9th Regulating for Decent Work Conference

Global employment has been recovering from the significant losses experienced during the pandemic and the subsequent period of high inflation. However, this recovery is uneven across countries, with many developing countries still confronting with high levels of unemployment, under-employment and inactivity. This recovery means in many cases a return to the pre-pandemic situation, where deficits in decent employment, including informality and inequality, remained considerably high. In addition, global real wages have declined in the context of rapidly increasing energy and food prices, further exacerbating this situation. As a result, the past five years of global turbulence represent “lost opportunities” in the global pursuit for more and better employment, particularly in achieving Sustainable Development Goal 8. 

Structural transformation has also been accelerating in many parts of the world. Technological innovations such as digitalisation and artificial intelligence, climate change, and demographic shifts have dramatically reshaped the landscape for employment. Yet again, studies show that while these transformations have the potential to create decent employment, this potential is often not fully realized. Often, large productivity gains from technological change have not always translated into significant employment and income gains for workers. Similarly, such gains have not effectively reached small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which are major sources of employment. Moreover, large green infrastructure investments often face skill shortages, limiting decent employment opportunities. The significant employment-creation potential of the care economy in ageing society remains under-utilized. In developing countries, particularly low-income countries, difficult macroeconomic environments often constrain fiscal space, making it challenging to invest in inclusive structural transformation. These issues raise questions about the role of industrial policies, especially how to develop and finance inclusive and employment-rich industrial strategies. 

It is thus not surprising, that there is a growing demand for more effective approaches that can deliver more decent employment here and now.  The question is how well the standard growth and development model can respond to this call for “decent employment now”, particularly considering the lagging progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and the lingering impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and high inflation. Against this backdrop, this track invites papers that address the following questions:

• What are the lessons learned from economic and employment policies during the pandemic and the recovery process in terms of quantity and quality of employment?
• How are technological innovations and climate change impacting the structure of employment, including both direct and indirect effects on various sectors? What policy measures are needed for better decent employment outcomes?
• How are aging populations, migration patterns, and demographic changes reshaping labour markets and creating new challenges? What are the policy implications?
• What are the implications of increasingly complex global supply chains for labour markets, particularly the persistence of informal work, especially in developing countries?
• What measures and policies are necessary to overcome the macroeconomic and fiscal constraints to implement policy packages needed to improve wages and employment conditions?
• How can politics be proactive in placing decent employment as the centre of economic and social policies given the difficult macroeconomic environments and fiscal constraints?
• What are the alternative economic models or policy packages that can address employment issues and prioritize social well-being and worker rights more effectively? How can they overcome macroeconomic and fiscal pressures in order to be effective?

Track coordinators: Sangheon Lee, Uma Rani, Dorothea Schmidt-Klau, Imraan Valodia, Ekkehard Ernst, Felipe Vella Pateo 

The evolving world of work is not only reshaping employment creation and destruction, changing the way work is done, and transforming the labour laws and institutions that govern it, but is also affecting the way workers' interests are represented. Rapid technological advances, particularly in artificial intelligence and digital tools, are increasing employers' surveillance and control over workers, blurring boundaries, challenging labour law protections, and dispersing the workforce, making it harder for workers to voice their concerns. 

Vulnerability to climate change and natural disasters poses significant challenges to decent work. In many cases, the transition to green employment is being driven by governments and capital without meaningful worker participation, raising concerns about the erosion of worker representation in the green transition.  In some regions of the world, authoritarianism and escalating military conflicts are destroying the lives and fundamental rights of workers and their families. They are accelerating the crisis of democracy and social justice.

While trade unions remain one of the most effective channels for workers to make their voices heard, unionisation rates are stagnating or falling in many developed countries, indicating a crisis in worker representation. A challenge unions face is also representing informal workers in several parts of the world. Conversely, unionisation is on the rise in some regions, and alternative grassroots groups are emerging. The significant changes facing the world demand a strengthening of workers’ rights to be informed about decisions that affect them, so that they can participate in the decision-making process, and collectively determine the outcomes. The Philadelphia Declaration, adopted by the ILO in 1944, distinguishes itself from previous human rights declarations by recognising that human dignity encompasses both material well-being and spiritual development. It emphasises that fighting poverty requires active worker participation and recognizes the importance of freedom of expression and association for sustained progress. Ultimately, the Declaration stresses that solidarity and the collective freedom of workers are essential to achieving prosperity for all.

This track will explore the urgent need to strengthen workers' voices in shaping labour market policies and navigating the changing world of work. In an era marked by the triple transition - demographics, climate change and technological development - it is crucial to ensure that the benefits are shared fairly and that no one is left behind. Active involvement of workers in the decision-making process that directly affect them is a key aspect of achieving this goal. 

This track will analyse the political, economic, social, institutional, and technological factors that undermine or enhance workers' voices, exploring measures needed to strengthen workers’ voice in the context of the triple transition – demographics, climate change and technological development. The track invites papers that offer new perspective and strategies at the international, regional and national level to address the following questions:

• What role can workers play in addressing the climate crisis, and how can we strengthen their voice in climate-related decision-making processes?
• Regarding new forms of labour controls and workers' voices in the digitalization context, what challenges arise from the proliferation of precarious work and invisible controls, and how can we effectively respond?
• How are workers responding to the interconnected challenges of the climate transition and the digital transition? What new tools and strategies are needed to navigate these simultaneous transformations and the resulting labour market restructuring?
• What are the various efforts to strengthen workers' voices? For example, utilising digital technology for organizing, employing digital platforms for information exchange and training, and forming alliances and joint actions with NGOs?
• What are some effective strategies for strengthening the voice of workers in the informal economy? What are some cases of successful or unsuccessful but significant attempts to create, facilitate, or enable multi-stakeholder bargaining? 
• How can we ensure that worker voices are central to labour reforms and the development of effective labour institutions, particularly in developing countries?
• How can digital technologies be leveraged to enhance worker voice and solidarity, rather than undermining them?

Track coordinators: Jeong-Hee Lee, Anil Verma, Praveen Jha

The world of work is undergoing a period of dramatic changes driven by several concurrent trends. New technologies, particularly digitalization and artificial intelligence, are increasing productivity and facilitating the global interconnectedness of work. The shift towards decarbonization is leading to a comprehensive transformation in production processes. At the same time, the workforce is becoming increasingly diverse. In developed countries, aging societies are leading to labour shortages, while in less developed countries, a lack of employment opportunities plagues the younger generation. 

These structural changes pose significant risks for many workers. The reorganization of national and international value chains threatens employment losses. New, less protected forms of work, such as platform work, are on the rise. New types of work-related stress are emerging, often due to electronic monitoring and performance targets. Poor working conditions, including low pay, long or irregular working hours, high health and safety risks, low job stability, weak labour and social protection and insufficient training and further education for the digital and green economy, are largely attributed to non-existent, weak or unsuitable labour market institutions, social security systems and related systems. These systems are often unable to provide adequate and universal protection during this period of rapid change.

The enormous potential of new technologies to improve working conditions can only be realised through strong labour market institutions. In many countries, such institutions must first be established. In others, they must be adapted to address new conditions and challenges, such as new forms of employment, migration, climate change and the use of artificial intelligence, to effectively protect employees. To ensure decent work, these institutions must be inclusive, meaning that they not only include vulnerable employees in principle, but also develop the political will and appropriate enforcement mechanisms to limit evasion by employers. Given the high proportion of informal employees in many parts of the world, labour and social protection cannot be limited to formally employed workers. 

This track seeks to explore the need for building, revitalizing and adapting labour market institutions to address the complex challenges we face globally. It will examine the conditions under which institution-building and revitalization can succeed and identify the coalitions of actors responsible for their success. Track III invites’ papers to stimulate dialogue between academics, policymakers and practitioners from the different disciplines and will address the following questions: 

• How can we strengthen labour market institutions, social security systems, and related institutions to effectively address the impacts of informal work, climate change and decarbonisation, global supply chains, greater migration flows and new technologies like AI in the employment context?
• How can we extend collective bargaining rights and other forms of social dialogue to encompass workers who may be currently excluded from such protection both within the formal and in the informal economy?
• How can we ensure that workers are able to use and develop their potential through their life course, by not only being able to access initial training and skill development opportunities but also opportunities to update their skills or even completely retrain if their skills are at risk of obsolescence? 
• How can labour and social protection be extended to workers in informal employment, also with a view to facilitating transitions to the formal economy?
• How can we extend the development of a care infrastructure to support working parents in managing both care and work demands and provide for decent work conditions for those providing the care support? 
• What can we learn across national borders from successful examples of the establishment and modernization of inclusive labour market institutions?
• What role do new constellations of actors play, beyond national borders, alongside the traditional actors such as the state, trade unions, employers' associations and international institutions?
• In the context of global institutional building, who should benefit from these institutions? How do we navigate questions of inclusion and exclusion, particularly in relation to global North vs. global South, formal vs. informal work, and other dividing lines?

Track coordinators: Jill Rubery, Gerhard Bosch, Kea Tijdens, Dina Bishara, Christina Behrendt

Across the world, labour laws continue to be adopted and reformed. Policymakers are responding to both new and longstanding challenges by revising legal texts and engaging in collective negotiations. The digitalisation of work and the subsequent rise in working from home, for example, are driving a global trend towards a legal ‘right to disconnect’. How to regulate platform work and workplace artificial intelligence are subjects of intense debate. The quest to embed labour rights across global value chains continues to produce new initiatives. Climate justice and environmental degradation are increasingly incorporated into collective bargaining agreements worldwide. Traditional labour law objectives, such as minimum wages, are emerging in new forms and contexts. Equality and work-life balance objectives are inspiring innovative approaches.

Despite ongoing efforts to establish new and recalibrate existing labour rights, application and enforcement of such rights remain profoundly challenging. The realization of rights at work remains stalled and access to labour justice and effective redress are challenging, especially for vulnerable workers. In both the global North and South, across formal and informal settings, the failure of legal and/or collectively agreed norms to transform into material improvements for workers is becoming increasingly evident. While innovative approaches to promote inclusive labour protection, including through strategic enforcement, are taking shape, there are still challenges in the effectiveness of such approaches in many countries due, among others, to limited resources (e.g. for labour inspection). At the international level, the World Bank’s new Business Ready project is sparking renewed concerns about the risks of quantifying and comparing labour law regimes, recalling the controversy that surrounded the Bank’s Doing Business agenda. 

This track focuses on the challenges of translating aspirations for decent work into real-world change. We welcome a broad range of papers on both emerging regulatory trends and the application and enforcement of labour rights. We invite papers that draw on diverse interdisciplinary perspectives and methodologies, that investigate countries in all regions, and address regulation through legislation, collective negotiation or other modes. In particular, this track invites papers that respond to the following questions:

• What legal, institutional and political barriers hinder the implementation of labour law reforms in developing countries? How can we address these roadblocks to create a more equitable and inclusive labour market for all workers, including those in the informal economy? 
• How can we legally protect workers' rights to disconnect from work outside of working hours in an increasingly digitalized work environment? How has the right to disconnect impacted employment and labour relations, and workers’ lives, in practice?
• Are the evolving laws on platform work fulfilling their objectives? What are the main challenges arising from their application and how is it is possible to improve their effectiveness?  
• How do access to justice and remedies feature in different legal and institutional frameworks governing and enforcing labour rights? Which policies, initiatives or practices can help making labour rights a reality for all? 
• What legal and regulatory frameworks are necessary to address the challenges and opportunities presented by AI and other emerging technologies in the world of work, including in relation to access to justice?
• What legal frameworks and mechanisms are needed to ensure decent work standards throughout global supply chains, particularly for informal workers at the lower tiers?
• How can we ensure that climate justice is integrated into labour laws and regulation to protect workers from the impacts of climate change and promote a just transition?
• How can we close protective gaps for migrant workers, including temporary workers?
• How is the new generation of minimum wage laws shaping wages and collective bargaining?
• What can legal regimes on equality and work-life balance teach us about effective regulation?
• How can we accurately measure the impact of legal and policy interventions on labour market outcomes and worker well-being?

We are particularly interested in contributions that move beyond simply stating problems and suggesting vague or idealistic solutions. We welcome papers that grapple with the empirical realities and point to reforms that are both responsive to and feasible in their national contexts.   

Track coordinators: Deirdre McCann, Sean Cooney, Valerie Van Goethem, Kroum Markov, Aristea Koukiadaki, Lisa Tortell, Arianna Rossi, Fabiola Mieres 

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RDW Conference Organizing Committee 

• Caroline Fredrickson, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Sangheon Lee, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland
• Uma Rani, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Gerhard Bosch, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
• Praveen Jha, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
• Deirdre McCann, University of Durham, UK 
• Jill Rubery, University of Manchester, UK 
• Kea Tijdens, AIAS, University of Amsterdam, and WageIndicator Foundation, Netherlands
• Imraan Valodia, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa

RDW Committee

• Christina Behrendt, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Dina Bishara, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
• Gerhard Bosch, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany 
• Jeong-Hee Lee, Korea Labor Institute, Republic of Korea 
• Sean Cooney, University of Melbourne, Australia
• Virginia Doellgast, Cornell University, Ithaca, USA
• Ekkehard Ernst, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland
• Praveen Jha, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
• Aristea Koukiadaki, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Sangheon Lee, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Kroum Markov, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Deirdre McCann, University of Durham, UK
• Fabiola Mieres, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland
• Felipe Vella Pateo, IPEA, Brasilia, Brazil 
• Uma Rani, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Arianna Rossi, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Jill Rubery, University of Manchester, UK 
• Dorothea Schmidt-Klau, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland
• Kea Tijdens, AIAS, University of Amsterdam, and WageIndicator Foundation, Netherlands
• Lisa Tortell, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland 
• Imraan Valodia, SCIS, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Valerie Van Goethem, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland
• Anil Verma, CIRHR, University of Toronto, Canada

RDW Network Members

• Amsterdam’s Institute for Labour Studies / Hugo Sinzheimer Instituut voor Arbeidsrecht en Sociaal recht (AIAS-HSI) - University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law (CELRL) – University of Melbourne, Australia
• Centre for Industrial Relations and Human Resources (CIRHR) – University of Toronto, Canada
• Centre for Informal Sector and Labour Studies (CISLS) – Jawaharlal Nehru University, India
• Decent Work Regulation Project – University of Durham, UK
• Industrial and Labor Relations (ILR) School – Cornell University, USA
• Institut Arbeit und Qualifikation (IAQ) – University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
• Institute for Applied Economic Research (IPEA) – Brasilia, Brazil
• Korea Labor Institute (KLI) – Seoul, Republic of Korea 
• Southern Centre for Inequality Studies (SCIS) – University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Work and Equalities Institute (WEI) – University of Manchester, UK

Secretariat: Pierre-Alain Proust, ILO, Geneva, Switzerland