Report of activities Cinterfor/ILO 2001-2002

5. ACTIVITIES IN URUGUAY, HOST COUNTRY OF CINTERFOR/ILO

Activities carried out by Cinterfor/ILO in Uruguay have responded to the needs and requests of organisations and authorities in charge of public policies for the training and development of human resources, either through the Ministry of Labour and Social Security and its National Board of Employment (Spanish acronym JUNAE), or technical/vocational education organisations, and workers’ and employers’ organisations that offer training of human resources as an instrument for access to employment, the improvement of workers, better productivity and decent work.

Co-operation with the Ministry of Labour and Social Security was channelled through its National Employment Bureau (DINAE) and National Board of Employment (JUNAE), of the Labour Control Division. The main areas in which technical assistance was provided were competence-based training, gender, young people, construction, rural area, forestry and the integration of persons with disabilities.

For the promotion of gender equity, in June 2001 the Centre started the implementation of the Programme for the promotion of equal opportunities for women in employment and vocational training (URU/01M/URU) –PROIMUJER– financed by the Uruguayan Fund for Occupational Retraining, managed by the JUNAE. This programme is aimed at enhancing the employability and access to labour of some 560 women in four geographical departments in the country, namely Cerro Largo, Maldonado, Montevideo and Río Negro. Information on this project may be found in Point 1 of this Report under the heading Vocational Training with a Gender Approach and in Point 4 under Women and Poverty.

In the sectoral area –more precisely in the construction sector– support was given to the Bipartite Committee for the Construction Sector in connection with tasks’ evaluation. Technical assistance is being negotiated for transferring the concepts and applications of the occupational competency approach to the Training Foundation of the Construction Industry (FUNCAP), especially regarding identification and recognition of the skills and knowledge of workers in that industry that might lead to the management and development of human resources by competencies.

In response to a request for training by the General Control Office of the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the Centre started to offer training courses in the Forestry sector with the financial support of the ILO SECTOR Department. Initially, four courses were offered on Operation and Maintenance of Power Saws with a specific safety and health module. These courses are expected to continue in the second half of 2003, gathering together representatives of workers and employers and Ministry of Labour and Social Security delegates, to lay down the foundation for a Forestry Training Council for social dialogue on the training of forestry operatives, particularly in the area of safety and health at work.

The DINAE received constant support from the Centre and the ILO Office in Buenos Aires in several activities, among them a Study for the Definition of DINAE Job Profiles; an Impact Study of training provided through the National Retraining Fund; a Study of the JUNAE experience as significant example of a new institutional arrangement incorporating social dialogue as an instrument for vocational training and equity activities. DINAE was likewise backed in a Project for the Formulation of National Training Policies for Employment, both in the coordination of active and passive employment policies and the implementation of active ones. This Project was jointly carried out with the ILO Sub-regional Office in Chile and the Buenos Aires Office. Also with DINAE, the University of the Republic, the ILO STANDARDS Department and the Buenos Aires Office, Cinterfor organised a workshop on Vocational Training in International Labour Standards to promote the convention on human resources’ development.

Representatives of the Uruguayan Chambers of Industries and Commerce attended the Technical Meeting “Employers and Vocational Training in Latin America and the Caribbean”, held in April 2002 at Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, joining the group of employers’ delegates that ascribe basic importance to training for employment and productivity.

Cinterfor/ILO also lent support to various initiatives and events connected with training implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Ministry of Education, the Technical/Vocational Council of the Labour University of Uruguay (CETP/UTU), by the social actors (JUNAE, Cuesta Duarte Institute of PIT-CNT). On the other hand, Cinterfor specialists and consultants took part as speakers or panellists in different discussion meetings organised by public and private institutions. Among them were events sponsored by the National Youth Institute (INJU), PROJOVEN, the Tripartite Committee for Equal Opportunities of the Ministry of Labour, the Gender Committee of the PIT-CNT, the Bank Workers’ Association (AEBU), the Honorary Committee for the Support of Persons with Disabilities (CNHD), the National Plenary of Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (PLENADI), the Inter-sectoral Committee on Disability, Employment and Social Security (OMINT), etc. Details of these activities can be found in the Annex to this Report.

Technical assistance was offered to various workers’ organisations in the Host Country. In that connection, the Centre collaborates regularly with different divisions of the PIT-CNT, like its Employment Committee, Industries Committee, Workers’ Delegation to the JUNAE, Youth Committee, Women’s Committee, Cuesta Duarte Institute, and others. Activities promoted by the PIT-CNT, like the Meeting on the Importance of Labour, had speakers sponsored by the Centre. With the Union of Paper and Pulp Workers (CUOPYC) of Juan Lacaze, Cinterfor organised several trade-union training seminars, in the framework of the cycle of talks started in the preceding period on Health and Safety at Work; Tools of Bipartite Management, Changes in the organisation of work and consequences for collective bargaining; the importance of labour in building a community identity. These seminars were attended by workers from the paper industry and other sectors as well. Cinterfor lent support to a union training workshop on VT of the metal workers’ Union (UNMTRA) and participated in a Seminar on “Equal Opportunities for Men and Women in Uruguay” held in Colonia in May 2003 and organised by the PIT-CNT and ILO/ACTRAV.

CINTERFOR/ILO IN URUGUAY
Titles published

- Manual de formación sindical para delegados de base de la industria de la construcción. (Manual of union training for shop stewards in the construction industry). Prepared by Cinterfor with the support of the ILO Office in Buenos Aires and ILO/ACTRAV.

- Manual de Capacitación de Derechos de los Trabajadores y Trabajadoras Rurales (Manual of union training in the Rights of Men and Women Rural Workers). Drafted by Cinterfor with the support of the ILO Office in Buenos Aires.

- Capacitación y formación profesional para jóvenes en Uruguay. Los programas Opción Joven y Projoven a traves de sus experiencias de evaluación. (Training and Vocational Training for Young People in Uruguay. Evaluation of the Opción Joven and Projoven programmes). Alicia Naranjo Silva. Published with the support of the UNDP Office in Uruguay.

- Diálogo social sobre formación en Uruguay. (Social dialogue on training in Uruguay). Jorge Rosenbaum Rímolo, Published in the Series “Contributions to Social Dialogue and Training”.

- Políticas de empleo, formación y diálogo social. Discusión conceptual y aproximación empírica al caso uruguayo. (Employment policies, training and socil dialogue. Conceptual debates and empirical approach to the uruguayan case). Gonzalo Graña.

- Guía para la realización de trabajos forestales. Prevención de riesgos y accidentes de trabajo. (Guide for Forestry Work. Prevention of Occupational Hazards and Accidents). Drafted by the Ministry of Labour and Social Security.

Efforts were continued in the establishment of links with universities to promote and encourage an interest in vocational training among research and higher education circles. Worthy of note is inclusion of the subject Vocational Training in the Labour Relations Career of the School of Law, for which Cinterfor prepared the teaching programme. The Centre has likewise supported and coordinated courses like the Post graduate course: “Diploma in the Design and Management of Occupational Training Courses” of the School of Social and Communication Sciences of the D.A. Larrañaga Catholic University (UCUDAL); the Regional Training Seminar on International Labour Standards, for Magistrates, Jurists and Law Professors of the University of the Republic, the International Seminar: “Young people, unemployment and local development. Models and ideas for training and employment and other courses, with the University of the Republic, the Catholic University and the ORT College. It took part in the 2nd International Meeting on labour relations on the theme “Decent work and Social dialogue” organised by the School of Law of the University of the Republic; in the Regional seminar-workshop on Secondary Education and Equity in Latin America. Strategies for improving the opportunities of the young, organised by IPE/UCUDAL; the International Seminar: Gender and Citizenship in the Southern Cone Countries organised by the School of Social Sciences of the University of the Republic; and the 3rd National Meeting on Labour Relations and Gender, University of the Republic, among others.