GENEVA (ILO News) - "We need to make decent work a reality in our countries and embed this goal in the global economy," said the International Labour Office (ILO) Director-General Mr. Juan Somavia in a plenary address to the 89 ^th International Labour Conference, which is meeting in Geneva.

"For the last two decades, governments and international financial institutions have focused on bringing down budget deficits: I think it is now time to focus with the same energy on bringing down the decent work deficit", Mr. Somavia insisted.

He called upon tripartite delegates from the Organization's 175 member States to act as "the catalysts to create an expanding global consciousness for decent work."

To meet the challenge, the Director-General said that the ILO needs to project a "clear and coherent message of what it is about today."

Highlighting the need to increase awareness of social issues at the national and international level, he told the assembled delegates: "To move forward we need to confront the widespread perception that we who address social issues are playing in the minor league of the global economy, while the hard ball actors in the world of commerce and finance occupy a superior sphere of policy."

He said that perception is and should be "subverted by the reaction of people all over the world and their perception of the failure to deal credibly with their social concerns and priorities in the age of globalization."

Fundamental principles and rights at work and employment must be part of the agenda. Insisting that "what is decent is built on universal rights and principles, but reflects the circumstances in each country, Mr. Somavia pointed out, "in that sense, there is a floor but there is no ceiling." The threshold of decent work "evolves as the possibilities and priorities of societies evolve."

The decent work framework can be mapped onto a practical policy agenda, adapted to the concerns and circumstances of different countries by implementing such policies into the development agenda as:

• Promoting enterprise and employment alongside policies to defend basic rights at work;
• Strengthening the social partners and reinforcing their dialogue around the decent work goals;
• Formulating policies to extend the reach of social protection systems and promote gender equality.

He highlighted the need for "a common approach in the international system, which encompasses our decent work goals and avoids "situations in which member States receive different and contradictory advice from different international organizations, amounting to policy schizophrenia."

Underscoring that it was "essential that the international system stops acting as if it were a series of unconnected islands, and begins to put together the type of integrated responses required by the interrelated challenges of the global economy."

He promised that these issues will be taken up in next week's meeting of the ILO Governing Body's Working Party on the Social Dimension of Globalization . He stressed recent efforts to raise the Organization's profile and exert more influence, adding "We must have the will to make a difference to the path of globalization. We must contribute to fair rules of the game and level playing field for both people and countries."

Encouraging the ILO's tripartite constituency "to agree that it should take on a significant role in tracing social road maps for the global economy", he encouraged it to "forge a strong tripartite alliance that is open to the world."

He concluded that the goals of the ILO Constitution go far beyond the Organization's immediate areas of influence: "Employment and security depend on wider economic policies - so dialogue and cooperation with Finance, Trade and other Ministries at the national level, and with multilateral organizations internationally, is absolutely essential."