Background

The growing importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) across the world is changing our lifestyle, and has been at the centre of discussions, both for socio-economic research and policy-making, for over a decade. It has led the social partners to enhance sectoral social dialogue as a means of addressing key bargaining issues, notably the future of work and quality in the Information Society. Among the 22 industrial sectors that the ILO’s Sectoral Activities Programme covers, the media and entertainment industries have been at the forefront of these changes, along with the electronics and telecommunications industries.

How the Information Society affects employment (number of jobs, new occupations, employment status, differential impact on specific areas, skill levels, gender equity) and the quality of working life in the sector are important topics of analysis. Equally significant are: the capacity of training programmes to meet future requirements of employers and workers; the access by workers to such training; as well as their ability and willingness to adapt quickly enough to new technologies and needs.

The impact of ICTs on the sector in terms of “quality” can pose the question of whether certain primary standards of the ILO have been met, in the domains of fundamental principles and rights at work, employment, social protection and social dialogue. An assessment of how ICTs have affected the quality of the methods used in creating products and services in the sector as well as in the expectations that result, may complement an observation of overall trends in employment standards. Questions of quality, whether of the product, the content or of the profession, already permeate debate in this field. In a sector so dependent on the tastes of the market, where maintaining competitiveness is often tied to ensuring the highest quality that can be obtained at a given time, it is necessary to use a definition of “quality” that includes the quality of the sector’s products. However, it is worth noting that quality, popularity and success do not automatically come together in media and entertainment.

Greater diversity, enhanced freedom of expression and information, improvements in technical quality and more investment, are likely to contribute to better quality in the media, culture, graphical sector, as discussed at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva, December 2003. Examining how the WSIS process has reflected on issues relating to work and quality in the Information Society in the sector, as well as possible relevant topics for the second phase of the WSIS (Tunis, October 2005), is likely to be discussed at the Tripartite Meeting in October 2004.

In recent years, international exploitation of copyrighted works or performances has increased dramatically. The need to promote the intellectual property rights of artists, and to protect or improve their economic and social status, is essential in the Information Society. Such measures would help to strengthen the basis of the cultural industries and safeguard creativity. Considering the unstable and variable nature of artists’ contractual status, their intellectual property rights could form the basis for ensuring equitable pay and for funding social security.

Purpose

The purpose of the meeting was: to exchange views on the future of work and quality in the Information Society in the Media, Culture, Graphical sector, the social and labour aspects of this topic for the social partners, and the role of social dialogue in addressing them, using a report (pdf, 648k) prepared by the Office as the basis for its discussions. The Meeting adopted a set of conclusions (pdf, 46k) on issues relating to Employment, Quality, the World Summit on the Information Society and Social Dialogue; the Note on the proceedings provides a summary of the debates.

Contact address for more information

Mr. John Myers,
Media, culture, graphical sector specialist,
International Labour Office,
Tel.: (41.22)799-7879,
Fax: (41.22) 799-7046,
E-mail: myers@ilo.org