ILO LIAISON OFFICE – BRUSSELS
NEWSLETTER NO. 6/2005
End of International Labour Conference
The 93rd annual ILO conference, attended by more than 3,000 delegates, drew to a close on 16 June, following intense
discussions on the need for urgently eliminating forced labour, creating jobs for youth, improving safety at work and
tackling the global jobs crisis. Delegates also discussed the current situation regarding working hours and the crucial
balance between the need for flexibility and the need to protect workers' security, health and family life. The
discussions also highlighted the important role of the regulatory framework, collective bargaining and social dialogue.
On 9 June, an informal meeting of EU Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs was held as part of the Conference,
taking as its theme the internationalisation of employment. The meeting was chaired by Luxembourg's Minister
François Biltgen. Mr Biltgen emphasised that one of the European Union's roles could be to provide examples of
good practice and that the ILO, as a universal, tripartite organisation with a long track record, could act as a
bridge between the EU and other regions of the world. To read a press release containing further details of the
Conference, please
click here.
No progress in Myanmar or Belarus
The Conference delegates adopted the ILO Committee report on the Application of Standards. The report laments the
continued presence of the worst forms of forced labour in Myanmar. The Committee considers that the 'wait and see'
attitude adopted by most members since 2001 is no longer justifiable and that the tripartite members must urgently
review their relations with Myanmar – including through foreign direct investment and state and military-owned
enterprises. With regard to freedom of association in Belarus, the Committee regretted that no concrete measures
had been taken by the country's government to comply with the recommendations made by the ILO Commission of Inquiry.
The Commission examined a further 25 cases of countries violating standards, covering such concerns as freedom of
association, child labour and discrimination.
New members for the Governing Body
The delegates of the International Labour Conference elected the new ILO Governing Body for a three-year term. The
Governing Body is the ILO's executive body and meets three times a year in Geneva. As regards the Benelux countries,
the Netherlands were elected to the government list while Mr De Koster (Belgium) and Mr Etty (Netherlands) were
elected to the employers' and workers' groups respectively.
For more details about the composition of the Governing Body and its first meeting on 17 June,
click here to consult the ILO press release.
Update on the end of textile quotas
The end of the export quota system in the global textile and clothing industry has caused upheaval in the sector.
Introduced on 1 January, the new liberalised approach is giving rise to many uncertainties among the majority of
manufacturers in North and South alike. They fear mass relocation of orders to countries with the lowest manufacturing
costs, such as China. The ILO will hold a tripartite meeting on 24-26 October 2005 in Geneva to discuss the impact of
the end of quotas. The aim of the meeting will be to review the immediate social and economic consequences of this major change and to
examine strategies for promoting fair globalisation in the sector. One of the main issues up for discussion will be
the crucial role played by social dialogue.
Click here to find out more
about this meeting.
Checking your pay online
Few people feel overpaid for their work. Indeed, many of us worry that we may be earning less than the next person.
Usually, this information is considered confidential. However, a new service is now available on the Internet to answer
the age-old question of who earns what. Launched in the Netherlands, the Wage Indicator site is now operating in
eight other European countries and may soon be extended worldwide. The idea is simple: individuals visit the
wageindicator.org website and check a database of what other people who do the same work are being paid. They are
also encouraged to do something in return: submit their own pay information into the database. Little by little the
database becomes more comprehensive - the more people participate, the more accurate the data becomes.
An article in the ILO's World of Work magazine reviews these online salary comparisons and can be accessed by
clicking here. Access the Dutch Wage
Indicator site by
clicking here and the Belgian site (the database of which is
under preparation) by
clicking here.
The role of employers in promoting gender equality
The ILO Bureau for employers' activities (ACT-EMP) recently published a document on the role of employers'
organisations as a driving force in promoting gender equality. Produced in cooperation with the ILO's Bureau for
Gender Equality, this document presents the actions and initiatives undertaken by employers' organisations in 10
countries across five continents. To receive a pdf copy of this document, entitled Employers' Organizations taking the
lead on gender equality, contact Ms Andry at the Brussels ILO office at andry@ilo-org.be.
New publications
The following recent ILO publications may be of special interest to our readers:
- Working and Employment Conditions in New EU Member States: Convergence or diversity?
Edited by Daniel Vaughan-Whitehead; 2005, ix+381 pp.; ISBN 92-2-117139-6; €35
This volume studies the changes in working and employment conditions in the 10 new EU Member States. For the first
time, information on practices at enterprise level is available through a series of case studies in several new Member
States. This study offers comparisons with the situation in other Member States and provides new insights into general
trends that we may expect - between convergence and diversity - in an enlarged EU.
Click here to order a copy.
- International Labour Standards Electronic Library 2005
ISSN 1020-9972; €10
ILSE is an electronic reference library of basic International Labour Standards documents, including ILO Conventions,
Recommendations, Constitution, Standing Orders of the International Labour Conference, General Surveys, the Digest of
Decisions of the Committee on Freedom of Association, the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work,
and the publication International Labour Standards: a global approach (2001).
Click here to order a copy.
Schedule of meetings
The list of ILO meetings scheduled for 2005 is available
here.
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