88th Session, 30 May - 15 June 2000 |
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Address
by Mr. Mario Alberto Flamarique, President of the 88th Session of
the International Labour Conference |
It is a great honour for me, for my country and for the Government of the Republic of Argentina led by President Fernando de la Rúa, to have been elected President of this 88th Session of the International Labour Conference. I should like to express my gratitude to the distinguished delegates of all the regional groups and to the employers’ and workers’ representatives for all the support and confidence they have placed in me. I should like to move a special vote of thanks to the countries of South America for having supported my candidacy.
I am proud to preside over the Conference of a specialized agency which celebrated its 80 years of existence in 1999 and which even in its most difficult moments has steadfastly maintained the principles and rights enshrined in its Constitution. It is particularly important for me, also, to be entrusted with this noble responsibility at the first session of the millennium. This fact compels and commits us all to initiate a new phase and to produce results which are as significant as the date we are celebrating.
In 1998 we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Convention No. 87 and in 1999 the 50th anniversary of the Convention on collective bargaining. These were very great occasions and now we need to reap the results of the seeds sown in the last century and to set new goals which will be as profitable in the future.
The agenda of this 88th Session includes items which constitute a considerable challenge for the Organization. I would like you to know that as President of this session I shall do everything in my power to ensure that the various items on the agenda are satisfactorily addressed.
The Report of the Director-General will enable us to see to what extent we have been able to implement the programme and activities of the Organization during the period 1998-99.
The Global Report, Your voice at work, for its part, provides the back-up we need for the proper follow-up by this Conference to the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The International Labour Organization has, through dialogue, set the scene for equity in the world of work on the basis of tripartite discussion. This implies a far-reaching democratic commitment by the social partners to reconcile their common interests in the quest for collective ground on which consensus can be built, which in turn can be consolidated in the form of Conventions and Recommendations.
At this Conference, the International Labour Organization needs to clearly demonstrate, as it has done on a few other occasions, its capacity fully to assume its role of watchdog when it comes to the compliance of Conventions and of assisting member States in their full and proper implementation, particularly those contained in the 1998 Declaration.
Effective compliance with principles and rights at work constitutes one of the keystones of all social and democratic development. Other important items on the agenda also address this point. It is on the basis of fundamental rights flowing from dignity at work that stems the priority for the careful review of the Maternity Protection Convention. We will be looking at a number of disparities which heighten insecurity and lead to annoying and unacceptable inequalities in the sort of civilized and united society we are seeking to promote.
In this discussion, we will focus on various important aspects such as the child-parent relationship, the constitution of the family and the protection of children and working mothers. This Conference has the opportunity to advance these issues. I urge it to do just that.
I should also like to say that I endorse the very pertinent statement made by the Director-General to the effect that undeniable technological progress has led to a general deterioration in employment and to very adverse and disturbing effects on labour market relations. In this connection, women constitute a very vulnerable group – young working mothers in particular.
We need to encourage the free development of employers’ and workers’ organizations, without which bargaining suffers. Along with this, we have the quest for quality and constant innovation. Capacity in diversity, and stable and well-paid employment are the prerequisites for globalization really to provide opportunities to a society capable of generating well-being in an equitable fashion.
Globalization within this framework of equity and solidarity must protect the weak and root out the major inequalities and aberrant inequities that appear to belie the Declaration of Philadelphia. Insecurity, whatever form it takes, is the enemy of growth. We cannot develop without growing and without setting aside fear. We need modern legislation, conducive to productivity and competitiveness, which ensures the benefits of employment for all, and wages backed up by social and economic guarantees which banish uncertainties.
Globalization within this framework of understanding and solidarity should root out the inequalities and inequities it generates which run counter to the Declaration of Philadelphia.
We are moving into the twenty-first century in a climate of profound contradiction. Technological development and growing trade routes open up new prospects for humanity, but at the same time the lengthy and painful process of adjustment to the new world economy leads to uncertainty and, in many cases, heightens inequality. Unemployment, poverty and exclusion are still prevalent. To reverse this trend and to return to the path of social progress or, as the Director-General rightly said in his Report last year, to secure decent work with adequate social protection for people everywhere is the challenge facing our generation. We can achieve it. We live in a time of irrefutable difficulties but also of great opportunities to achieve the changes to which society aspires.
We may see a deepening of inequalities as feared by the demonstrators in Seattle, Davos and Washington, but it is also possible to turn to account these changes to build a more just, equitable and united society. The economy of the twenty-first century has much greater potential to generate well-being than did the industrial society of the twentieth century because the technological base to increase productivity and hence to provide more good-quality employment is increasingly cheaper. The actual outcome of this situation essentially depends on how we face up to the problems emerging from the new global economy. The demand for equity has both an ethical and a political basis. A system of exclusion is incompatible with the democratic social contract, but it is also true that this demand cannot be separated from the quest for competitiveness which cannot be achieved through isolation.
The International Labour Organization is ideally placed to achieve the proposed objectives for three main reasons: (1) it constitutes the perfect environment for tripartite social accord; (2) it is the biggest global laboratory for research into and the circulation of new ideas in the world of work; and (3) it is the body that monitors compliance with the Conventions it generates. The governments of the member States are directly involved in the design and implementation of social and labour policies.
This responsibility is not restricted just to governments but to all the social partners. Quantity and quality in employment requires good public policies but more important still is the need to mobilize the energy of all members of society. It is a matter, no more and no less, of remembering that the ILO, with its tradition of Conventions and Recommendations, entered the world of labour relations to ensure that the provision of personal services to third parties constituted decent work.
I hope that in the new century we can all work together, the governments and the social partners, to make of the ILO an instrument of social cohesion that will root out injustice and put an end to all exclusion.
Updated by HK. Approved by RH. Last update: 2 June 2000.