Issue No 5 | 19 March 1999 | |
NewsStreamlined ILO To Focus On ‘Decent’ Work
The new chief of the ILO plans to regenerate the body by drastically cutting the number of programs to refocus on the global creation of 'decent' jobs.
In just his second week in the job, Director-General Juan Somavia told the FIET World Congress that he would cut the number of International Labour Organisation programs from 39 to just four. He said the changes needed to made to the ILO to make it a more effective voice in the international debate about globalisation. Somavia said his priority was to replace the myriad ILO programs with clear strategies for: - fundamental workers rights - the creation of employment - social security - and social dialogue. Running across these four streams would be a commitment to development issues and gender issues. The Chilean attorney, speaking from Geneva via a television hook-up, said that the creation of decent work should become the international focus for labour. "After human rights, every society wants decent work," he said. "We need to place a social floor below the global economy." Somavia said the immediate challenge for the international community was to give meaning to ILO Conventions 186 and 189 which deal with freedom of association, the right to organise and bargain collectively, the abolition of forced labour and child labour and the elimination of discrimination in employment. "This will be the test case of where liberalisation is going," he said. Embracing the notion of sectoral unions and larger bodies like the proposed UNI, Somavia said international organisations and sectional bodies had complementary roles to play. "The ILO is your house -- it is the only international member of the UN where you have a seat at the table," he said.
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Interview: Towards An Information International FIET general secretary Phillip Jennings talks about the development of the Union Network International and its potential to organise globally. Unions: The Integral Price of Loyalty Workers at Integral Energy are asking for their share of the fruits of power reform. History: A Very Public History Historian Ray Markey and Public Service Association General Secretary Janet Good take a look at the union’s first 100 years. Review: Bullworth - Beatty’s Political Rap Warren Beatty makes some gutsy calls in his new film about a politician who, when all else fails, tries the truth. Campaign Diary: The Ultimate Punt As the leaders slug it through the final weeks of the campaign, the armchair critics get their chance to work their pet election theories.
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