Publications

BULLETIN 156
Social dialogue

Inter-American Technical Bulletin on Vocational Training

 

(Full text available only in Spanish)

 

THIS ISSUE

 

 

 

CONTENTS
Mariela Quiñones	New dimensions of social dialogue
Graciela Giuzio	Social dialogue subjects: Unions, employers and their organisations and the State. Concrete experiences in Latin America and Europe
Cristian Pérez Muñoz	Universal basic income and social dialogue: a proposal
Julio César Argañaraz Teresita Norma Hernández María Zulmira Silva	Special bordering document: object and instrument of social dialogue
Roberto Denis Otero Campodónico	Social dialogue: grounds and alternatives
François Graña	Democratise democracy? New forms of social dialogue
Ivonne Cancela and Andrea Dumpiérrez	Social dialogue: legitimating the democratic system An instrument for sustenance and sustainability of social peace
Violeta García	Social dialogue: an alternative strategy in employment generation. Presentation of a Uruguayan regional experience
María del Rosario Fariña and Sheila Marx	Unionism and social dialogue in Uruguay. A revision of its current practices
Social Dialogue Academic Network	Contest

THIS ISSUE

ILO's experience, gathered through more than eight decades, has shown that dialogue expresses the social philosophy of peace. Social dialogue as a social and political process has a remarkable value on social cohesion, democracy and development with social justice. It is inherent to the historical evolution of labour relations; it is a privileged way to channel forces of change in building up agreements between the national and social dimension and globalisation.

According to Juan Somavía, ILO's Director General: to prevent fragmentation lines from becoming abysses there is one objective: social justice and the methodology is -once again and forever- social dialogue1.

To expand and enroot a culture of social dialogue it requires a daily, systematic and joint effort of all social actors, such as universities and academic institutions which play a key role in training new generations of professionals- who will be part of and manage governmental instances and workers' and employers' organisations at different national and international levels.

Aware of this challenge and opportunity, ILO and a select -and increasing - group of universities in Latin America, Italy and Spain have created a Social Dialogue Academic Network, since March 2002. Within this framework, a number of exchange meetings and activities oriented to curricula update, teachers' improvement, the promotion of specific social dialogue actions, research and encouragement actions have been carried out for students and professionals. During the second semester of 2004, Cinterfor/ILO and the Universidad de la República of Uruguay, through the School of Law and the School of Social Studies called for a monograph contest on social dialogue. The idea was well received by young people and it proved even more successful since their dissertations showed their vocation for dialogue; the acquisition of the principles and values that turn dialogue into a basis for democratic development; the depth of their theoretical reflections, the level of systematisation of experiences; and the creation of new dialogue initiatives in order to face social problems such as insufficient family income, the formulation of queries and new hypotheses.

The Jury was integrated by Professor Oscar Ermida Uriarte, on behalf of Cinterfor/ILO, Professor Juan Raso Delgue, on behalf of the School of Law and Francisco Pucci, on behalf of the School of Social Studies. The Jury suggested granting four awards: to Mariela Quiñones, due to her work called New dimensions of social dialogue; Cristian Pérez Muñoz, due to his dissertation Universal basic income and social dialogue: a proposal; Graciela Giuzio due to her work Social dialogue subjects: Unions, employers and their organisations and the State. Concrete experiences in Latin America and Europe; and the collective work called Special bordering document: object and instrument of social dialogue presented by Julio César Argañaraz Rodríguez, Teresita Norma Hernández Pérez and María Zulmira Silva Méndez.

The Jury made a special acknowledgment to Roberto Denis Otero Campodónico, for his dissertation Social dialogue: grounds and alternatives; François Graña, due to his work Democratise democracy? New forms of social dialogue; Ivonne Cancela and Andrea Dumpiérrez¸ due to their presentation of Social dialogue: legitimating a democratic system. An instrument for sustenance and sustainability of social peace; Violeta García due to its work Social dialogue: an alternative strategy in the employment generation (presentation of a Uruguayan regional experience); and María del Rosario Fariña and Sheila Marx for her dissertation Unionism and social dialogue in Uruguay (a revision of its current practices).

It is important for ILO to highlight that nine of the thirteen persons that have been awarded are women. The incorporation of women into the economic life and active politics is building up a new citizenship, new leaderships and societies with higher gender equity.

The dissertations present several routes and supplementary aspects according to which research and analysis of social dialogue can be approached such as democratic budget, methodological proposals, strategic components, characteristics and dynamics of relationships among actors, dealing with the contents that define its agenda, the interaction between dialogue's contributions and the challenges of opening and taking new spaces for dialogues, plus the supra-labour and mainstream aspect of dialogue.

Reading these articles also enables us to find the agreeing and disagreeing features in the approach, the social worldview and the socio-political view of its authors.

Therefore, Cinterfor/ILO has agreed with the Jury's recommendation to publish nine of the above-mentioned dissertations, certain that it will contribute to raise awareness and encourage reflection on social dialogue in the region.

EDUARDO RODRÍGUEZ CALDERÓN
ILO's Regional Coordinator of the
Social Dialogue Academic Network

 

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1 General Assembly of the International Association of Economic and Social Councils and Similar Institutions (IAESCSI), Geneva, 27 May, 2004.

 

 

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