Background

Photo: ILO/J. Maillard

This Symposium was one of a regular series of tripartite sectoral meetings – comprising representatives of governments, employers and workers – held under the ILO’s auspices. Such meetings discuss current employment and labour issues of importance to a specific industry and provide guidance for action at national and international levels, by employers’ and workers’ organizations, governments and the ILO. A description of the ILO, sectoral meetings of the ILO and their rules may be obtained from the document, Sectoral Meetings.

Participation

The Symposium brought together more than 100 participants from over 40 countries, including 31 Government delegates and advisers, 22 Employer delegates, 30 Worker delegates and observers and 20 other Observers from intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) involved with the media and entertainment sector. The government delegates were nominated by governments of ILO member States chosen by the Governing Body. Employer and Worker delegates were nominated by the Governing Body after consultation with their respective group. Governments of the following countries attended: Algeria, Brazil, Canada, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Philippines, Slovakia, Spain, Thailand, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and the United States. Employers’ and Workers’ representatives did not always come from the same countries as the governments.

As well as the debate among participants, 15 keynote speakers addressed the Symposium on specific topics, and two videoconference links were held with speakers from New York and Vancouver.

Purpose of the Meeting

The Governing Body of the International Labour Office decided at its 274th Session (March 1999) that the purpose of the Symposium would be to exchange views on selected social and labour issues in the rapidly changing media and entertainment sector (including television and radio broadcasting, the film industry, live performance, the media and the publishing and graphical industry). The Symposium drew up Conclusions (pdf, 65k) to provide guidance for future work by the ILO in the media and entertainment industries.

Agenda and report to the Meeting

As a basis for the discussions, participants used the background document entitled Symposium on Information Technologies in the Media and Entertainment Industries: Their Impact on Employment, Working Conditions and Labour-management Relations. This publication includes information and analysis on the following issues:

• Global trends in information communication technologies
• General impact of information technologies on processes, content and the role of government
• Information technology: Creator or destroyer of jobs for men and women in the media and entertainment industries?
• Impact of information technologies on contractual arrangements, status and labour-management relations
• Impact of information technologies on safety and health
• Information technologies and training
• Information technologies and copyright piracy
• International labour standards and international activities concerning the media and entertainment industries
• Social dialogue in the media and entertainment industries.

The document is available in English, French and Spanish.

The agenda and specific topics addressed were determined in consultation with the social partners, and the discussions were centred around the following main topics:

1. New occupations, new forms of work organization and changing skills training needs;
2. Safety and health in relation to new technology in media and entertainment;
3. Social dialogue, social responsibility and voluntary initiatives;
4. Combatting piracy of media and entertainment products - employment effects; and
5. Employment status, contractual arrangements and social protection.

Note on the Proceedings

The outcomes of the meeting were published in a Final report (also available in pdf format, 218k).

Contact address for more information

Mr. John Myers,
Media, culture and graphics industries specialist,
Sectoral Activities Department,
International Labour Office,
4, route des Morillons,
CH-1211 GENEVE 22
Tel. +41.22.799.7860, Fax +41.22.799.7046,
e-mail: myers@ilo.org or sector@ilo.org