Articles

February 2011

“Any fool can stuff a container?”: ILO to discuss safety in growing container industry

14 February 2011

The container shipping market represents about 16 per cent of the world’s goods loaded in tonnes. With its growing market share, the risk of accidents also increases, says a report prepared for an ILO Global Dialogue Forum on Safety in the Supply Chain in Relation to Packing of Containers, to be held in Geneva on 21-22 February 2011. The meeting will try to find a common approach throughout the supply chain to ensure the application of the appropriate standards for packing containers.

December 2010

Working together for development: Including people with disabilities

01 December 2010

This year’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities focuses on “Keeping the Promise of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)” to ensure that disability and the concerns of people with disabilities are reflected in the commitments made by the international community to reduce poverty by 2015. ILO Online reports on how disability-inclusive development not only helps improve the lives of people with disabilities, but can boost achievement of the MDGs.
Gundo Lashu (Our Victory): Labour intensive public roads programmes in South Africa

01 December 2010

With more than 25 per cent of jobless people, the Republic of South Africa is faced with rampant unemployment – coupled with high levels of poverty and a lack of skills. As part of the South African Government’s strategy to provide poverty and income relief through temporary work, the labour intensive Expanded Public Works Programme was introduced in 2004. It received technical support from the ILO, which is also assisting the Government with the development and formulation of policy. South African journalist Eleanor Momberg reports from Johannesburg.
The long struggle for a social foundation of the global economy

01 December 2010
Green jobs in construction: Small changes – big effect

01 December 2010

Construction was the first specific sector of the economy to be addressed in the ILO’s Green Jobs Initiative. The sector is responsible for 25-40 per cent of global energy use, and 30–40 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions. Andrew Bibby, a London-based journalist, reports from the suburb of Khayelitsha, Cape Town’s largest informal settlement, where the Kuyasa Initiative has targeted 2,000 homes for basic energy-saving measures, creating jobs at the same time.
Pakistan’s devastating floods: Rebuilding lives and livelihoods

01 December 2010

Sher Hassan watched helplessly through the driving rain as flood water approached his house. Horrified and panicking, and with little time to spare, the 24-year-old managed to take his elderly mother, five sisters and one younger brother to higher ground. Within an hour his home in the village of Masma was submerged under two metres of water.
Planning for recovery: How to rebalance global growth and demand

01 December 2010

As stimulus measures wind down, many governments are opting for austerity. According to the ILO’s World of Work Report 2010, neither approach addresses the underlying drivers of global economic instability. Gary Humphreys reports.
Promoting a recovery focused on jobs

01 December 2010

The global financial crisis has led to the highest level of unemployment ever recorded – 210 million people. This has sharpened prior international concern about the failure of the global economy to generate enough decent work opportunities in all countries.

November 2010

World AIDS Day 2010 – Workplace policies to tackle HIV and AIDS

30 November 2010

In June 2010 the Government, Employer and Worker representatives that make up the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted the first international labour standard to focus specifically on HIV and AIDS. The Recommendation concerning HIV and AIDS and the world of work 2010 (No.200) takes a rights-based approach to the pandemic and contains comprehensive measures to improve access to prevention, treatment and care, and to eliminate stigma and discrimination in the work place. On World AIDS Day 2010, ILO Online spoke to Dr. Sophia Kisting, Director of the ILO Global Programme on HIV and AIDS and the world of work, about progress made on giving effect to the Recommendation since adoption in June.
How post offices are working to stamp out HIV and AIDS

26 November 2010

The international community marks World AIDS Day again this Wednesday. It is almost thirty years since AIDS, caused by the Human Immuno-deficiency Virus (HIV) first began to have a devastating effect on individual lives, workplaces and societies. Currently, about 33 million people are living with the virus globally. There are another 7,500 new cases of infection every single day. Workplaces can play a key role in the HIV response according to the first international labour standard on HIV and AIDS adopted by the ILO last June. Andrew Bibby, a London-based journalist, reports for ILO Online.