MOSCOW (ILO News) - Building on the National Development Goals, UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the ILO Centenary Declaration among others, the new PoC for 2021-2024 emphasizes the importance of a human-centered approach to the Future of Work. It makes a stronger emphasis on the improvement of labour legislation in response to changing conditions in the modern economy, lifelong learning and skills development, non-discriminatory and inclusive employment policies, universal social protection throughout life cycle and workforce agility to changing labour market demands and conditions, including technological transformations.

The PoC for 2021-2024 also takes into consideration challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic the world of work is facing. It prioritises occupational safety and health as a fundamental factor for ensuring business continuity, achieving higher productivity and attaining general economic well-being for the country. In response to the rapidly changing world of work, the new cooperation framework also makes a strong emphasis on the importance of understanding and regulating new and non-standard forms of employment to ensure they guarantee the fundamental principles and rights at work, supported by informed and representative institutions of social dialogue.

The PoC for 2021-2024 seeks to enhance the scope and depth of social partnership by strengthening its system at all levels and facilitating social partners’ involvement in new sectors of the economy and new forms of employment.

Speaking at the signing ceremony, ILO Director-General Guy Ryder stressed the need to respond to the COVID-19 crisis “globally, but also effectively through pragmatic and comprehensive responses.” “This means delivering the right mix of health, economic, employment and social policies, and at the right time. The four priority areas identified in this Programme of Cooperation will certainly contribute to reinforce the Government’s anti-crisis measures”, he said.

 “We are fully supportive of the core guiding principles and practical approaches of the International Labour Organization to the achievement of social justice and improvement of living standards. Decent productive labour and successful private enterprise have been identified as one of the national development goals of the Russian Federation,” said Anton Kotyakov, Minister of Labour and Social Protection of Russia, speaking at the signing ceremony. “We are hoping to maintain a high level of engagement in implementing the new Cooperation Programme.”

According to Mikhail Shmakov, Chairman of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions of Russia (FNPR), “at this turning point the Cooperation Programme goes far beyond the framework of ordinary cooperation in a number of technical areas though it is highly important. We have a chance to demonstrate to the whole world a model of social partnership which is functional even in the context of post-COVID overloads and reboots.”

“From our perspective as employers, it is important that the Programme, just like the ILO Centenary Declaration, is making a special point of the role of sustainable enterprises as a core driver of economic growth, and also of support of the private and public sectors as authoritative and credible employers,” Alexander Shokhin, President of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP), said.