Human.Rights@Work

Contents

Unions and the fight against poverty
Textiles - the social impact of ending quotas
Multilateral framework to protect migrant workers
Social tension in the Republic of Korea
17th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work
Concern over Russia's Tajik workers
25th anniversary of the Gdansk agreements
Trade unions in Nepal unite for democracy
Cambodia ratifies Convention 182 on child labour
Union strategies in Central and Eastern Europe
Pointers

Unions and the fight against poverty

Organised by the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities, a symposium will bring together trade unionists from all over the world to assess their action against poverty and discuss how to strengthen it.

17 October is the International Day for Poverty Eradication. It will also mark the opening, in Geneva, of an international workers' symposium on trade unions' role in a globalized economy and the fight against poverty. The week-long event will bring together about sixty trade union leaders from all five continents. They will assess, among other things, the progress made on the Millennium Development Goals, and more particularly the challenges that still have to be met in order to achieve them. (In September 2000, during the UN-sponsored Millennium Summit, the world's political leaders agreed a set of measurable, time-bound objectives to combat poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women. These goals were reaffirmed at the UN's 60th anniversary Summit in mid-September 2005.) The policies of the International Financial Institutions will come in for close scrutiny, and the participants will also examine the role of the International Labour Organisation, which puts decent work at the centre of its campaign against poverty. Organised by the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities, a symposium will bring together trade unionists from all over the world to assess their action against poverty and discuss how to strengthen it.

A background paper for the discussions sums up recent world developments. It questions the present ideological orientation of economic globalization which, it says, ends up by accentuating inequalities between and within countries. Thus, the report notes, "the vast majority of people are not sharing in the benefits of globalization and in shaping it". The fierce competition between countries and between companies for access to investment and markets means that " the respect of labour standards spirals downwards to the detriment of the workers," the document notes. It emphasizes that "by making decent work central in the economic and social policies of governments and international organizations, the missing links between growth, joblessness and poverty will be bridged and globalization made fairer." The report cites the many initiatives taken by trade union organizations to "regulate globalization" and fight against poverty, inequality and social exclusion, so as to defend not only the interests of their members but also those of society as a whole.

As well as union leaders, taking part in the symposium will be officials of the International Labour Organisation, including Director-General Juan Somavia, and of other international institutions, as well as representatives of non-governmental organizations who work with the trade unions within the Global Call to Action Against Poverty.

Current estimates are that 1.39 billion workers - almost half of the world's total workforce and nearly 60 per cent of the workers in the developing countries - do not earn enough to put themselves and their families above the poverty threshold of 2 US dollars a day.

• The international trade union movement, which took part in the UN's 60th anniversary summit, felt that the results were mixed. On the positive side, the Member States reaffirmed the importance of the Millennium Development Goals and the Decent Work agenda, and respect for workers' rights was recognized as part of the strategies for reducing poverty. The establishment of a Peace-Building Commission and the setting of development priorities such as gender equality and universal education were also useful outcomes of this session. Negative points included the failure to agree on the establishment of a Human Rights Council and on the reform of the Security Council. This impasse is of concern to the trade unions, who argue that it will be difficult to pursue development goals in a militarized, insecure world where the presence of weapons of mass destruction is equalled only by the impunity all too often enjoyed by those who use them against innocent civilians.

Textiles - the social impact of ending quotas

The current situation in the textile sector will be examined by a tripartite meeting to be held by the ILO on 24-26 October 2005. Participants will review strategies to prevent a crisis.

Last November, the worker members of the Governing Body proposed that the ILO should hold an urgent meeting on " ILO action aimed at avoiding a crisis in the world textile and garment industry." This two-day meeting will be held in Geneva on 24-26 October. 45 delegates (15 each for the three groups representing governments, employers and workers) will attempt to evaluate the impact of liberalization in this sector and to propose ways of preventing a crisis and promoting decent work in the textile industries. The secretariat of the workers' group will be assumed by the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers' Federation (ITGLWF).

Most published studies on the ending of the quota system on 1 January 2005 raise the spectre of mass production transfers and conclude that only China and, to a lesser extent, India will gain much extra market share within the world textile and garment trade.

"Dealing in a socially responsible way with these new circumstances, where international competition will be at its peak, requires the elaboration and implementation of integrated strategies from global to local level, which involve the national governments and social partners concerned," the ILO notes. It points out that, as a tripartite organization, the ILO is in a key position to examine, discuss and facilitate the process in order to ensure a fair globalization in the sector.

A study published by the ILO predicts that, after an abrupt rise due to the ending of quotas, China's market share will level out, one reason being that the big garment buyers will wish to maintain some diversity of sourcing countries. The study also emphasizes that India, Pakistan and Bangladesh could become more competitive than China if they implement reforms.

However, the ILO study shows that the ending of quotas will lead to a shake-up in the sector. The least productive firms, such as the notorious "sweatshops", will find it difficult to survive while, at the other end of the scale, competitive firms are likely to expand. At the world level, these trends will probably lead to stagnation or a slight, gradual fall-off of employment in the sector, as labour productivity looks set to increase faster than demand. Between now and 2018, the sector could lose between 1 and 2.5 per cent of its employment.

More recently, a global union report on the trade union situation in the Philippines denounced serious irregularities in the respect and application of basic labour rights, particularly in the textiles sector. "What we have here is yet another example of a race to the bottom – a country lowering its labour standards in order to deal with the impact of the disorderly end of the Agreement on Textiles and Clothing," the report said.

Multilateral framework to protect migrant workers

A tool to be developed by the ILO will help its constituents to tackle migration issues and ensure better protection for migrant workers. It should also promote greater policy coherence at the international level.

Ten trade union experts chosen by the Workers' Group will take part in a tripartite meeting in Geneva from 31 October to 2 November. The aim is to draw up a multilateral framework for labour migration. According to the first draft, this framework should promote the coherence of policies on international labour migration. It is part of the implementation of the action plan adopted by the International Labour Conference in June 2004. The draft sets out a series of guidelines on decent work, international cooperation on migration, capacities for collecting and processing information, effective migration management, the protection of migrant workers, the prevention of abusive practices, the migration process, the integration and social inclusion of migrant workers, and the development aspects of migration.

An important element in the draft multilateral framework concerns follow-up. It provides for the production of regular national reports by governments, in consultation with the employers' and workers' organizations, and the establishment of a tripartite forum to which all the organizations and international bodies concerned will be invited. It will be the forum's task to make recommendations on the basis of the information in the reports. The framework is supplemented by examples of good practice on migration. It is designed to provide practical guidance for governments and employers' and workers' organizations on the elaboration, reinforcement and implementation of national and international labour migration policies, and it aims to encourage partnership with other international organizations. Sharan Burrow (Australia) will lead the workers' group. In addition to the national experts, the international trade union organizations will be taking part as observers.

Social tension in the Republic of Korea

The deteriorating social climate in the Republic of Korea means that the ILO has had to postpone its Asian Regional Meeting, which was to have been held in Busan this October.

The death of a trade union leader during a demonstration, a controversial draft law on undocumented workers, the exclusion of the trade unions from decision-making on the minimum wage, compulsory arbitration of two ongoing disputes, and the government's adoption of a new "industrial relations roadmap" have led the Korean trade unions to cancel their participation in the ILO Asia and Pacific Regional Meeting scheduled to be held in Busan on 10-13 October 2005. The unions believe that the government has been acting in breach of international labour standards.

In fact, the social climate has deteriorated considerably in Korea since the International Labour Conference, at which the Korean government, employers and unions reached agreement with the ILO on the proper organization of the regional meeting.

In a letter to Labour Minister Kim Dae Hwan on 26 August, ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder writes of a dramatic deterioration in the social situation, and he cites the anti-union repression and the persecution of trade union leaders.

In the absence of tripartite agreement - a key prerequisite for the holding of any international event by the ILO - the Organization has been obliged to postpone the Busan meeting to a later date, to be decided by the Governing Body at its November session. The unions have requested an urgent ILO mission and have expressed their willingness to work in good faith towards a positive solution in the near future. The ILO has said it is prepared to send a high-level mission to Korea if the government and social partners there so wish.

17th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work

More than 5,000 people die every day because of their work. And according to the ILO, that figure is an underestimate, due to poor reporting.

"Freedom of association and organization underpin dialogue and the partnerships that are fundamental to safe and healthy work places." That was the message from ILO Director-General Juan Somavia in a televised statement to mark the opening of the 17th World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, in Orlando, USA. Co-organized by the International Social Security Association, the International Labour Organization and the US National Safety Council, the Congress ran from 18 to 22 September. The theme was Prevention in a Globalized World - Success through Partnerships. According to the organizers, developing countries' approach to workplace health and safety is still all too often reactive, while in the industrialized countries, the progress achieved through decades of preventive policies are under threat from new challenges: new technology, demographic changes and the increase in the number of migrant workers.

Launched at the Orlando Congress, an ILO report entitled Decent Work - Safe Work confirms this trend. The figure, already published by the ILO, of 2.2 million deaths per year due to work-related accidents or diseases is, the report says, very much of an underestimate, because of poor reporting and coverage systems in many countries. The number of illnesses and deaths has dropped slightly in the industrialized countries but accidents, and fatal accidents in particular, seem to be on the rise. This is especially the case in certain Asian countries, the ILO emphasizes. The report puts this down to "rapid development and the strong competitive pressures of globalization."

Each year, the document says, hazardous substances cause the deaths of some 440,000 workers. Asbestos alone kills 100,000 workers (at the International Labour Conference in June, the international trade union organizations launched a worldwide campaign for a ban on the production and use of asbestos). Around 3,000 occupational health and safety specialists took part in the Orlando Congress. Among them was an ILO delegation led by Executive Director Assane Diop, as well as a number of trade union leaders and experts, including Guy Ryder, the General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Worker health and safety will be on the agenda of the International Labour Conference in June 2006, when delegates will examine the texts of a new Convention and Recommendation designed to establish a promotional framework for health and safety.

Concern over Russia's Tajik workers

Some 600,000 Tajik workers have emigrated to Russia, where they perform the most dangerous jobs. An ACTRAV programme encourages them to join unions in order to improve their conditions.

Wages not paid or several months in arrears, often fatal work accidents, atrocious working conditions, insalubrious accommodation... the first reports from ACTRAV's programme to promote the protection of Tajik migrant workers in Russia paint a disturbing picture.

According to an ILO report, Russia is the destination for 85 per cent of Tajikistan's migrant workers, and a quarter of them head for Moscow, where they mainly end up in the construction industry. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) puts the number of Tajik migrant workers currently in Russia at 600,000, most of whom are not there legally. Tajikistan is the poorest of the former Soviet republics, with 80 per cent of its population below the poverty threshold. Average wages in Tajikistan are 12 dollars a month at the most, while a construction worker in Russia can earn $300.

ACTRAV's programme aims to protect Tajik migrants in the construction sector. Based on an agreement between building workers' unions in the two countries, it also encourages employers to abandon illegal recruitment practices which increase workers' vulnerability. Regularization of the migrants' status by the Russian authorities, cooperation by the Tajik government and the negotiation of agreements with the big building companies on decent working conditions and pay are all part of the project's activities. The programme is supported by Russia's national trade union centre (FNPR) which is part of the project's steering committee.

Ten people have been taken on to help the Tajik workers join Russian unions. In just a few months, more than a thousand new members have been signed up. The unions help the workers to secure payment of their wages. They provide legal assistance and are on hand for emergencies.

To build local awareness of the problems facing the Tajik workers, the ACTRAV programme has co-produced a film with Russia's NTV channel. It shows the conditions faced by migrants in Moscow, as well as the poverty that makes them leave their own country. "Only if we can help these migrants to regularize their situation, with the assistance of the governments of Tajikistan and Russia, will we be able to say that migrants in Russia have a decent life," thinks programme manager S.I. Mirzamuddinov.

Meanwhile, the most urgent needs take priority. For instance, the project's leaders have reached an agreement with the Tajik national airline, which will repatriate free of charge the coffins of Tajik workers who have died in Russia...

Gdansk 25 years on

The anniversary of the founding of the Solidarnosc union is a reminder of the vital role played by the trade union movement and the ILO in promoting freedom of association in Poland.

On 31 August, several thousand delegates, the former Presidents of Solidarnosc and a whole host of international guests, including the ICFTU and WCL General Secretaries and representatives of the European Trade Union Confederation and many national trade union centres, took part in events to mark the 25th anniversary of the signature of the Gdansk Accords. For the first time in a Soviet bloc country, these agreements recognized the existence of an independent trade union organization. Jim Baker, Director of the Bureau for Workers' Activities, represented the ILO at the commemorations.

Back in August 1980, a strike launched by three young workers at the Lenin shipyards, in the big Baltic seaport of Gdansk, sparked a dramatic series of events. The stoppage was in protest at the sacking of a worker. Since early July of that year, other strikes had broken out after the announcement of price rises decreed by a regime with its back to the wall. But when, under the leadership of one Lech Walesa, an electrician dismissed several months previously, the revolt reached the Lenin shipyards, the protest movement took on a whole new dimension. On 31 August, the authorities gave way and agreed to sign the Gdansk Agreements, giving workers the right to organize in free, independent, self-managed trade unions. The Gdansk Agreements refer to ILO Conventions 87 and 98, ratified by Poland in 1957. The proclamation of martial law on 13 December 1981 was to end the 15-month open existence of the free trade union Solidarnosc, which by then had 10 million members. However, despite the imprisonment of thousands of activists, it continued underground as an advocate of the ideas and values of freedom and democracy. Delegalized in 1982, Solidarnosc was not to regain its legal status until 1989.

In June 1982, the worker delegates of France (Mr Marc Blondel) and of Norway (Ms Liv Buck) filed a complaint against Poland during the International Labour Conference. Martial law was suspended on 31 December 1982. However, as the Government refused the terms of reference of a further mission by the ILO, a Commission of Inquiry was appointed by the Governing Body as a follow-up to the worker delegates' complaint. The Government replied by announcing that it was suspending its cooperation with the ILO. In spite of this, the Commission completed its work (including the hearing of witnesses in Geneva) and issued its report and recommendations in May 1984. The report made point after telling point against the Polish regime. The Government rejected the Commission's conclusions and recommendations calling for the adoption of legislation compatible with Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, the release of the trade unionists still under detention and the reinstatement of workers dismissed for trade union activities.

Despite the close monitoring of the situation by the Committee of Experts, no concrete measures were taken by the Government. In May 1987, the Director-General of the ILO returned to Poland and met with government and trade union representatives, including the leadership of Solidarity, who was still not authorized to operate.

Following a new wave of strikes in 1988, the Government agreed to initiate a round table discussion with the social partners on the recommendations made by the ILO Commission of Inquiry. Upon ILO advice, a national tripartite commission was established in January 1989, in part to draft new trade union legislation. That year, the government and Solidarnosc met at a round table, and the outcome was the relegalization of the union and the holding of elections. Tadeusz Masowiecki, a Solidarnosc leader, became Prime Minister. A new chapter of Polish history began. The ILO and the international trade union movement played a decisive role in these events, side by side with the Polish workers. Lech Walesa, Solidarnosc leader and later President of Poland, noted that "the Commission of Inquiry created by the ILO after the imposition of martial law in my country made significant contributions to the changes which brought democracy to Poland."

Trade unions in Nepal unite for democracy

An ACTRAV mission in Nepal witnessed the courageous stand of the trade union movement for restoration of democracy following the royal coup of February 1st.

In an unprecedented move, Nepal's four main national trade union centres jointly organized a street rally gathering over 10,000 workers to demand democracy in the country. The rally coincided with a two-day conference organized by the four groups during which a resolution was adopted reiterating the independence of the trade union movement and its commitment to democracy.

Since the coup by King Gyanendra and the removal of the Nepalese government on February 1st trade union rights have been seriously restricted and political and press freedom has been suspended. In March this year, the ILO Governing Body issued a statement proposed by the Workers' Group, in which it noted that "trade union activities have been severely limited". The statement demands the immediate release of imprisoned trade unionists.

According to the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), 80 journalists were arrested on September 16 during a press freedom rally organized in Kathmandu by its Nepalese affiliate, the Federation of Nepalese Journalists.

The street rally by trade unions in Kathmandu earlier this month was addressed by APRO/ICFTU General Secretary Noriyuki Suzuki, Phee Jung-Sun, ICEM, T. Dyvadheenam, International Metalworkers Federation. Also taking part were Jean-François Davous from France's CGT and Ms Lee Siew Hwa, representing the Committee for Asian Women based in Bangkok. The meeting was also addressed by ACTRAV Director Jim Baker who told the gathering that "Democracy is based, in large part on freedom of association, on the right of workers to form and control their own trade unions without interference. Real peace is a coming together of representative bodies to reach compromises. A peace based on repression is the peace of the graveyard. The whole world is watching what is happening in Nepal".

The massive gathering was a powerful message of worker's demands for peace, democracy, and rights. It was the largest trade union rally in recent years and the first ever organised jointly by the four national trade union centres.

Cambodia ratifies Convention 182 on child labour

The ACTRAV programme against child labour has been active in Cambodia since 2001. The trade union situation continues to give cause for concern.

At the end of August, the Cambodian National Assembly ratified Convention 182 on the worst forms of child labour. More than 200,000 Cambodian children aged under 14 are thought to be working. In1999, Cambodia ratified Convention 138 on the minimum age. Under Cambodian law, access to employment is permitted only after the end of compulsory education, and in any case not before reaching the age of 15. Since 2001, the Bureau for Workers' Activities has been present on the ground in Cambodia with a project against child labour. Right from the start, when it trained trade union educators in the rubber plantations and the saltmarshes, the project has been backed by a trade union committee consisting of the six main trade union federations. The unions have organized various activities, and mark the International Day Against Child Labour each year. In 2003, two unions in the rubber plantations of Kompong Chang signed an historic agreement with two firms, under which, for every child sent to school, the employer gives 15 kg of rice. Since that time,100 per cent of the children on those plantations attend school. After the introduction of social dialogue, the unions secured, in subsequent negotiations, an agreement providing for three months' paid maternity leave and free healthcare.

In 2004, during its training courses for trade unionists from various sectors, the programme highlighted the link between child labour and respect for trade union rights, following the murder of two trade union leaders that year. (In a related development, the international trade union movement recently issued a protest against the prison sentences passed on two innocent people accused of murdering the President of the Free Trade Union of Workers of the Kingdom of Cambodia (FTUWKC), Chea Vichea. The trade unions denounced irregularities and incoherencies in the enquiry that lead to their prosecution).

Today, the ACTRAV programme has established a working relationship with the team that the ILO Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour has recently installed in Cambodia. The ACTRAV training material and its set of manuals on child labour are now available in Khmer.

Union strategies in Central and Eastern Europe

A new ILO publication analyses the evolution of trade union strategies since the changes in the East.

A new study entitled Trade Union Strategies in Central and Eastern Europe: Towards Decent Work reveals the complex and evolving strategies of trade unions during 15 years of economic and social reforms. Edited by Dimitrina Dimitrinova, ACTRAV specialist in the ILO Budapest office, and Jacques Vilrokx, a professor at Brussels Free University, it will be published by December 2005 by the ILO Sub-regional Office in Budapest. It is based on a study conducted under an ILO project funded by the French and Italian governments.

The fall of the Berlin Wall marked the beginning of a period of strategic reorientation for trade unionism in Central and Eastern Europe. In the shift from state socialism to democratic pluralism and a market economy, trade unions were faced with a historic decision. They had to decide whether to oppose these processes, or to support them. They chose to be among the forces supporting the transformation of their societies. On the one hand, this choice led to a painful process of redefining union purpose and identity, but on the other, it created the opportunity for genuine representation of workers' interests in post-socialist societies. It helped trade unions legitimize their claims in the new democratic order, within which they became important institutional actors. Indeed, unions in the region made great efforts to use institutional social dialogue to soften the impact of painful social reforms on their membership during the years that followed 1989. At the same time, a range of factors tended to undermine the influence of trade unions, which suffered a sharp decline in membership as reforms progressed.

Pointers

Unions active in Tsunami aftermath: As part as the ILO relief efforts in areas affected by the Tsunami, a number of activities carried by ACTRAV are directed to workers and their trade unions. In the Indonesian province of Aceh, one of the hardest hit by seism, activities carried out with ACTRAV support included information technology skills trainings for teachers and former petrochemical industry workers, a workshop on poverty reduction to raise awareness of the role of unions in local policy development and implementation, skills and vocational training programmes, trade union training and the first of a series of four workshops on international labour standards. The British TUC Aid Trustees have also approved funding for the ILO's work with trade union in Aceh and North Sumatra. For its part, the ICFTU Asian and Pacific Regional Organization (ICFTU-APRO) has donated $355,000 to the ILO for the development of vocational training projects for workers in the areas of India and Indonesia affected by the Tsunami. More than 3,000 workers in each of the two countries will receive training over the coming year. In India, the project will concentrate on training in the fishing sector, while in Indonesia the emphasis will be on the construction sector. Another programme launched by the ILO in Thailand will give training in the tourism sector and the informal economy in towns hit by the earthquake. With the recent establishment of the Global Union Workers' Centre by the Global Union Federations (GUFs) in Aceh, there will be greater scope for collaboration between the GUFs and the ILO.

Fighting child labour in Indonesia: In Indonesia, the ILO's IPEC programme to eliminate child labour has brought out two new publications designed to promote trade union involvement in its activities. A new brochure entitled Working together to tackle child labour contains a list of examples of programmes implemented by trade unions to tackle this scourge. Also, a publication by the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV), Trade Unions and Child Labour, has now been translated into Bahasa for distribution in Indonesia, where it is used in trade union training courses. For more information, please contact Pat Quinn (Jakarta) or Tor Monsen (ACTRAV, Geneva).

European ultimatum to Belarus: The European Commission has sent Belarus an ultimatum to take the necessary steps to bring its practice and its legislation into line with ILO core Conventions, failing which the country will be denied the benefits of the European Generalized System of Preferences. The ultimatum expires on 18 February 2006. It explicitly refers to the recommendations of the Commission of Enquiry conducted by the ILO in 2003. The Commission's report, which concluded that the Belarus trade union movement has been and continues to be subjected to massive interference by the authorities, urged them to take a whole series of measures, by June 2005, to rectify the situation with regard to Convention 87 on freedom of association. This June, the Committee on the Application of Standards of the International Labour Conference deplored the fact that no really concrete and tangible steps had yet been taken to resolve these issues. It called for the sending of an ILO mission.

Union merger in Pakistan...: Three trade union organizations, all affiliated to the ICFTU, are the founding members of a new united trade union centre, the 900,000-strong Pakistan Workers' Federation (PWF). In a country which has several times been singled out for criticism by the ILO bodies that monitor respect for international labour standards, this is a symbolic development. The international presence at the founding ceremony bore witness to that. ICFTU General Secretary Guy Ryder, ILO Executive Director Kari Tapiola and the Director of the ILO Bureau for Workers' Activities, Jim Baker, travelled to Pakistan for the event. ILO Director-General Juan Somavia sent a televised message to the Congress participants. Khurshid Ahmed, a member of the ILO Governing Body, was elected President of the new organization, and Zahoor Awan is its General Secretary. Other trade union organizations in Pakistan may also join the new federation.

...and in Iraq: Meeting on September 19 in Damascus under the aegis of the International Confederation of Arab Trade Unions (ICATU), the three main trade union organizations of Iraq announced that they were initiating a process of merger. The General federation of Iraqi trade unions, the General federation of trade unions in the Republic of Iraq and the General Federation of trade unions in Iraq said the process will culminate with a unification congress in 2006. In the meantime, the organizations agreed to proceed to the merger of their rank and file unions. They also said that the merger would be open to other trade unions in Iraq, provided that the latter indicate their interest with one month of the Damascus meeting.

Signs of discontent amongst migrant workers in the Gulf: Two protests within the space of a few weeks, in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, called attention to the plight of migrant workers there. 600 foreign workers in Qatar, mainly Indians, struck for several days this August in protest at the non-payment of wages and poor working conditions. The wage arrears ranged from two to six months. The strike was the first in Qatar since the entry into force this June of the country's first-ever Constitution since it gained independence in 1971. In Dubai, hundreds of Asian workers employed on one of the country's prestigious housing and tourism projects held a demonstration on 19 September to protest against months of non-payment of wages. Numbering 850, the demonstrators called for payment of a 4-month wage backlog to 2,000 workers. Of the million people living in Dubai, one of the seven emirates making up the United Arab Emirates, more than 80% are foreigners. These include tens of thousands of Asian workers employed, often in miserable conditions, on the city's many construction sites.

Migration in and from India: Workers representatives at an ILO-sponsored national workshop on protecting the rights of migrants workers from India, held in Chandigarh, India, on 15-16 September stressed that migration issues should be a priority for India's trade union movement which should be carrying out awareness-raising activities and campaigns for the ratification of ILO Conventions on migrant workers (C97 and C143). The meeting decided to form a steering committee to support the ratification ILO conventions. A working group will follow up on the recommendations of the meeting.

Globalization and workplace safety: An international conference co-organized by the ILO in Düsseldorf on 24-26 October will bring together some 300 participants to examine new methods and development strategies for safety and health and labour inspection. The conference will look at the economic aspects of health and safety and will analyse the means of reconciling social justice with economic success. The role of labour inspection will also be on the agenda.

The rules of the game: The ILO has just issued a publication designed to promote international labour standards worldwide. It provides an overview of labour standards on issues ranging from forced labour to child labour, freedom of association and collective bargaining, equality at work and other key workplace concerns. Entitled Rules of the game: a brief introduction to International Labour Standards, the brochure was prepared by the ILO's International Labour Standards Department. It is written for a non-specialist audience and is designed to raise general public awareness of the standards. The importance of ILO Conventions and Recommendations is explained, as well as how they are applied and supervised. Rules of the game is available in English, French and Spanish. An Arabic version is under preparation.