"Trade union rights are human rights".
A monthly newsletter produced by the ILO Bureau for Workers’ Activities
No. 3/01
July 9, 2001
Contents
Decent work topped agenda of International Labour Conference
Protection for 1,3 billion agricultural workers, at long last
A global campaign for extending social protection
Singled out for rights abuses
Promoting cooperatives
From the workers’ benches
ILO launches new Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS
Conference briefs
Decent work topped agenda of International Labour Conference
A new Convention and a new Recommendation on Safety and Health in Agriculture, the first ever international instruments for this sector, a first discussion on a new international standard on the promotion of cooperatives to be adopted next year, a consensus on the need to extend social security as a means of promoting economic development, and a strengthening of the authority and relevance of the ILO supervisory mechanisms were key features of this year’s International Labour Conference which was held in Geneva on 5-21 June 2001.
With "Reducing the Decent Work Deficit," as the theme of the Director-General
Report, this year’s International Labour Conference highlighted the need to move from vision to policy and from aspiration to action.
Summing up the debate on his report, Mr Juan Somavia told delegates: "If this Conference has a single message, it is that all of us together must now move the Decent Work Agenda from aspiration to action, from design to implementation, from a vision to a policy." He called on the tripartite delegations to pursue their efforts at the national level in order to "highlight the different ways in which decent work is part of the development agenda."
Fundamental principles and rights at work and employment must be part of the agenda, Mr Somavia stressed. "What is decent is built on universal rights and principles, but reflects the circumstances in each country, in that sense, there is a floor but there is no ceiling." Workers delegates insisted on that point stressing that the quantity and quality of jobs should go together. They also reaffirmed the unique role of social partners, trade unions and employers, and the need for the ILO to stick to its tripartite decision-making structure.
This year's global report, prepared as part of the follow-up to the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, was devoted to forced and compulsory labour. The report, entitled "Stopping forced labour", finds that forced labour, slavery and criminal trafficking in human beings - especially women and children - are on the rise worldwide and taking new and insidious forms. The report was discussed at a special sitting of the Conference and some 15 workers’ delegates took part in the debate. The Workers’ Group Chairperson, Bill Brett, made a series of proposals to strengthen the ILO’s efforts in fighting forced labour. He suggested the launching of "an international programme of action...which would seek to deal with all aspects of the problem in a concerted and coordinated way, and would lead international agencies, as well as ILO members, to work together". In his reply, the Director-General announced that an outline on such as "International Programme for the Elimination of Forced Labour" will be tabled at this November’s session of the Governing Body.
Delegates gave overwhelming approval to the first labour standards on agricultural
safety and health ever - with the aim of protecting the world's 1.3 billion agricultural workers - by a vote of 402 for, 2 against with 41 abstentions. The new International Convention on Health and Safety in Agriculture
will enter into force once ratified by two ILO member States. A Recommendation on Health and Safety in Agriculture was also adopted by a vote of 418 for, 0 against with 33 abstentions.
The Conference adopted the conclusions of the Committee on the Promotion of Cooperatives which held a first discussion on a new international labour standard on the promotion of cooperatives, which are playing an increasingly important role in facilitating job creation
worldwide. Worldwide, cooperatives have 800 millions members and employ 100 million people. A Recommendation will be proposed for adoption next year.
Six countries were singled out by the Conference’s Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations for consistent and serious violations of labour rights and cited in special paragraphs
of its report: Belarus, Colombia, Ethiopia, Myanmar (Burma), Sudan and Venezuela.
While the conference moved to send a "High-Level Team" to Burma to conduct an objective assessment of the situation in the country accused of widespread use of forced labour, a special sitting of the Committee on the situation in Burma insisted on such High-Level Team, whose members should be chosen by the Director-General, having full access to all parts of the country and to sources of information and stressed that people providing information
should be guaranteed protection and should not be subject of retaliation by the authorities. The High Level Team will visit Burma this September and report to the November session of the Governing Body.
On Colombia, which was again singled out for violence directed against trade unionists (some 55 people were killed in the first six months of 2001), the Governing Body decided to put in motion a special "substantive technical cooperation programme" to help establish an environment in which freedom of association, the security of trade unionists and employers and the promotion of social dialogue are guaranteed. The decision is based on a proposal made by the Workers’ Group who insisted that the request for a Commission of Inquiry remained pending and could be relaunched at any time should no progress be registered.
Reflecting the high priority given to social security questions by many member States in recent years, the Social Security Committee held a general discussion on the issue. A wide-ranging consensus emerged from the discussions. Social security, it was agreed, was for everyone in society and highest priority should go to policies and initiatives to extend it to those who have none. Participants agreed that social security should not only ensure
equal treatment of men and women, but should also play a positive role in promoting gender equality.
A special session examining the conditions of workers in Palestine and in the other Occupied Arab Territories highlighted the gravity of the employment and economic hardships resulting from the political crises and violence affecting the region during the last nine months. Participants at the session were told that increasing segments of the working population of the Territories are unemployed with thousands of Palestinians unable to even get to work in light of the security situation and border closings. A report prepared by the ILO Director General noted that as much as 50 percent of the Gross Domestic Product of the Palestinian territories has been lost. Poverty affects well over half the residents of the West Bank and as much as 80 per cent in Gaza. Economic losses to Israel have been considerable as well.
The Conference launched a new initiative of the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour aimed at greatly accelerating the removal of millions of children from the most abusive forms of child
labour in three states - Tanzania, Nepal and El Salvador - in the next 10 years. This session of the Conference was addressed by Tanzania’s President Benjamin Mkapa who was a special guest at the Conference.
The Conference delegates approved the Director-General's strategic budget proposals for the 175 member-State Organization, adopting unanimously an US$434,040,000 budget at a rate of exchange of 1.77 Swiss francs to
the US dollar for the biennium 2002-2003 to finance ILO activities around the world. As in the previous biennium, the budget is organized around four strategic objectives of principles and rights at work, employment, social protection, and social dialogue which constitute the ILO's decent work agenda. While expressing support for the draft Programme and Budget for 2002-03 tabled by the Governing Body, Marc Blondel (France) who represents the Workers’ Group of the Programme and Finance Committee, noted that in dollar terms this represented a reduction from the previous exercise. "A much better approach would be to establish the level of resources that corresponded to the true needs of the ILO", Blondel stressed welcoming on the other hand the transparency and independence that characterized the proposals and the fact that more attention would be given to performance measurement and control.
During the Conference, the ILO Governing Body Working Party on the Social Dimensions of Globalization met and agreed on a number of steps to strengthen its action and establish a programme to look at certain issues in depth.
The first item in this programme concerns trade liberalization and employment, which will be examined in November. It also agreed that the Working Party should offer a permanent forum for exchange of views and dialogue. The
Working Party supported the suggestion that an authoritative report be prepared on the social dimensions of globalization under the responsibility of the Director-General. It also gave some guidance as to the issues this
report should cover, notably that it should take full account of the development dimension. The Working Party will also pursue the idea of creating a world commission of eminent personalities to prepare this report for which there
was a great deal of support. The Director-General will present a proposal on how this might be done at the next meeting of the ILO Governing Body in November. Speaking on behalf of the Workers’ Group, Bill Brett emphasized,
however, that the proposed Commission should not be seen as an alternative to the trade union campaign for workers’ rights to be included in the WTO.
The Conference elected as its President, Ms. Patricia A. Sto. Tomas, Secretary of Labour and Employment of the Philippines. Elected as Vice Presidents were Mr. Arthur Joao Donato (Employers) from Brazil, Mr. Jean-Claude
Parrot (Workers) from Canada and Ms. Cecilia Bannerman (Governments) from Ghana. Mr. Donato is Vice President of the National Confederation of Industry in Brazil. Mr. Parrot executive Vice President of Canada's Labor Congress.
Ms. Bannerman is Minister for Manpower Development and Employment of Ghana. The Workers’ Group at the Conference elected Bill Brett as its chairperson and Dan Cunniah (ICFTU) as its secretary.
Posters promoting workers’ basic rights contained in the ILO Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work were widely distributed during the conference, in particular during sessions of the full Workers’ Group.
Workers delegates were invited to give maximum dissemination of the poster in their respective countries in a global effort to make it available in all workplaces.
According to the Credentials Committee, 152 Ministers or Vice-Ministers attended the Conference and some 3663 people applied for accreditation in various capacities. Out of a number of 2208 delegates and advisers,
580 (143 delegates and 437 technical advisers) formed the Workers’ Group. The Credentials Committee had before it 14 objections concerning the nomination of workers’ delegates: Complaints concerning the non-payment on travel
and subsistence of workers delegates from Belarus and Swaziland were also examined.
During the Governing Body which was held, after the closing of the Conference on June 22, Mr. Alain Ludovic Tou, Minister of Employment, Labour and Social Security, Burkina Faso, was elected as Chairman of its 2001-2002 Session.
He replaces Mr. Celso L. Nunes Amorim, Ambassador, representative of the Government of Brazil, who served as Chairman during the 2000-2001 Session.
Daniel Funes de Rioja, President of the Social Policy Department of the Argentinian Industrial Union and Chairman of the Employers Group of the Organization of American States from 1995 to 1998, was elected as Employer
Vice-Chairman. He replaces Mr. Rolf Thüsing, member of the Executive Board of the Confederation of German Employers' Association. Bill Brett was re-elected as Worker Vice-chairman.
Protection for 1,3 billion agricultural workers, at long last...
After the adoption of the Convention
on the worst forms of child labour in 1998, "it would be my view that the Convention concerning safety and health and agriculture adopted this year is the most important convention addressed by the ILO for quite some time.
I am not playing down other conventions but the reality is that we are talking about half the workforce in the world, 1.3 billion people who have got no protection whatsoever". This is how Leroy Trotman (Barbados) reacted
after the formal adoption of the new Convention. Mr Trotman was the Workers’ Group spokesperson on the tripartite Committee of the ILO Conference dealing with the drafting of the instrument on safety and health in agriculture.
Among the key concerns on the workers’ benches were the need to include basic trade union rights for agricultural workers and the possibility for them to refuse work which would endanger their life and health. Both concerns
are addressed in the new Convention. As importantly, the Convention provides for agricultural workers to enjoy social protection at least equivalent to that offered to workers in other industries, and gives them the right
to be informed and consulted on safety and health matters and to participate in the application and review of safety and health measures including through the selection of health representatives in safety and health committees.
Article 18 of the Convention calls for measures to be taken to ensure that the special needs of women agricultural workers are taken into account in relation to pregnancy, breast-feeding and reproductive health. Article
16 covers young workers and hazardous work and puts the minimum age for assignment to work in agriculture at 16 (and 18 for more dangerous work).
A recommendation also adopted by the Conference further details preventive and protective measures for workers in agriculture and specifically calls on ultinationals
to provide adequate safety and health protection for their workers in agriculture "regardless of the place or country in which they are situated".
"It is particularly important that the instruments just adopted by the ILO address in clear, specific language such crucial issues as the safe use of machinery, chemicals and animal handling and risks from biological agents. The IUF also worked very hard to insert language specifying that temporary and seasonal workers are accorded the same safety and health protection as permanent workers, and we are pleased that the Convention sets out this essential principle," stated Ron Oswald, general secretary of the International Union of Food and Agricultural Workers (IUF). Sue Longley from the IUF acted as secretary of the Workers’ Group on the Committee on safety and health in agriculture.
Agriculture is one of the three most hazardous industries (together with mining and construction). According to ILO estimates, of 335,000 fatal workplace accidents worldwide, some 170,000 are among agricultural workers.
Millions more of the world’s 1.3 billion agricultural workers suffer serious injury or illness in workplace accidents involving machinery or are poisoned by pesticides and other agro-chemicals.
Leroy Trotman invited the trade union movement to engage in a campaign for ratification of the new Convention and called on the ILO to embark on a programme of promotion. "If the ILO fails to do that, then it will be missing a golden opportunity to bring the ILO further into the limelight and to show the tremendous work that the ILO can do to make people realize that social justice is not merely an empty expression but that it has relevance and meaning," Trotman told Human.Rights@Work.
The Convention shall come into force 12 months after the date on which the ratifications of two Members have been registered with the Director-General. Both the ICFTU and WCL welcomed the adoption of the new Convention.
A global campaign for extending social protection
The report of the Committee on Social Security reads as a "work programme for the ILO to undertake with member States" and acknowledge that social security is a basic human right. "Together we have brought forward a vision, a set of value and a substantial programme for the ILO’s role in bringing social security to the hundreds of millions who make up the excluded majority", said Bill Mansfield (Australia), spokesperson for the Workers’ Group on the tripartite Committee.
The Committee’s conclusions reflect a consensus on a set of key issues,
namely:
- Highest priority should go to policies and initiatives to extend
social security to those who have none;
- Social security helps achieve both social and economic progress and
enhances productivity;
- The ageing of the population affects both funded and pay-as-you-go
pension systems: solutions are to be sought above all through measures
to increase employment rates;
- The social partners have a strong role to play in the management
of social security.
Non-discrimination in benefits, good governance and low administrative costs were also cited as criteria for performing systems. While, there is no single model which will suit all nations, the report insists on the
role of the state which should be one of promoting and extending social security. The Workers’ Group was, however, critical of social security reforms that fail to respect the above principles, citing examples of privatization.
The report adopted by the Conference calls for a major campaign on the extension of social security and for the ILO to urge governments to give higher priority to social security.
Singled out for rights abuses
Belarus, Colombia, Ethiopia, Burma, and Venezuela were singled out by the Conference Committee on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, for serious infringement of Convention 87 on freedom of association, while
Sudan was pointed at for continued failure to implement Convention 29 on forced labour. A total of 24 countries were invited to appear before the Committee during the Conference.
A special sitting of the Committee on Burma spelt out the conditions and criteria for a High-Level Team of the ILO to visit the country and assess the situation
regarding forced labour. Luc Cortebeeck (Belgium), spokesperson for the Workers’ Group on the Application Committee, insisted that the mission should be able to have access to any information and sources of information it may require and that no one should suffer retaliation for submitting information to the Team, whose members are to be chosen by the ILO Director-General. The Team will report to the ILO Governing Body which meets in November. Mr Cortebeeck stressed that Burma will remain on the ILO agenda as long as the forced labour issue is not solved. He cited three criteria: conformity of legislation with Convention 29, conformity in practice and sanctions for people found guilty of resorting to forced labour.
Examining separately the application of Convention 87 on Freedom of Association in Burma, the Committee expressed in a special paragraph of its report, "its profound regret for the persistence of serious discrepancies between national legislation and practice and the provisions of the Convention" (no. 87).
In the case of Belarus, concerning violation of the Convention 87 on Freedom of Association as a result of public interference in trade union activities, the Committee expressed "its grave concern at the issuance of instructions by the presidential administration which called upon the ministers and chairs of government committees to interfere in the elections of branch trade unions." It urged the Government to "take all necessary measures to put an end to such interference so as to ensure that the provisions of the Convention are fully applied in both law and in practice."
As regards Colombia, the Committee referred to previous concerns over violence in the country directed against trade unionists and persistent allegations of violations of workers’ right to organise. While acknowledging
"significant progress," notably with respect to legislative provisions, the Committee expressed its "concern that many complaints concerning violent acts and discrimination against trade unionists continued to be submitted to the ILO. It emphasised that the "climate of impunity in the country represented a serious threat to the exercise of trade union freedom." During the Governing Body session that followed the Conference, the Workers’ Group came up with a proposal to strengthen the presence of the ILO in Colombia through a “substantial technical cooperation programme” for the promotion of trade union rights. The special programme for Colombia should be put in place without delay, in the meantime the demand by the Workers’ Group for a Commission of Inquiry will remain pending.
Regarding accusations of government interference in trade union activity in Ethiopia, the Committee said it was "deeply concerned by the fact that no progress had been made" in respect of a serious complaint concerning
the Ethiopian Teachers' Association whose President "had now been convicted, after three years of preventive detention, on charges of conspiracy against the State and sentenced to 15 years of imprisonment.
The Committee strongly urged the Government to "take all the necessary steps as a matter of urgency to ensure that the right of association was recognized for teachers to defend their occupational interests, that workers' organizations were able to elect their representatives and organize their administration and activities free from interference by the public authorities and that workers organizations were not subject to administrative dissolution, in accordance with the Convention (No.87). It also expressed the hope that the ILO Office in Addis Ababa "could visit detained trade unionists." (Ed.:The situation in Ethiopia led the Workers’ Group to lobby successfully against the nomination by governments of Ethiopia to chair the ILO Governing Body. As a result, the Governing Body will be chaired by Mr Tou from Burkina Faso).
Sudan was also cited for non-application of the Forced Labour Convention (No.29), with the Committee highlighting "the extreme gravity of the case which affected fundamental human rights". Sudan has previously been cited in special paragraphs in 1997, 1998 and 2000. The Committee observed "that there was a broad consensus among the relevant instances of the United Nations agencies and workers representative organizations concerning the persistence and extent of the practice of abduction and imposition of forced labour, and concluded that such situations were very serious violations of Convention No. 29."
Regarding Venezuela, the Committee "urged the Government urgently to amend its legislation to ensure that workers and employers could form organizations and freely elect their representatives without interference by the public
authorities." It "regretted to note that the new Constitution of the Republic contained provisions that were not in conformity with the ILO Convention (No. 87)." Expressing its "profound concern at the convocation of a national
trade union referendum in December 2000 with a view to the unification of the trade union movement and the suspension or removal of its leaders, it urged the Government to take the measures necessary to bring its national legislation and practice fully into conformity with the provisions and requirements of the Convention." The Government of Venezuela has agreed to a direct contacts mission to gather information on the application of the Convention.
Towards a universal instrument concerning cooperatives
The last discussion on cooperatives at the ILO Conference took place in 1966 and led to the adoption of Recommendation No. 127 which only deals with cooperatives in developing countries. This year, the Conference Committee on the promotion of cooperatives is proposing for adoption next year a new Recommendation dealing with cooperatives worldwide and,
as Ibrahim Patel (South Africa), spokesperson for the Workers’ Group on the Committee, pointed out, the proposed instrument is universal in three senses: "It applies to all societies (developing, in transition and developed),
it applies to all types of cooperatives and to all workers in cooperatives without distinction whatsoever.
"Cooperatives developed in the nineteenth century as a direct response to the vision of economic activity founded on ethical values, on the notion that production and consumption of goods and services is compatible with the promotion of human values and or human solidarity. These values are even more significant, more timely and more relevant in the globalized world than ever before", Mr Patel stressed.
With a combined workforce of 100 million, cooperatives surpasses even the 86 million workers employed by multinationals and their total membership reaches 800 million people.
The conclusions adopted by the conference should lead to the adoption next year of a Recommendation that includes core labour standards for cooperative workers and provides for an increased role by the State to promote
cooperatives both as a source of employment and as enterprizes and organisation "inspired by solidarity" thus susceptible of responding to the needs of society , including disadvantaged groups and regions. The Recommendation
is also likely to recognize that States should promote the important role of cooperatives in transforming informal economy work into legally protected work integrated into mainstream economic life.
The conclusions also propose measures to avoid cooperatives being set up simply as a means of bypassing employment standards and labour legislation, a phenomenon that was identified during the discussions and described on the workers’ benches as "sham cooperatives".
The question on "Promotion of Cooperatives" will be included in the agenda of next year’s international labour conference with a view to the adoption of a Recommendation.
From the workers’ benches
Addressing delegates at the Conference, Bill Jordan, general secretary of the International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) insisted that the core labour standards and fundamental principles and rights included in the ILO Declaration "represent a floor and not a ceiling in the evolutionary concept of decent
work". Those standards included in the Declaration unanimously adopted by the ILO, together with a reasonable level of social protection, decent wages and occupational health and safety standards are "the basic requirements
of decent work", said the ICFTU leader. For Mr Jordan, there can be no two-step approach where jobs of any kind are created first, with the hope that their quality will improve later. "Both quantity and quality must be addressed from the beginning", Jordan stated.
For Willy Thys, general secretary of the World Confederation of Labour (WCL), the ILO should help "avoid the privatization of labour legislation". "The WCL cannot accept that an obligation be made into a possibility". Mr Thys was referring to the Director-General’s report which, according to him, promotes codes of conduct and private voluntary initiatives rather than standards with the force of law. "Members of the organization simply by virtue of belonging to it have the obligation to respect, promote and implement the Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work", he underlined. Mr Thys also denounced the fascination of the "knowledge economy” while the majority of workers in the world are in other sectors, particularly in the informal economy.
The general secretary of the World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), Mr Alexander Zharikov, expressed the view that the principle issue before the ILO is the implementation of the Ten Commitments adopted in Copenhagen in 1995. He was critical of language in the report that would identify the ILO with a certain political system and denounce others, namely referring to a call “for governments to abandon the position of single trade union structures” which Mr Zhrikov dismissed as interference in the internal affairs of the countries concerned.
On behalf of the Organization of African Trade Union Unity, Demba Diop called on the ILO to be "more active" in guaranteeing the recognition of the rights and freedoms of African migrant workers in host countries, particularly
in Europe. "It is inconceivable that millions of migrant workers, who have always carried out the most difficult and most dangerous tasks in the developed countries, should today be the victims of injustice", he said. Mr Diop also called on ILO member States to draw up a system of standards guaranteeing the fundamental rights of women and to make greater provision in labour standards for special protection for women during pregnancy and maternity.
ILO launches new Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS
Citing new data showing some 23 million workers worldwide now infected withHIV/AIDS, ILO Director-General Juan Somavia launched a pioneering Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work at the U.N General AssemblySpecial
Session on HIV/AIDS in New York on 25-27 June.
The ILO Code of Practice will provide workers, employers and governments with new global guidelines - basedon international labour standards - for addressing HIV/AIDS and its impact at the enterprise, community and national levels where most infections occur. Mr. Somavia said. "Of the 36 million people infected with HIV worldwide, we estimate at least 23 million, or three-quarters,
are working people aged 15-49 - often our most productive people, people in the prime of their lives."
New ILO data prepared for the AIDS session show that of the estimated 23 million working people suffering fromHIV/AIDS, about 17.5 million, or the vast majority, are in 43 African states, where Mr. Somavia said, the
HIVepidemic has created "a state of emergency" Data for other regions of the world show some 3.5 million people with HIV in Asia, 700,000 in North America, 226,000 in the Carribean, 416,000 in Latin America and 543,000 in Europe.
Conference briefs:
• In representations addressed to the Conference’s Credentials Committee, the ICFTU questioned the legitimacy of the Yugoslav and Burmese delegations and expressed doubts about the representativeness of workers’ delegates
from the United Arab Emirates, Kiribati, Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It also challenged the legitimacy of Fiji’s government delegation and the refusal by the government of Belarus to cover the travel costs of its workers’
delegates.
- A special report issued by the ICFTU during the conference put Swaziland’s
poor trade union rights record in the spotlight by pointing to severe anti-union repression over the recent months.
- A report on forced labour, published by the World Confederation of Labour (WCL) during the conference denounces the current reality of the scourge and formulates ways to call a halt to it. At short notice, the report proposes measures at the level of the media («know, and make known to public opinion, the persistent topicality of slavery», of the legislation
(«so that laws punish these practices and condemn their perpetrators») and lastly of ethics («so that each human being is treated as such, with due dignity»).
- At a press conference summing up the results of the ILO Conference, WCL General Secretary Willy Thys said his organization would propose the idea of an Economic and Social Security Council to secure a world governance of the global economy. The idea will be debated at the organisation’s world congress to take place later this year in Bucharest.
- A statement
adopted by the Workers’ Group accused the Indonesian government of failing to carry out the task of facilitating fair and just resolution of industrial disputes. The statement referred specifically to a dispute at the Jakarta
Shangri-La Hotel where 600 union members were dismissed by management and offered to get their jobs back only if they accepted to withdraw from their trade union. Details of the case were brought to the attention of the Workers’
Group by Indonesian unionists who were part of the delegation from the Geneva-based International union of food, agricultural and hotel workers (IUF).
- Addressing the Workers’ Group, a Belarus trade union leader said that a new presidential decree is declaring any trade union meeting illegal on the eve of the Presidential elections and that threats and blackmail against activists have intensified. Speaking on behalf of the Workers’ Group, Bill Brett, the workers’ spokesperson at the Conference, referred to an "extreme situation in Belarus in terms of trade union rights abuses". Evidence of President’s Lukashenko’s hostility towards independent trade unions are detailed in a 30 minute video programme that was shown to the Conference delegates at the initiative of the ILO Bureau for workers’ activities.
- The Workers’ Group has asked the Spanish and Argentine governments to shoulder responsibility for the rescue of Aerolineas Argentinas S.A., Argentina’s Airlines, which finds itself on the verge of bankruptcy threatening the jobs of 7,000 workers. Aerolineas Argentinas SA is owned by the Spanish state through a public society, SEPI. But trade unions say that the Argentine government which authorized the privatization of the company in 1990 is also to be held accountable. A rescue plan by SEPI to cut staff, reduce salaries and costs, and renegotiate the company’s huge debts, has so far failed to convince the trade unions who fear for the very future of the company.
- One year after its adoption by the International Labour Conference, the Convention 183 on the protection of maternity in the working environment has only been ratified by two States. The WCL has announced, during this year’s Conference, a world-wide campaign to promote ratification and implementation of this text. WCL member organisations as well as all other organisations concerned with the fate of working women have been invited to join the campaign.
- Prison labour is one of the five exceptions stipulated in ILO Convention 29 concerning the prohibition of forced labour, but unfortunately this statutory provision has opened the door to all kinds of abuse.An ICFTU report released
during the conference suggests that that from joint ventures of private companies and public authorities to complete privatization of the prison system, penal institutions are increasingly being managed like fully-fledged businesses to the detriment of their inmates, whose basic rights are regularly violated.
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