Report of activities Cinterfor/ILO 2001-2002

REPORT OF ACTIVITIES CINTERFOR/ILO
2001-2002

2. SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND VOCATIONAL TRAINING

The Report submitted to the previous Meeting of the Technical Committee indicated that vocational training was considered “a highly favourable environment for social dialogue” for which reason, and along the lines of “the ILO objective of strengthening participation by the social actors in order to develop social dialogue”, Cinterfor/ILO had decided to “promote that guideline in everything concerning vocational training”. It also described initial activities implemented in that sense noting that “it would be a long term effort to develop the proposal and the role of training in Labour relations, Labour Law and very specially in social dialogue”.

The present Report gives an account of the continuation of that line of action, in whose implementation – as in preceding periods - the Centre had the collaboration of other ILO Departments: for example, the International Labour Standards Department, the InFocus Programme on Social Dialogue, the International Training Centre at Turin, the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, the ILO Sub-regional Office for the Andean Countries (OSR-Lima), and the ILO Sub-regional Office for Central America (OSR- San José), as well as the ILO Office in Argentina. Such activities were supplemented by co-operation with various Universities and Academic Centres of several countries of the region and Europe.

Regarding publications, two new titles were added to the series Aportes para el Diálogo Social y la Formación (Contributions to Social Dialogue and Training); two more are in preparation and several others in the planning stage.

Titles already published are included in above box. Volumes on the status and prospects of social dialogue on training in Colombia and Peru are being prepared with the collaboration of the ILO Sub-regional Office for the Andean Countries. Similar studies are being planned for countries of the Central American Isthmus, the English-speaking Caribbean, and one European country still to be defined. A new comparative study of vocational training in collective bargaining is also in process of publication.

An item of news is that a sub-site on Social Dialogue, Labour Relations, Labour Law and Training will be added to the Cinterfor/ILO website in the next few weeks.

The links between Vocational Training and Social Dialogue were also the object of other activities by the Centre like the holding and attendance at seminars, workshops and meetings and, as already indicated, participation in the design and management of training policies with a gender slant. Among the former, Cinterfor/ILO took part in the Tripartite Sub-regional Meeting on Social Dialogue in Central America and the Caribbean (Santo Domingo, 2002), and in the II International Meeting on Labour Relations, Social Dialogue and Decent Work (Montevideo, 2002). It also joined the Academic Network for Social Dialogue, that includes Universities from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

SOCIAL DIALOGUE AND TRAINING
Titles published
- Gonzalo Graña. Políticas de empleo, formación y diálogo social: discusión conceptual y aproximación empírica al caso uruguayo. (Employment policies, training and social dialogue: conceptual discussion and empirical approximation to the Uruguayan case). 2002.

- María Cruz García Arce. Diálogo social sobre formación profesional en España (Social dialogue on vocational training in Spain). 2002.

- Javier Ferrer Dufol. Diálogo y concertación social sobre formación en España. (Social dialogue and agreements on training in Spain). 2002.

- Anne Carolina Posthuma (Coordinator) Diálogo social, formación profesional e institucionalidad (Social dialogue, vocational training and institutionality). 2002.

- Héctor-Hugo Barbagelata. Formación y legislación del trabajo, (Training and labour legislation). (New updated and enlarged version) (In press).

- Oscar Ermida Uriarte and Jorge Rosenbaum. Autonomía colectiva y formación profesional (Collective autonomy and vocational training). (In press).

- María Carmen Ferreira. El papel de la formación profesional en el MERCOSUR. (The role of vocational training in the MERCOSUR). (In press).

- Carlos Ojuela. Diálogo social sobre formación en Colombia. (Social dialogue on training in Colombia). (In press).

- Alfonso Villavicencio and Juan Cortés. Diálogo social sobre formación en Perú. (Social dialogue on training in Peru). (In press).

- Hugo Barreto, Mario Garmendia and Octavio Racciatti. Derecho de la formación profesional en Uruguay. (Vocational training law in Uruguay). (In press).

- Base de datos. Normas sobre formación profesional de países latinoamericanos y del Caribe. (Database. Vocational training regulations in Latin American and Caribbean countries). (Updated).

In preparation:

- Diálogo social sobre formación en Costa Rica. (Social dialogue on training in Costa Rica).

- Diálogo social sobre formación en Panamá. (Social dialogue on training in Panama).

The Centre also implemented activities in support of reflection on vocational training matters in ministries of labour, and employers’ and workers’ organisations. It further promoted the inclusion of vocational training in academic and university circles. In that connection, it assisted the University of the Republic of Uruguay to incorporate Vocational Training as a subject in its Labour Relations Career and helped in devising its programmes and bibliography. Cinterfor/ILO likewise attended the 3rd International Meeting on Labour Relations (specifically devoted to Labour Relations and Gender), in May 2003, for which it sponsored two speakers. The ILO Office in Argentina also backed the organisation of this event.

International labour standards and training

Cinteror/ILO has continued to analyse, promote and disseminate the incorporation of vocational training into international labour regulations and the pre-eminence that training has been gaining in industrial relations and labour law. The Centre has followed up the review of ILO Recommendation 150 on Development of Human Resources and Training. In this respect, Cinterfor/ILO has joined the efforts of the InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability to promote discussion and reflection on the process. Jointly with IFP/SKILLS, the ILO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, and with the co-sponsorship of SENAI of Brazil, the Centre organised a Tripartite Inter-American Seminar on Vocational Training, Productivity and Decent Work, held at Rio de Janeiro in May 2002.

It likewise followed upon analysis and debate of the review of the above ILO Recommendation promoted by the Interdisciplinary Workers’ Plenary (PIT-CNT) of Uruguay, at a meeting held at Cinterfor headquarters towards the end of April, 2003, that was attended by representatives of workers’ federations from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. In the light of the debate on the Declaration by the 91st Meeting of the International Labour Conference (June, 2003) about a new Recommendation 150 and the adoption of a revised standard in 2004, Cinterfor will continue to take part in the review of the Recommendation and in dissemination and application of International Labour Convention 142 among the social actors of the region of the Americas.

At the same time, the Centre has co-operated with the ILO International Labour Standards Department and the Turin Centre in the delivery of several training courses for Magistrates, Jurists and Educators at Montevideo, Santiago de Chile, Santo Domingo and Lima. It has alto participated in training actions for the benefit of ministry of labour officials, and the analysis of draft bills in several countries.

In this connection, some new works are being prepared for publication, like an updated version of Training and Labour Legislation, by Héctor-Hugo Barbagelata, and an update and enlargement of the database on vocational training regulations in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

A volume on The right to vocational training in Uruguay is currently being printed. It covers the whole legal framework governing training services and the rights and obligations it entails. It is intended to serve as a basis for similar studies to be carried out about other countries in the medium term, and will culminate with a comparative survey.

The role of vocational training for attaining the goal of decent work –that has been defined as a guiding principle for ILO action in coming years, and which was the focal point of the previous meeting of the Technical Committee– continued to be on the Centre’s agenda. A book was published on Training for Decent Work, including the Report to 35th MTC, as well as two issues of the Cinterfor Bulletin Nº 151 on Decent work and vocational training, and Nº 153 on Vocational training, productivity and decent work. Events were also held promoting in-depth discussion of Training and Decent Work, like the Tripartite Inter-American Seminar on Vocational Training, Productivity and Decent Work, at Rio de Janeiro, and the Regional Seminar on Training, Productivity and Competitiveness, organised by INFOTEP at Santo Domingo in October 2002, where the topic “Decent work and productivity: key strategies for enhancing the quality of life” was submitted and discussed.

Regional integration and vocational training

The role of vocational training in regional integration processes continued to be an object of attention for the Centre, on the basis that all regional integration movements inevitably develop a social dimension as they grow, in which training is a strategic principle, notwithstanding the fact that it is also essential for the competitiveness of each one of the countries involved and of the region as a whole.

In the field of technical co-operation offered by Cinterfor/ILO, action in connection with the Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations can be mentioned.

The Centre took active part in the long process of drafting a Repertory of Practical Recommendations on Vocational Training for the Mercosur, adopted by Working Sub-group Nº 10 in May 2002 and accepted in 2003 as a Recommendation by the Common Market Council, the highest executive body of the Mercosur. Considering the really outstanding place that this regional bloc has been awarding to training as a social dimension, a study is being prepared for immediate publication under the title The role of vocational training in the Mercosur, that attempts to report on departments and divisions dealing with labour matters, social standards adopted by the organisation and specifically those referring to vocational training. The study also evaluates proposals for the future. Cinterfor/ILO has also organised conferences and technical meetings on the Social-Labour Declaration of the Mercosur, and has attended the International Congress on Labour Law and Social Security in the Mercosur. (Asunción, Paraguay).

Various co-operation activities were undertaken with the Andean Community outlining different aspects of the role of vocational training. The Centre participated in the 4th Meeting of Labour Vice-ministers of the Andean Community of Nations and the Andean Sub-regional Workshop on Vocational Training Challenges in the Andean Sub-region (both of them held in Lima), and the Meeting of Labour Ministers of the Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations (Asunción).

The Centre has followed with interest the evolution and role of vocational training in other regional groupings, such as those of North America, Central America and the Caribbean, as the consolidation prospects of some of those blocks and the formulation of new free trade agreements with them, would constitute new scenarios in which manpower qualification, continuing training and the certification of competencies would renew their importance and leadership.

Within this framework, Cinterfor/ILO sponsored an international seminar on Public labour and income policies in Latin America, organised by the Latin American School of social Sciences (FLACSO), Brazil, and several other governmental and non-governmental organisations in that country. Experiences in the development of public labour policies were considered and analysed, and an exchange of innovative approaches and strategies was promoted contributing to the harmonisation of such policies in regional integration processes. Different integration experiences were studied, such as the European Union, the North American Free Trade Association, the Mercosur and the Andean Community of Nations, with special reference to vocational training.

Workers’ organisations and vocational training

In the course of this two-year period, the Centre’s activities have been basically aimed at a strategy of coordination and complementation with initiatives taken by workers’ organisations in the area of vocational training, as well as by other ILO departments.Worth noting among the former was follow-up and technical assistance to the debates of various trade union federations, either at their general congresses or at specific meetings for discussing public training policies and union training strategies. The Centre has also provided technical assistance to the debates of various regional union organisations, like the Inter-American Regional Workers’ Organisation (ORIT/ICFTU) and the Latin American Workers’ Confederation (CLAT). It has also supported union participation in sub-regional integration processes in different ways and all matters pertaining to vocational training.

Horizontal co-operation mechanisms in the field of training among workers’ organisations, that have been the result of several years’ efforts, are now beginning to bear fruit. An indication of this was the Iberian American Meeting on Trade Union Strategy in Vocational Training, held in November 2001 in Madrid and organised by the General Workers’ Union (UGT) and the Union Confederation of Workers’ Co-operatives (CC.OO) with the support of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs of Spain and technical assistance of Cinterfor/ILO.

In pursuit of the same goal, the Centre has provided regular assistance to union delegations to Working Sub-group 10 of the Mercosur, in matters related to training. The delegates themselves expressed their wish to take more active part in the debates about a new Recommendation on human resources’ development (replacing Recommendation 150 of 1975). Cinterfor/ILO supported a seminar organised by the PIT/CNT of Uruguay for that specific purpose, with the participation of workers’ federations from Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay. It has also taken part in regional events on vocational training sponsored by ORIT and coordinated activities on youth employment with the ORIT Youth Secretariat. It has lent similar assistance to INCASUR for the development of trade union information and communication networks in the Southern Cone, and has sent speakers to a sub-regional event (Southern Cone) on youth unemployment and employment policies.

The above activities are complemented and supported by constant coordination and joint efforts by the Centre and other ILO departments and offices: ACTRAV, at Headquarters and in the region; the InFocus Programme on Skills, Knowledge and Employability (IFP/SKILLS), technical co-operation projects in the trade-union area: Strengthening Workers’ Organisations in Latin America and their participation in Tripartite Social Dialogue and in the social and economic development of the region (RLA/95/M08/SPA) and Trade Unions and Decent Work in the Era of Globalisation in Latin America (RLA/01/M10/SPA); the International Training Centre at Turin, the Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, Sub-regional Offices and other ILO National Offices.

Workers and training
Titles published

- Trade unions and training

- Alvaro Orsatti. Cambios en la organización del trabajo y las negociaciones sociolaborales en América Latina y su impacto sobre las estructuras y orientaciones sindicales. (Changes in the organisation of work and in social and labour negotiations in Latin America and their impact on trade union structures and orientations). 2001
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- Julio Godio. Organización del trabajo y negociación colectiva. (Organisation of work and collective bargaining). 2002.

- Teaching aids

- CINTERFOR/ILO, ILO/ACTRAV, ILO/IFP/SKILLS. Juventud y Empleo. Guía Sindical. (Youth and Employment. Trade Union Guide). 2001.

- Laura Montanaro. (Coordinator). Manual sobre derechos laborales de los trabajadores y trabajadoras rurales. (Manual of labour rights of rural men and women workers). 2001.

- Gonzalo Graña. (Coordinator). Manual de formación sindical para delegados de base de la industria de la construcción. (Manual for shop stewards in the construction industry). 2002.

- Eduardo Ezcurra, Hebert Cosme, Sergio Espíndola, Omar Espiga, María Narducci. Guía para la realización de trabajos forestales: prevención de riesgos y accidentes de trabajo. (Guide for forestry workers. Prevention of occupational hazards and accidents). 2003.

- Other titles

- Enrique Pieck. (Coordinator). Los jóvenes y el trabajo: la educación frente a la exclusión social. (Young people and work. Education to face social exclusion). 2001.

Of special importance has been in this connection continued coordination and technical assistance given to activities implemented by the ILO. Within the framework of Project RLA/95/M08/SPA the Centre supported the Regional Seminar on Social Dialogue, Decent Work and Labour Costs and other activities by means of publications. Regarding Project RLA/01/M10/SPA, Cinterfor/ILO has been providing technical assistance in the organisation of five national seminars on the subject of Youth and Employment in countries of the Southern Cone, for the benefit of young trade unionists. The one for Uruguay was held in November 2002, and the four remaining ones have reached implementation stage (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay).

This technical assistance is based on a previous joint effort by ACTRAV, IFP/SKILLS and Cinterfor/ILO itself, that has consisted of the preparation of a Trade Union Guide on Youth and Employment by the Centre, which is being used as a tool in the above country seminars which, in turn, serve for dissemination of the Guide. On the other hand, preparation of the Guide has implied a process of consultation and exchange with workers’ organisations and other ILO departments. Specifically, in March 2001 a Sub-regional Seminar was held at Montevideo on the Role of Trade Unions in the promotion of Youth Employment in the Mercosur, with participation by young unionists from the sub-region and specialists from IFP/SKILLS and the ILO Sub-regional Office in Chile, in order to discuss a preliminary version of the Guide. The Guide has been recently translated into English and is currently being adapted for publication and use in other regions.

The Centre has also continued to support in different ways the activities of the Turin Centre with workers’ organisations, either logistically or through technical assistance (publications or speakers at events). It has co-operated in activities such as the Seminar to evaluate and follow up the virtual Course-Workshop on The work cycle and health, the Seminar to evaluate the impact of activities jointly conducted by ACTRAV/Turin with the PIT/CNT, the closing Seminar of the Project Southern Cone – Trade Union freedom in the Port sector, and the Seminar on International Labour Standards in union freedom and collective bargaining and ILO control procedures for air transport workers in the Southern Cone.

Although progress in the development of services via the Internet is described in greater detail in another section of this Report, we may here note that information exchanges and consultations have expanded considerably in the sub-site Trade Unions and Training (http/www/cinterfor.org.uy/uy/public/spanish/region/ampro/cinterfor/temas/worker/index/htm)

This sub-site, that has an average of ten thousand visitors a month, offers a repertory of trade-union experiences in the field of training, examples of incorporation of training into collective bargaining, a special page on young people and unions, trade-union publications and documents. It also provides services of discussion lists and news circulated by electronic mail.

Employers’ organisations and vocational training

During the period under review, the Centre has implemented various activities with employers’ organisations that are quite in keeping with the high degree of participation by employers in vocational training.

Activities for the biennium started precisely with the holding of the Technical Meeting “Employers and Vocational training in Latin America and the Caribbean” at Santa Cruz, Bolivia, in April 2001. This event was co-sponsored by the INFOCAL Foundation and the Confederation of Private Employers of Bolivia. It was attended by representatives of entrepreneurial organisations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. As a result of the co-operation opportunity offered by the meeting the exchange of experiences is being negotiated among countries of the Americas and Spain in the area of corporate development, productive structures and vocational training. For that purpose the possibility of a meeting in Spain is being considered to promote direct knowledge by Latin American vocational training institutes of Spanish experiences in corporate development, productive restructuring, reclaiming and development of industrial areas and productive structures, promotion of a culture of undertaking and local economic management, with the potential coordination that training may offer in such processes.

Either as co-sponsor, promoter or technical assistance provider, the Centre took part in a variety of national events involving the employers’ organisations of the different countries. For example, a Cinterfor consultant prepared and delivered a Course on occupational competency: From Conceptualisation to Certification, offered in Brasilia in July-August 2001. It was attended by twenty-five representatives of public and private institutions, among them the PROFAE Programme of the Ministry of Health, INMETRO (Institute responsible for Standardisation and Quality Certification), Hospitality Institute (in charge of the project for the Standardisation and Certification of Competencies of the Ministry of Tourism), the Brazilian Maintenance Association (ABRAMAN), and the Bank of Brazil. The Centre also provided technical assistance and participated in the Programme for Efficiency and Competitiveness in the Construction Industry organised by the Construction Chamber of Paraguay (CAPACO) at Asunción in September 2001. In October 2001 Cinterfor/ILO arranged for an expert to make two presentations on Quality Management in vocational training institutions during a “Quality Week” organised by the National Society of Industries of Peru and SENATI in Lima.

Various activities organised by vocational training institutions on aspects of interest to employers’ associations had technical assistance by Cinterfor/ILO. Such were the conferences on corporate productivity organised by INFOTEP of the Dominican Republic in 2001 and 2002. In the first one of them the Director of the Centre gave a talk on Productivity and Occupational Competency. A Regional Seminar on Training, Productivity and Competitiveness was held in connection with the second one, in October 2002. The Centre also took part in the Seminar on industrial occupations: their past, present and future, organised the SENAI at Belo Horizonte, Brazil in June 2002.

Competitiveness, productivity and training

- 12th Iberian American Congress of Women Entrepreneurs, Montevideo, 2001.

- Programme for Efficiency and Competitiveness in Construction. Paraguayan Construction Chamber, Asunción, 2001.

- Quality Week, Peru, 2001.

- 6th National Conference on Improvement of Corporate Productivity, Santo Domingo, 2001.

- 7th Conference on Improvement of Corporate Productivity and Competitiveness and Regional Seminar on Training, Productivity and Competitiveness, Santo Domingo, 2002.

- Seminar on Industrial Occupations: their past, present and future. Belo Horizonte, 2002.

Different tripartite events have also been held, like the Tripartite Course on Standardisation, Training and Certification by Competencies organised at El Salvador in May 2001 with the sponsorship of the ILO International Training Centre, Turin, the Sub-regional Office for Central America at San José, the Ministry of Labour and INSAFORP, with the participation of representatives of Central American countries, to which Cinterfor/ILO lent technical assistance, and the Tripartite Inter-American Seminar on Vocational Training, Productivity and Decent Work, jointly organised by the Centre, the SENAI, IFP/SKILLS, and the ILO Office in Brazil at Rio de Janeiro in May 2002.

A number of activities were carried out through co-operation schemes with other international organisations. For instance, the Centre took part in the planning and implementation of the Meeting on Development of Human Resources on the basis of Competencies, jointly organised with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and the Turin Centre at Torreón, Mexico, in July 2002. It likewise participated in the International Seminar on Training and Development organised by the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) at Santiago, Chile, in June 2002. Finally, Cinterfor/ILO participated in the 12th Congress of Iberian American Women Entrepreneurs, held at Montevideo in March, 2001.

Regarding publications, the Centre has issued a number of titles emphasising critical aspects for employers’ organisations. See examples in box.

Employers and Training
Titles published

- Bulletin 153 (2002), on vocational training, productivity and decent work.

- Bulletin 154 (2003), on training in enterprises.

- Anne Carolina Posthuma (Coordinator). Diálogo social, formación profesional e institucionalidad. (Social dialogue, vocational training and institutionality). 2002.

- Karla Regnier, Luis Antonio Cruz Caruso, Paulo Bastos Tigre. Pesquisas e desenvolvimento no SENAI.: Impactos na industria e na educaçao profissional. (Research and Development in SENAI: Impact on industry and vocational education). 2001.

- Leonard Mertens. Productividad en las organizaciones. (Productivity in organisations). 2002.

- Javier Ferrer Dufol. Diálogo y concertación social sobre formación en España. (Social dialogue and agreements in Spain). 2002.

- Serie Aportes para el diálogo social y la formación. (Series : Contributions to social dialogue and training) (nine volumes).

Among the expanding services offered by the Centre via the Internet, a sub-site is being developed specifically devoted to the participation of employers’ organisations in vocational training in areas that they consider of interest to them. Although the task involves the addition of new contents, it consists mainly of rearranging topics already available in the many sub-sections of the website. Access to information is expected to be facilitated by regrouping them in a specific sub-site, giving greater visibility to the initiatives of employers’ organisations and the corporate world in general in the field of training.