As the international trade union movement campaigns to defend the right to maternity protection, Marta Scarpato, Equal Opportunities Coordinator at Education International, outlines the key issues at stake in the review of the ILO Convention on maternity protection. (Interview by Natacha David)

Brussels, March 8 2000 (ICFTU OnLine)

Why is the Convention being revised? What are the key issues?

I would like to begin by saying that the revision of Convention 103 is something the employers want more than the trade unions. We would have preferred, for example, a campaign for the ratification of the existing Convention, which contains some important achievements for women workers. However, as the International Labour Conference has opted for a revision, we must try to get the best convention possible, and I would stress the possible. The recognition of maternity rights is at stake, as the responsibility of society at large, employers and trade unions included, not as the exclusive and individual responsibility of women.

What are the main areas of disagreement between the unions and the employers?

Some of the thornier issues are:

a) The insistence by employers and some governments on excluding certain categories of enterprises and workers from the scope of the Convention. They are seeking a more rigid text which would exclude, for example, the many women on a-typical contracts in the informal sector who have no trade union assistance.

b) The six weeks of compulsory maternity leave. Employers are opposed to this. They would prefer it if the Convention did not set any compulsory leave period. We find that deeply worrying, particularly for women workers in developing countries where we know arbitrary decisions can be made.

c) The size of the financial benefits which women have a right to. Obviously the employers and some governments are trying to keep the language as vague as possible.

d) Nursing breaks: how long should they be? What sort of facilities should enterprises provide for their women workers?

How are negotiations progressing and what are the deadlines?

The first negotiations took place in June 1999. The outcome was relatively positive, bearing in mind the position of the employers and the governments. The employers were determined to weaken the text and draft a Convention that was merely a declaration of intent, without too many details or rules. The workers' group knew from the outset that this sort of attitude could open

the door - particularly in the developing countries - to statements such as "why should I do more, if the international standard doesn't require it?" Trying to avoid that was one of our objectives in the negotiations. The second and final round is due to take place at the ILO's 88th Conference

(Geneva, June 2000). That means that by the end of June we will have a new Convention. We hope that it will be strong, as explicit as possible and at the same time that it can be ratified. Because that is what we really want, unlike the employers and the governments.

What is the international trade union movement doing to promote its views? Education International has chosen this issue as one of its priorities for the year, as far as its equal opportunities work is concerned. As women teachers we can see, through our former female students, their mothers, ourselves, what the effects of a weak Convention could be. Together with the ICFTU and the PSI, we have taken action (such as the creation of a poster for March 8) on this issue. At each training session, at each seminar, we encourage our member organisations and the men and women who work for them to mobilise for the defence of maternity rights, which I will say again is the responsibility of each and every one of us. We will be in Geneva trying to get the strongest Convention possible. The women workers of the world deserve that from us.