so over- and poorly used that it begins to lose any meaning. Any proper definition of CSR would require a categorical standard of values.

2002

1. Promoting the Role of Agricultural Workers and Trade Unions in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development

   01 August 2002

   Leaflet produced by ACTRAV and IUF (The International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations) to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, August 26 - September 4, 2002.

2. Migrant workers

   01 April 2002

   Labour Education 2002/4 No. 129: Today immigration, once a favourite issue covered by labour ministries, falls under the competence of ministries of the interior or of justice. This short-sighted political approach, combined with the closure of borders, has achieved precisely the opposite of what it set out to do. And should we really be surprised? The nations in the West have as many holes in their fortress walls as Swiss cheese. Migrant workers are today at the mercy of mafia like groups specializing in human traffi cking, and the security forces appear to be conceding that they are powerless to stop them.

3. Paying attention to wages

   01 March 2002

   This issue of Labour Education 2002/3 No. 128, has the modest ambition of shedding some light on the efforts needed to improve the situation of millions of people who are deprived of regular pay, who are on starvation wages or who suffer discrimination. To do so, it draws on analyses by ILO specialists and explores the courses of action mapped out by the trade union movement.

4. Unprotected labour: What role for unions in the informal economy?

   01 February 2002

   Labour Education 2002/2 No. 127: An ILO study published 30 years ago noted the emergence of a group of workers and small enterprises operating outside the mainstream economy. The report referred to them as the “informal sector”. At the time it was presumed that the informal sector was a transitory phenomenon associated with lower levels of economic development, something that would disappear as development occurred. This presumption has however been proven incorrect. A greater number of workers than ever before are now working outside the “formal” economy and they are engaged in an increasingly diverse range of activities and situations.

5. Gender Equality: A Guide to Collective Bargaining (Six booklets)

   01 January 2002

6. Health and safety at work: A trade union priority

   01 January 2002

   Figures appearing in this issue of Labour Education 2002/1 No. 126, are shocking: every day sees 5,000 people die from work-related accidents. That is three deaths every minute. Work-related diseases continue to take a heavy toll,affecting at any given time more than 160 million people in both developing and industrialized countries. This is an important issue for all of society, as these casualties help swell the pressures on increasingly stretched public health systems throughout the world. In consequence, the costs and the social impacts on communities have risen.

7. Gender Equality: A Guide to Collective Bargaining - An overview

   01 January 2002

   This guide is comprised of six booklets. Booklets 2 to 6 deal with different categories of bargaining issues.