Statements by the workers' sector at Cinterfor/ILO events

 

Report of Workers' Representatives in the Thirty-Seventh Meeting of the Technical Committee
Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, 19th to 21st October, 2005

The group of workers’ representatives:

1. Reaffirm what was expressed by the workers’ representatives group during the 37th Meeting of the Technical Committee, in the sense of defending training institutions and aspiring to their strengthening, by improving the quality of their work. Therefore, we share the equity, quality and relevance values promoted by this Meeting.

2. We welcome the development and the contents of ILO Recommendation 195 on Human Resources Development: education, training and lifelong learning, as a development in the required articulations for workers’ development and request the support of the employer and government sectors in order to elaborate public policies within the social dialogue framework. Likewise, it is necessary to generate relevant mechanisms so that the Recommendation can be evaluated in a permanent way, paying attention to worker development within the context of the daily change produced in the world of work.

3. We recognize the invaluable contribution of Cinterfor/ILO for the consolidation of the conceptual baggage of vocational training in our countries and in particular in our trade unions.

4. Despite this consolidation, an exception must be established for our poor active participation in the 2003-2004 biennium in the development of joint actions and activities with Cinterfor/ILO to address workers’ situation. This is reflected in the diminished representation of workers’ groups in this Technical Committee Meeting, which is of deep concern to us.

5. We recognize the effort of Cinterfor/ILO in calling the meeting and in the development of the activities. Nevertheless, we believe that the workers’ movement should strengthen its participation, the development of activities and the seeking of effective economic resources in order to fulfil the goals estimated in this and the previous meetings.

6. Based on this diagnosis, we formally request the development, by Cinterfor/ILO, of a line of action to specifically address the workers’ group demands. In order to do that, we believe that Cinterfor/ILO should give this line the same level of development and characteristics as the other areas of activities being performed by the institution.

7. This line should contemplate, among others, the following issues:

a. Develop strategies from the trade union movement that allow to defend and represent the interests of those workers that work in the informal labour market through alliance and organization policies that use vocational training as one of its instruments.

b. Training of members from the board of directors and representatives of trade unions to guarantee the effectiveness in adopting and monitoring the decisions.

c. Promote the development of a joint action strategy of the Latin American and Caribbean trade unions, in defence of the social control over the economic resources devoted to vocational training, guaranteeing the effective participation of trade unions in the decision-making instances related to management, control and application of budgets to vocational training programmes and institutions.

d. Develop the existing mechanisms, as well as build new ones, aimed at favouring information sharing and exchanging knowledge and technical cooperation among trade unions of different countries.

e. Support the calling of meetings with trade unions, to address the issues of vocational training, labour education and occupational health and safety, with regards to the two last issues as specific spaces of concern and work. For this purpose, it is necessary to strengthen the continuity of Cinterfor/ILO in the research, development and assistance to these issues.

8. In order to obtain these objectives and with regards to ILO we demand that the economic resources and technical capacity be facilitated to Cinterfor/ILO to make this possible. In this regard, the workers’ group agrees to ask representatives from ILO Governing Body to make all the necessary efforts to make this a reality.

9. We request that National Governments contribute to the specific financing of the lines of action designed for workers; we also propose that labour education be thought of as vocational training of the collaborating workers and trade union delegates and
therefore, eligible for being financed as any other training by different institutions.

10. It is important to highlight the importance that Cinterfor/ILO has acquired for vocational training institutions and we request them to increase their support to improve the quality, equity and relevance of the programmes designed for workers. In this sense, we promote the development of actions to address the new realities of the labour market and the requirements of the economic integration processes that our countries are undertaking.

11. Finally, and in order to implement the proposed actions, we request that Cinterfor/ILO may soon hold a meeting that will allow workers to analyze, get consensus and evaluate the requested programmes and lines of action and generate mechanisms and
strategies to obtain the necessary economic and technical resources.

The Group was integrated by:

Gustavo Gándara, CGT, Argentina
Ulric Sealy, BWU Labour Collage, Barbados
María Cadena, SECAP, Ecuador
Fredis Vásquez, INSAFORP, El Salvador
Everildo Revoltorio Torres, INTECAP/CUSG, Guatemala
Agustín Vargas Saillant, CTU, Dominican Republic
Julio César García, INFOTEP, Dominican Republic
Jorge Mesa, PIT/CNT, Uruguay
Anaclara Matosas, Cinterfor/ILO

 

 

 

 

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