OAS

Joint Summit Working Group

Washington, DC 29 Mar 2007

ILO Follow up to the Fourth Summit

Armand F. Pereira Director of ILO Office for the United States Representative to the Multilateral Agencies in Washington

The Fourth Summit made 9 requests of ILO being followed and periodically reported. In response to one of these (para 73), the

ILO’s XVI Regional Conference

(May 2006) addressed the main theme of the XIV IACLM. At that time, the ILO’s Member States of the Americas agreed to launch a

Decent Work Decade

– an Hemispheric Agenda based on an agreed menu of

11 specific policies 4 general policies

(See annex – slides 15-23), to be and further elaborated at country level, using mainly

Decent Work Country Programs (DWCP)

under national agreements engaging ILO, governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations and other multilateral agencies, as appropriate.

This mandate remains in line with the priorities identified in consultations of the preparatory work for the IACLM 2007.

Decent Work in the Americas: 2006-2015 hemispheric agenda (resulting from the Declarations of both Mar del

Plata (IV Summit) and OAS’ XIV ICLM)

Challenges: Ensure that economic growth promotes decent work.

Ensure effective enforcement of fundamental principles and rights at work.

Increase trust in democracy and in social dialogue.

Expand and strengthen social security schemes.

Increase social and labor inclusion to reduce inequality.

I.Objectives

: Strategic Cross-cutting

Fundamental Principles and Rights at work (“Core Labor Standards”) are effectively enforced.

Greater employment opportunities are generated for men and women.

The coverage and effectiveness of social protection systems for workers have been expanded and enhanced.

Social dialogue is promoted and social actors are strengthened.

The globalization process takes place on fair terms.

Poverty is overcome.

Gender equality is promoted.

International Labor Standards (ILS) have attained greater influence.

Social interlocutors, social dialogue and tripartism have greater influence.

Decent Work (wage- and self-employment with CLS

and improvements in social protection and social dialogue)

has been also in the centerfold of the agendas of the main UN bodies and the European Commission, which indirectly affect aid-donor and technical cooperation agendas in the Americas.

The Decent Work Agenda was adopted by the 2006 High-level Segment of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)’s Ministerial Declaration

, pushing the Decent Work Agenda as an essential part of poverty reduction in the MDGs. The ministers also requested

ILO to develop time bound plans for 2015,

foreseen for the

Summit

and the

MDG reviews. Millennium

Decent work will again be on the agenda of ECOSOC in 2007.

Full

employment and decent work

was the theme of recent session of the

UN Commission for Social Development.

Employment

was key theme in the 2006 Spring and Autumn sessions of the

High-level Committee of the UN system Chief Executives Board (HLCP/CEB).

The Committee asked

ILO to develop a “toolkit” for mainstreaming employment and decent work in UN system activities.

This initiative was endorsed by the ministers in their ECOSOC Declaration in July, 2006 and further discussed by the Executive Heads of the UN system in CEB’s Oct 2006 session. The toolkit will be discussed and approved by the HLCP and submitted for final endorsement by the Executive Heads, including those of the IMF, the WB and the WTO) at the next CEB session, hosted by ILO (Geneva, 20 –21 April 2007).

Employment is being increasingly emphasized by other multilateral agencies concerned with trade, growth and poverty linkages.

A recent joint ILO-WTO study of trade and employment is another indication of shared concerns with employment.

ILO and World Bank

agreed to jointly conduct two initial country studies focused on

growth-employment linkages and related decent work issues

– this followed the Nov. 2006 Wolfowitz Somavia meeting over concerns in both WB and ILO about the limited effects of recent growth on employment (e.g. about 75-80% of the WB-led PRSPs done so far have nothing on employment; the WB’s Independent Evaluation Group Report (ARDE, Nov.07) called for more WB focus on jobs, etc.).

ILO is working with the WB to help effective

mainstreaming of the CLS in the Bank’s operations

.

ILO is also cooperating with the

International Finance Corporation

(private arm of the WB Group) in the implementation of its

Performance Standards on Environment and Social Development

(including CLS and other standards); there is a

joint program (“Better Work”) focused on global supply chains

.

These initiatives could have key effect on the effective application of CLS in the Region and elsewhere

DWCPs

are the

main vehicle for cooperation

with Member States both directly and via the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), as well as WB’s Poverty Reduction Strategies and Policies (PRS/PRSP) and Country Assistance Strategies (CAS/CPS), and future Joint Assistance Strategies of the UN system with World Bank and other multilateral banks.

DWCPs

are also the

main vehicle for ILO engagement

with the

“One UN” objective in the UN reform

. In this vein,

ILO and UNDP

agreed in Jan.07 to a

common plan of action focused on employment-poverty linkages

. Countries agreed for coverage are: Brazil, Trinidad Tobago, Honduras, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay (others to follow).

Broader

DWCPs are ongoing in Argentina, Brazil, Panama, and are now being negotiated with Uruguay, Honduras, Bolivia, Colombia and other countries.

The priority entry point in DWCPs may vary: CLS in some cases; employment in others, employment-social protection tradeoffs in others, etc. For example: In

Panama

, special cooperation is envisaged to ensure that

the Canal expansion is implemented

through employment procurement practices coherent with the

decent work

agenda. In

Colombia

, the ongoing effort is focusing first on a recent

Tripartite Agreement on Freedom of Association and Democracy

and related technical cooperation program [funded initially by ILO and by Colombia ($4.3 million over the next 4 years)].

Outside the DWCP framework in the Region,

ILO’s studies on employment

and related technical cooperation efforts have also been promoted separately, including:

Tripartite Caribbean Employment Forum

–

Responding to Globalization: A decent work agenda for the Caribbean in the context of regional integration

, 10-12 Oct 2006, Barbados (similar emp forums were carried out earlier for Central America and the Southern Cone).

National Employment Reports

in preparation for the ILO's Tripartite Caribbean Employment Forum Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Saint Lucia, Suriname.

National Technical and Vocational Education and Training Reports -

to contribute to the regional discussion on reforming TVET institutions and accreditation systems for improved skills and enhanced employability in Caribbean Labor Markets – Barbados, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago.

The Transition of Jamaican Youth to the World of Work,

Report prepared by the Human Development Unit, PIOJ, in coop with ILO.

Facing the Employment Challenge (Argentina, Brasil, Mexico)

– comparing country experience on employment and macroenomic policies, as well as other recent studies on employment, working conditions and labor relations, etc.

Both within and outside negotiated DWCPs,

ILO’s ongoing technical cooperation activities cover a variety of fields,

e.g.: labor statistics and indicators, crisis response emergency employment schemes, minimum wages, skills development and training policy, labor inspection and administration, social security, occupational safety and health (OSH), etc.

On OSH,

for example, in response to the Mar del Plata Declaration and Plan of Action, the

ILO’s Hemispheric Decent Work Agenda

resulting from the XV Regional Meeting (May 2006) stressed as a policy objective:

to “make occupational safety and health a priority for social actors in the region”

and made it a policy goal that

“within ten years (by 2015), reduce the incidence of occupational accidents and illnesses by 20%, and double occupational safety and health protection for sectors and collectives heretofore not covered.”

Several activities are being undertaken in this context with

scope for enlarging and improving already ongoing inter-agency cooperation. With WHO/PAHO (and possibly IADB/MIF, UNEP…), for example, in:

•the application of the

ILO Code of Practice on HIV AIDS in the Workplace

, •the joint

Occupational Safety and Health Network (RSST)

this disseminates and exchanges OSH information and experience among technical bodies, practitioners and researchers in the Region and beyond (now with 1,617 subscribers in 38 countries and linked with other ILO information systems) - an OPS-ILO Technical Memorandum is considered, •the

convergence of OSH statistics

on occupational injuries of protected and unprotected workers

and related policies

.

In follow up to the 2005 IACML and in preparation for the 2007 IACML, the ILO is convening a

Caribbean Ministers of Labour Meeting

(15 and 16 May 2007, Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago) This is part of a longstanding agreement that the Caribbean Community (

CARICOM

) Secretariat and Ministers’ Meeting in alternate years.

ILO

organize the Labour The Meeting of Labour Ministers will discuss: • items on the agenda of the upcoming session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) and possibly • subjects raised in early May at the pre-IACML meeting in Costa Rica, as well as • the Canadian-funded workshop in Trinidad and Tobago (July) focused,

inter alia

, on the labour dimensions of free trade agreements, as part of preparations for the IACML, to be held in Trinidad and Tobago, 11-13 Sep 2007.

Annex

Decent Work in the Americas: 2006-2015 hemispheric agenda 4 General and 11 Specific Policies agreed by the ILO’s Member States

to be further elaborated at country level, using mainly

Decent Work Country Programs (DWCP)

.

III. General policies: Objectives Goals Policies 1. Economic growth as a promoter of greater employment opportunities Creating greater employment opportunities must be considered a central economic policy objective.

2. Effective enforcement of FPRs Ensure effective compliance with fundamental principles and rights at work.

Achieving a sustained, steady economic growth rate of at least 5% per year during the next 10 years as a necessary condition for a significant reduction of the current deficit of decent work..

The ILO fundamental rights are a minimum, universally accepted body of labour rights incorporated into the national legislations and labour cultures of countries across the region.

- Child Labor - Forced Labor - Freedom of association and collective bargaining - No discrimination at work Progressive elimination of child labour .

Progressive elimination of forced labour.

Improve protection …by:

-

advancing towards effective guarantee of the various elements of freedom of association, particularly no union based discrimination,

-

optimizing the coverage and expanding the contents of collective bargaining.

Progressively eliminate discrimination mechanisms …in the labour market.

1. Eliminate the worst forms of child labour within 10 years (2015).

2. Completely eradicate child labour within 15 years (2020).

Reduce the number of workers submitted to a forced labour regime by 20% to 35% within ten years .

Legislation providing for better trade union protection …administrative and judicial processes in cases of violations … agreements and contracts of better quality both in terms of number of workers covered … and … contents … as well … conflict resolution.

Reduce segregation indices and gender-based and ethnicity/race based income differentials by 50% within ten years.

3. Social protection systems with enhanced efficiency and coverage Expand and strengthen the various social protection schemes for workers.

Within ten (10) years, increase the social protection coverage by 20%.

4. Effective social dialogue Promote the institutionaliz ation of social dialogue on a voluntary basis.

Promote the implementation by all countries in the region of actions aimed at strengthening social dialogue, and the creation within 10 years of institutionalized social dialogue and sustained on a voluntary basis.

Strategic Objective 2 Strategic Objective 1 Strategic Objective 3 Strategic Objective 4

IV. Policies for specific areas of intervention: Policies Objectives 1.Intern

ational labor Standar ds 2. Gender equality Put in place labour legislation and practice in line with international labour standards ratified by each country and fully enforced, and thus able to guarantee the rights of workers and employers alike.

Apply public policies aimed at reducing inequality between men and women in the world of work by means of dual strategies based on cross-cutting as well as women-specific actions.

Goals 1. Make progress in the ratification not only of ILO Conventions related to fundamental rights at work, but also those found by governments and social actors to be essential… Within 10 years, achieve a 10% increase in women’s labour force participation rate, and a commensurate increase in women’s employment rate, and reduce by half the current gender gaps in the areas of informality and occupational earnings.

3. Employ ment for young workers Promote higher training and better entry into the labour market for young workers 4. Micro and small enterpri ses 5. The informal economy Improve the quality of employment in MSE Within ten years, reduce by half the proportion of young people aged over 15 who neither study nor work.

Within ten years, significantly improve the percentage of MSE workers covered by policies and business services promoting productivity, and having access to minimum protection levels and to markets across the region.

Progressive formalization of the informal economy.

Within a maximum period of ten years, eliminate the main legal and administrative causes that contribute to the existence of the informal economy.

6. The rural secto r and local devel opme nt Improve the employment and productivity standards of rural economic activities, including those of indigenous populations.

7. Vocat ional traini ng Improve human resources competitiveness and expand vocational training coverage among vulnerable groups 1. Within ten years, double the productivity and income of low-income farmers, and substantially improve their employment standards.

2. Within a maximum term of ten (19) years, governments across the region will launch local development plans for small villages.

3. Make significant progress towards ratification and effective enforcement of ILO Convention 169, and more particularly of its provisions regarding consultation with indigenous populations.

Within 10 years, double the number of workers placed through public and private employment services.

8.Employ

ment services 9. Wages and other forms of remunera tion Increase and improve the capacity and quality of employment services Reinstate minimum wages as a wage policy tool, and progressively link increases in remuneration to changes in productivity along with cost of living 10. Occupati onal safety and health Make occupational safety and health a priority for social actors in the region Within 10 years, double the number of workers placed through public and private employment services.

1. Effectively use the machinery in place under the provisions of ILO Convention 131 for consultation between social interlocutors on minimum wage matters.

2. Promote the introduction of productivity clauses and other provisions for wage increases linked to productivity as well as to cost of living variations into the collective bargaining process.

Within ten years, reduce the incidence of occupational accidents and illnesses by 20%, and double occupational safety and health protection for sectors and collectives heretofore not covered.

11. Migrant workers Improve protection of migrant workers by means of managed migration 1. Before 2010, establish a statistical information system about migrant workers as support for policy formulation in this area.

2. Make progress in using the general framework the ILO is committed to preparing at ILC’s request, and ensure ratification of ILO Conventions 97 and 14.

3. Before 2010, ensure that all countries of origin and destination of migrants have a strategy and an action plan for the orderly management of migrations.