Statements by the workers' sector at Cinterfor/ILO events

 

Report of the Workers' Representatives Group in the Thirty-Sixth Meeting of the Technical Committee
Antigua, Guatemala, 28 - 30 July, 2003

The workers’ representative group:

1. Reassures what was expressed during the 35th Technical Committee Meeting by the Workers’ Representative Group, to celebrate the consecration of decent work concept, which synthesize the main aspirations and preoccupations expressed by our
sector through history. Nevertheless, it confirms that no significant advances are glimpsed in our countries so that those aspirations shape into reality.We are concerned about the existence of scattered initiatives that do not allow for consistent co-ordination, and may lead to conceptions and programmes that do not take into account workers' aspirations, do not make their participation effective nor consider the serious problem of unemployment.

2. It recognizes, once again, the significance of Cinterfor/ILO, entity that promotes participation of workers organizations together with governments and employers organizations, in vocational training, not only in this meeting, but also, and fundamentally,
through strengthening actions of the unions for an effective participation and negotiation of these issues.

3. We understand education and training as an essential component on development of the human person and as a right of us all. Thus, we urge Cinterfor/ILO to stimulate the governments to strengthen or install a democratization process to access education
and vocational training.

4. We believe that such a right is, furthermore, tightly linked to other fundamental human rights, such as health, work security, social protection and employment. Its joint consideration permits to rescue the human person on an integral manner.

5. By the aforementioned, we reject such conceptions that understand education and vocational training, workers health and themselves as merchandise. We disagree, therefore, and in reference to the central theme of this meeting, on the search for
institutional quality based on standards designed for industrial plants, to consider education as an industry and education and training subjects as clients.

6. We certainly defend the vocational training institutions and we aspire for its strengthening, within other aspects, through improvement of quality on its management and actions. A quality evaluated, not only in terms of its contribution to enterprise
competitivity, but also to full integration of all persons and social groups, to the complete exercise of citizenship and to workers security and health. The informal sector workers, the poor and ethnic minorities, among others, are today excluded from the possibility to access quality vocational training. This questions, then, the quality visions that either see this as a goal on itself, or as a benefit that reaches only a minority of citizens.

7. We wish to point out with particular emphasis, that our countries continue dragging a heavy social debt, expressed on the still high indexes of illiteracy and semi-illiteracy, of inequity to access basic education –with proven consequences for the education of
persons–, on the social exclusion and discrimination based on race and gender factors an on the great contingent of workers which emigrate to other continents.

8. For this reason, we place a call upon the governments, employers organizations, vocational training institutions and international organisms, to commit themselves to the continental challenge to lower down the present illiteracy indexes, the lack of
access to basic education and inequity on distribution of opportunities of having a quality vocational training. With regard to emigration problems, we propose ILO to promote among industrialized countries and governments of the region in their countries,
the full recognition of fundamental rights of emigrants, specially that of vocational training.

9. We state our firm will to participate on the definition of public policies for vocational training, as well as in its administration. But we equally point out that participation requires the development of capacities and strengthening on our organizations,
task for which not only more resources are required. The governments and employers must not fear the force and capacity of the unions. On the contrary, strong and qualified unions will add up more efficiently in order to face the challenges that our people have ahead.

10. In this last sense, we encourage Cinterfor/ILO to continue and deepen the efforts towards a better quantity and quality of information to which our organizations have access, and to strengthen horizontal cooperation among us and with other entities
and actors. Specifically, we state the need to dispose of a horizontal cooperation project between workers organizations, that permit to disseminate and share experiences and knowledge accumulated in those countries where unions have had large spaces of participation and negotiation on the field of vocational training, with organizations which have not had such opportunities.

11. We also encourage Cinterfor/ILO in collaboration with other ILO units, to continue promoting the expansion and deepening of social dialogue in general, and in particular on the field of vocational training. Thus, we state that regarding the revision of
Recommendation 150, and together with the member States, continue the diffusion process of thematic and improvement of the proposed contents, in concordance with fundamental rights of workers, the decent work objective and the tripartite tradition of the Organization, expressed for example on the Declaration of the International Labour Conference of the year 2000.

 

 

 

 

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