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News in Brief
Global employment levels in textile, clothing
and footwear industries holding
stable
Employment in the production of textiles, clothing and footwear (TCF) remained stable at approximately 30 million jobs during the 1990s, after suffering a global decline of 16 per cent during the 1980s. However, during the last decade the geographical distribution of jobs in the industry shifted dramatically toward Asia, with China emerging as a major producing power in the industry, according to a recent ILO report.1
GENEVA - The report, prepared for a tripartite sectoral meeting held in Geneva from 16 to 20 October, says that Asia's share of total employment in the TCF industry rose from 69 per cent to 72 per cent during the period 1995-98. "Among Asian countries," the report notes, "China is by far the largest employer," accounting for nearly 20 per cent of the global workforce. In 1998, China was also the world's largest exporter of clothing (over US$30 billion).
Indonesian employment grew substantially during the period and TCF jobs more than doubled in Bangladesh. Thailand and Sri Lanka also registered gains. Other countries which saw increases include Lesotho, Botswana, Jordan, Kuwait, Tunisia and Mauritius, although most of them increased from a very low base. In sheer numbers, India is the second largest employer in TCF industries, but during the latter half of the 1990s the country registered a decline of about 10 per cent below its 1980 total of TCF jobs.
Countries with the relatively highest losses in textile employment during the last two decades include Poland, Hungary, the UK, Spain, France, Hong Kong (China) and Germany. Clothing employment in the Americas "fell steadily throughout the 1990-98 period", the report finds. Europe saw a fall in employment of nearly 50 per cent between 1990 and 1998, partly due to a sharp decline in employment in Central and Eastern Europe. However in spite of the large job losses in Europe, "European clothing output fell by only 10 per cent during the 1990s, suggesting a substantial rise in productivity during the period," according to the ILO report.
"In general," the report notes, "the less developed countries were the gainers in textile employment throughout the period under consideration and the more developed countries the losers." The ILO says the trend "is scarcely surprising, given the high labour content in clothing production".
At the end of the 1990s, the report finds, "some of the largest exporters of clothing to world markets were among those with the lowest labour costs: China, Indonesia, Pakistan and Viet Nam, with labour costs under US$0.45 per hour. Average hourly wage rates in the textile industry "are generally the highest in European countries," says the report, averaging around US$10 per hour. Japan is second highest at US$9.40 per hour, followed by the United States US$7.64 and Canada US$6.81.
"The TCF industries", according to the ILO analysis, "are a good example of globalized industries, in which production and trade change their location or direction relatively easily." This internationalization, the agency says "has partly slowed down wage increases in these industries and kept wage levels below those of other industrial sectors".
ILO Declaration promoted
Delegates to the meeting, which included representatives of governments, employers' and workers' organizations from 42 countries, examined production trends and labour practices in an intensely competitive industry which is increasingly dominated by large multinational groups using global supply networks.
Delegates asked the ILO to continue promoting the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy, as well as all relevant ILO Conventions and Recommendations. The Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work obliges the ILO's 175 member States to respect principles which are at the heart of the core Conventions, whether they have ratified them or not, and commits the ILO to do all that it can to help member States put them into practice. These principles and rights are freedom of association and of collective bargaining, and freedom from discrimination, from forced/compulsory labour and from child labour.
Delegates addressed a variety of labour problems affecting the Declaration and the TCF industry. They asked that steps be taken to strengthen measures to combat clandestine workshops which remain common in the textile, clothing and footwear industries of both developed and developing countries. Child labour and forced labour are particular problems in these sweatshops and the use of child labour is still widespread in TCF production, especially when subcontracting arrangements make use of homeworkers.
Discrimination is another major problem. Nearly half the global workforce involved in the production of textiles, garments and shoes are women, and wage inequalities seem to be their universal lot. "Whatever the share of female employment in total employment in these industries," the report says, "one thing seems universal: women's wages in the TCF industries are lower than those of men." In Europe, for example "men in the TCF industries receive wages which are 20 to 30 per cent higher than those for women". Much formal sector investment in TCF industries is concentrated in Export Processing Zones (EPZs), which have created many jobs in absolute terms.
Industries are having increasing recourse to voluntary codes of conduct as a result of pressure from civil society and the media, and also in an attempt to enhance valuable brand image, a development which, the ILO report says testifies "to the emergence among enterprises of a sense of social responsibility in a globalizing economy". While welcoming such initiatives, the ILO report notes that, "For the time being, only larger enterprises are promoting such practices," and the results they yield are far from clear. The report warns that "little is known as yet of the social impact, particularly in the developing countries".
1 Labour practices in the footwear, leather, textiles and clothing industries. Sectoral Activities Programme. Report for discussion. ILO Geneva, 2000. ISBN 92-2-112202-6. Price: 20 Swiss francs.
Sustainable agriculture in a globalized economy
and occupational risks
Delegates from 26 countries examined the impact of globalization on the lives and livelihoods of millions of agricultural workers at a tripartite meeting held at ILO in Geneva from 18 to 22 September 2000. The report 2 prepared for the meeting shows that the agricultural sector has effectively been “marginalized” in the process of globalization, with most gains going to manufacturing-export industries, while agriculture still contains over half of the world’s labour force and over two-thirds of world poverty.
GENEVA - The benefits of globalization for the farm sector have so far come in the form of diversification of the export base to nontraditional crops - fruits, vegetables, flowers. Much of this has happened as a result of increased foreign direct investment forthcoming with increasing globalization.
The drawback here is the exclusion of smallholders from the new activities “because of the high capital requirements for greenhouses, cold storage, and imported materials and personnel”. Participation of the small farmers “should be one prong of the strategy for further expansion of the new activities”. The ILO report cautions due diligence in attracting foreign direct investment into agriculture too quickly for fear of alienating vast numbers of farmers and workers from the land.
An intangible impact of globalization is through the fast transmission of new ideas and information about labour practices. “Arguably, this may play an even bigger role in changing agriculture in the future than trade and direct investment,” says the report. Voluntary private initiatives are a manifestation of this, and starting with child labour, they now affect all aspects of conditions of work, particularly in relation to women’s role in agriculture, occupational safety, and genetically modified crops.
The report shows that “the majority of children who work are found on farms; most of these work on family farms”. Child labour is also found in commercial agriculture, with potentially far more serious risks of exploitation, “since children are exposed to long hours of work, physical drudgery, and hazards, with very little in the way of remuneration”. Bonded labour is also common in various developing regions.
For women in many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia “agriculture is the primary source of employment”. This “inclusion” is however, “a mixed blessing” since women often have to contribute a majority of the labour on the farms without commensurate remuneration or a role in decision making. The ILO says that improving the condition of the impoverished women is “a long, drawn-out task” in view of the gender roles in traditional rural societies, and urges “greater mobilization of women at all stages of decision making” as a way of spurring social and economic change.
One of the three most dangerous occupations
In terms of worker health and safety, agriculture ranks among the three most dangerous occupations, with increasing use of machinery and chemicals at the root of many workplace accidents and illnesses. The report notes that much of the agricultural workforce “lacks training in safe practices”, and cites a need to “train workers and provide them with protective equipment to lessen the risk of injury”. It calls for “urgent steps” to reduce farm workers’ exposure to harmful chemicals, including banning the broadcast spraying of pesticides.
In view of its topicality and potential impact on employment, debate also focused on the pros and cons of genetically modified crops. “Genetic modifications occur even in nature; now such experiments are conducted in laboratories and enter the real world with the speed of the Internet.” Despite the gains in production and reduced use of chemicals, genetically modified crops give rise to concerns about the unpredictability of transplanted genes and possible unintended effects of releasing living modified organisms into the environment.
The ILO report insists on the “urgent need to draw lessons for how the process of globalization can be altered to benefit the maximum number of people and countries,” while the Conclusions of the meeting refer to the concept of “decent work” recently espoused by the ILO, which should be used as “guide to establish fair labour practices” in the agricultural sector.
In a Resolution concerning future activities of the ILO, the meeting invited the Governing Body of the ILO to allocate the necessary resources to facilitate the implementation of the meeting’s conclusions. The Resolution also requests the Director-General of the ILO to prepare a study on collective bargaining in agriculture.
2 Sustainable agriculture in a globalized economy, report for discussion at the Tripatite Meeting on moving to sustainable agricultural development through the modernization of agriculture and employment in a globalized economy, ILO, Geneva, 2000.
ILO launches new global programme on AIDS
and occupational risks
GENEVA - The ILO has launched a “Global Programme on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work”. The new programme, unveiled here in September, was authorized by a resolution on HIV/AIDS adopted by the International Labour Conference last June.
The newly created Global Programme responds to the Resolution which instructed the Director-General to create a capacity within the International Labour Office to deal with HIV/AIDS at the workplace, and to strengthen the capacity of the social partners to formulate and effectively implement appropriate policies, programmes and activities at national and enterprise levels.
The main objective of the programme is to help member States combat the spread and threats of HIV/AIDS through workplace initiatives, cope with the social and economic consequences of the pandemic, and provide protection and support to workers and their families who are affected by HIV/AIDS. The principles of social justice and equality, and the doctrine of tripartism on which the ILO was founded, and the core labour standards, underline the rights-based approach of the ILO’s involvement in the global effort to fight HIV/AIDS.
The Governing Body, at its 279 thSession in November, examined a series of proposals submitted by the Director-General which include research activities, development of international guidelines, capacity-building and institutional development in labour ministries and employers’ and workers’ organizations, advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns, assistance in developing legal instruments to combat discrimination and stigmatization and offer social protection, training and workers’ education programmes, sensitization activities targeted at employers and their organizations, as well as care and support initiatives.
The ILO Global Programme will be funded from the ILO’s own resources and donor funding, and will support country-level operational activities in at least 15 member States during the first year of operations.
Youth employment
The number of unemployed youth in the world is increasing. To address this challenge, the ILO is joining forces with the United Nations and the World Bank in a high-level policy network on youth employment which will marshal the forces of private industry, civil society and leaders in economic policy. The goal: to find new ways of creating more jobs for young people.
GENEVA - Of the world’s roughly one billion young people between the ages of 15 and 24 - representing about one-fifth of the global population - some 70 million are unemployed, according to recent ILO estimates.
In some countries in Africa, Europe and Latin America, the figure is far higher; about one-third of the youth population are either without work, looking for work and/or available for work. The most seriously affected regions of the world are southern Europe, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. However, youth unemployment is not high in all countries.
In many countries, teenagers experience higher unemployment than people in their early 20s. In other countries, young women typically face higher unemployment rates than young men or have lower participation rates.
Underemployment is also a growing problem, with some young people working far fewer hours than they would like, with others working longer than usual hours but with little gain to show for it.
New policy network
To address the problem of youth unemployment, the ILO has joined forces with the World Bank and the United Nations to form a new Youth Employment Network. In a letter to Juan Somavia, Director-General of the ILO, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Kofi A. Annan, wrote, “with the unanimous adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration, world leaders have resolved to develop and implement strategies that give young people everywhere a real chance to find decent and productive work.”3
The objectives of the policy network will be to:
Mr. Somavia will join Mr. Annan and World Bank President James Wolfensohn in convening the high-level network. The network will consult with leaders in private industry, economic policy and civil society, including youth leaders. It will then present recommendations within one year on possible sources of solutions, including the contribution that the information technology and informal sectors - especially small enterprises - can make to employment generation.
Among the steps already taken, the ILO established a cross-sectoral Task Force on Youth Employment, led by the ILO Employment Sector and involving various units of the Office led by the InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability. The ILO is also taking the lead in two thematic areas: “Generating opportunities for young people through information and communication technologies”, and “Bridging the gap between the informal sector and the knowledge economy”, from the perspective of young women and men.
The World Bank has proposed to focus on including the youth employment dimension into its analytical work and operations at country level; in particular, in national poverty reduction programmes (PRPs) and CDF. It will also take the lead in the thematic area of education and training. The United Nations, meanwhile, will coordinate the work on “Incorporating youth employment into development strategies, including major UN system initiatives.”
“The overall approach agreed upon was to address youth employment as a critical dimension of major development programmes, in addition to initiating stand-alone youth employment initiatives,” Mr. Annan wrote, adding that policy recommendations should be linked to “concrete and visible action.”
3In the United Nations Millennium Declaration, adopted by the General Assembly at the Millennium Summit in New York held on 6 to8 September 2000.Governing Body holds 279th session
GENEVA (ILO News) - Measures to compel the Government of Myanmar (Burma) to meet its obligations to eliminate forced labour in the country will go forward, following deliberations by the ILO Governing Body 4 at its 279th session, held from 4 to 17 November.
The Governing Body effectively opened the way for the full implementation of a resolution of the International Labour Conference, adopted in June of this year, aimed at compelling the Government of Myanmar to comply with Convention No. 29 on forced labour. Burma ratified Convention No. 29 in 1955.
The unprecedented resolution under the never-before invoked article 33 of the ILO Constitution allows for a series of measures to take effect on 30 November and calls on Myanmar to “take concrete actions” to implement the recommendations of a 1998 Commission of Inquiry, which found that resort to forced labour in the country was “widespread and systematic”.
On the basis of a report from an ILO technical cooperation mission which visited Myanmar in October, the Governing Body as a whole considered that it was not satisfied that actions taken by Myanmar met the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, and that therefore there was no agreement to consider that the implementation of one or more measures under article 33 of the Constitution “has become inappropriate”.
Those recommendations were that legislation, in particular the Village and Towns Acts, be brought into line with the terms of the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No. 29) which Myanmar (Burma) has ratified; that no more forced or compulsory labour be imposed by the authorities, particularly by the military; and that penalties which may be imposed for the exaction of forced labour be strictly enforced, with thorough investigation, prosecution and punishment of those found guilty.
At the same time, the Chairman stated that there was a “strong sense...that the Director-General (of the ILO) should continue to extend cooperation to the government of Myanmar in order to promote the full implementation by that government of the recommendations by the Commission of Inquiry”.
Under the Conference resolution, the measures in question include:
The Director-General is accordingly expected to report to the 280 th Governing Body meeting next March on any relevant developments regarding such efforts, so that the Governing Body can make recommendations as appropriate to the 89th International Labour Conference in 2001 in light of these developments.
In other matters, the Governing Body:
Examined a report from Rafael F. Alburquerque, Special Representative of the Director-General, who visited Colombia in October and met with representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations, and government officials, regarding widespread violence against trade unionists. Mr. Alburquerque stressed the seriousness of the situation in Colombia and warned that violations of fundamental workers’ rights were increasing. Mr. Alburquerque said he hoped the establishment of an ILO office to assist the Government of Colombia would facilitate social dialogue and help to reverse the current situation there as it affected workers. In response, the Minister of Labour and Social Security of Colombia, Angelino Garzón, expressed the commitment of the Government of Colombia to cooperate with the ILO and the trade unions to defend the security of trade unionists and employers.
- The extension of research, including into issues such as trade, investment and employment, poverty reduction and decent work, and best practices in participation for development, especially with regard to informal sectors and micro and small businesses.
- An exploration of areas of possible collaboration with other organizations as part of a strongly reaffirmed commitment to the promotion by the ILO of fundamental principles and rights at work.
- Further discussion at the Working Party’s next meeting on how to move forward with the research proposals starting with an examination of the scope of the integration of social and economic policies at the national level to make more progress in poverty reduction and decent work.
4 The Governing Body is the executive body of the International Labour Office (the Office is the secretariat of the Organization). It meets three times a year, in March, June and November. It takes decisions on ILO policy, decides the agenda of the International Labour Conference, adopts the draft Programme and Budget of the Organization for submission to the Conference, and elects the Director-General.It is composed of 56 titular members (28 governments, 14 employers and 14 workers) and 66 deputy members (28 governments, 19 employers and 19 workers). Ten of the titular government seats are permanently held by states of chief industrial importance (Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States). The other government members are elected by the Conference every three years. They are Algeria, Burkina Faso, Canada, Chad, Croatia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Namibia, Peru, Saudi Arabia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela.
5 The Committee on Freedom of Association, established in 1951, oversees compliance with the fundamental principles of freedom of association, which guarantee, inter alia, the right of workers to organize and to engage in collective bargaining. It meets three times annually and consists of three government representatives, three employer representatives and three worker representatives.