Recent developments

Construction and Infrastructure Advisory Body

The ILO organized an informal consultation between constituents in Geneva on 19 September 2007 to seek advice on future priorities for the sector. The consultation recommended that the ILO undertake the following activities in 2008-2009:

• A study on workers’ representation in health and safety in the construction industry as a follow-up of a Resolution adopted in the previous Tripartite Meeting on the Construction Industry in the Twenty-first Century: Its Image, Employment Prospects and Skill Requirements held in Geneva, December 2001
  
• Development of training materials on occupational safety and health and project management for clients, contractors, engineers, trade unions/workers
  
• Organization of a Global Dialogue Forum on Decent Work through public procurement and construction contracts.
  

The proposals will be presented to the ILO Governing Body in November 2007 for a decision.

Integrated action programme

In 2004 the Sectoral Activities Branch launched an integrated action programme in the construction sector in a number of developing countries, through which it collaborates with other departments of the ILO in Geneva and with the relevant area offices. The broad strategy adopted for the programme is to follow up, through a process of tripartite social dialogue, on the recommendations of the 2001 tripartite international meeting on construction held at the ILO.

The general objectives of the action programme are: (i) to create an enabling environment for the sustainable development of the local construction industry; (ii) to improve the conditions of work in the industry; and (iii) to expand opportunities for productive employment. These objectives are inter-related.

The programme tests the contribution of social dialogue to improvements in the sector. The decision on specific activities to be implemented takes place at the national level, involving the Government, and representatives of workers and employers. The process in each country is distinctive from the others. The concrete activities to be implemented are also specific to each country – while related to the broad programme framework.

More information can be found in the evaluation report on the programme.

Local authorities and decent work in construction

For more information on the increasing importance of decentralized government services and local economic development, as well as the ILO response, see the SECTOR Issues and Policy brief Local Economic Development and Decent Work in Construction: ILO Responses.