Employers in Moldova and Estonia have recently united their forces into
national confederations that can effectively balance governments and trade
unions in tripartite consultations and discussions in their respective
nations. Employers have learned the hard way that competition, which is
so necessary and vitalising in the market, is not the best way to be heard
in national affairs. If the employers speak with many voices, they provide
the political establishment and trade unions with precisely the same opportunity
to choose between many products that the market provides the customer.
A few years ago, Moldova had eighteen associations of employers, which
did not take them far in their efforts to influence economic and social
developments. After several attempts at uniting their forces, a national
confederation, CNPM, was formed early last year. It has now been joined
by most other associations, most recently by the dominating agricultural
union, which has made CNPM into one of the most representative of all national
confederations. The confederation now covers some two-thirds of the economy.
Only the Czech and Slovak confederations can match that, followed by the
Polish employers' confederation (which, however, was until recently so
hard pressed to finance its operations that it wasn't much heard of). And
just before Christmas, the two Estonian employers' confederations signed
an agreement to merge, in a ceremony at which both Prime Minister Siiman
and trade union President Paavo warmly welcomed the emergence of this most
respectable speaking partner. Latvia has also had but one confederation,
for four years already. But only this year has it managed to recruit enough
companies to start becoming a factor of national importance. From this
we learn that it is not enough that the employers speak with one voice
(or that one voice dominates the discussion) - that voice must also be
loud enough to be heard properly. This requires a combination of the right
leadership, sufficient financing, and the capacity to strategically develop
the presence of employers' organisations on the national scene. An ability
to rally their members to uphold agreements that result from tripartite
Social Dialogue or in direct industrial relations with trade unions is
also essential. The quite small but largely unopposed employers' confederation
in Croatia has managed this, while in Ukraine the government has come to
respect the independence of its employers as a social partner. This is
something the broad assembly behind the Coordinating Council of Russian
Employers' Organisations has not yet achieved - mainly because its members
do not authorise it sufficiently or provide enough resources for it to
operate as a national institution. This fate is also shared by national
bodies of employers in Romania and Bulgaria. In the remaining transition
countries covered by the ILO-CEET, employers are either not united enough,
developed enough, or independent enough to provide the balance to governments
and trade unions which is required to reach the dynamic stability of civil
society. However, these organisations are involved in emerging or established
tripartite national bodies and consultations. BG
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| ILO Film |
| Fully fit at work |
Film about the advantages of employing persons with disabilities. As this ILO film (Fully Fit at Work) shows, not only may people with disabilities be more productive, they may actually be more skilled in some jobs than non-disabled people. Produced for the ILO by the Andrzej Wajda Master School of Film Directing.
Watch the film online in Polish with English subtitles. Duration: 21 min 11 sec
If the video is not displayed, download the free RealPlayer™
Press release in English and
Polish |
| Events & campaigns |
World Day Against Child Labour
12 June 2008
Education: The right response to child labour
» read more
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| ILO, UN deliver as one in Albania |
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A package for social and economic progress
The Albanian pilot of the One UN Programme will make use of the experiences of the International Labour Organization (ILO) gained in the field. As the only tripartite organisation within the United Nations system, the ILO plays a key role in involving social partners in the recently launched UN reform process.
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