Articles

Decent work for domestic workers: Towards new international labour standards

01 April 2010

The work of caring and cleaning in the home for pay is one of the most important occupations for millions of workers, mostly women, around the world. According to a new ILO report prepared for the June 2010 session of the International Labour Conference, domestic work absorbs a significant proportion of the workforce, ranging between 5 and 9 per cent of total employment in developing countries, and making up to 2.5 per cent of total employment in industrialized countries. Manuela Tomei, director of the ILO’s Conditions of Work and Employment Programme, looks at the working conditions of this global and growing workforce and ways to improve them.

No vacuum: Cleaning up cleaning contracts

01 April 2008

A hidden army of workers is at work each day cleaning the world’s office blocks. Many office staff never meet the people who empty their garbage and dust their desks, for cleaning contracts often specify that the work is to be undertaken out of normal work time, in the early morning or evening periods. Yet cleaners are an essential part of modern office life. Andrew Bibby reports.
We’re in business! From Better Factories to Better Work. World of Work looks at a country project that grew into a major global programme.

01 April 2008

The ILO’s work with the private sector is not new. But in recent years there have been some interesting developments in ILO support to companies in their CSR-related activities. World of Work looks at a country project that grew into a major global programme, and interviews Ros Harvey, the Better Work Global Programme Manager.

Spotlight on working time

01 August 2007

Nearly a century after adopting its first international standard on working time, a new ILO study estimates that one in five workers around the world – or over 600 million persons – are still working more than 48 hours a week, often merely to make ends meet.

Can the European social model survive? Is flexicurity the answer?

02 April 2007

The search for a better combination of flexibility and security is a major challenge within the European Union, and not only in the accession countries. Two major new studies from the ILO look at different aspects of employment and working conditions.