people on the move - international labour organization · 2014. 6. 9. · world of work – no. 34...

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INTERNATIONAL LABOUR OFFICE

People on the move:Globalization’simpact onmigration

2WORLD OF WORK – No. 34 – 2000

The ILO in history World of Work magazine ispublished five times per yearby the Bureau of PublicInformation of the ILO inGeneva. Also published inChinese, Czech, Danish,Finnish, French, German,Hindi, Hungarian, Japanese,Norwegian, Russian, Slovak,Spanish and Swedish.n Editor:

Thomas Nettern German edition:

Hans von Rohlandn Arabic edition:

Khawla MattarILO Office, Beirut

n Spanish edition:In collaboration with the

ILO Office, Madridn Production Manager:

Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman

This magazine is not anofficial document of theInternational LabourOrganization. The opinionsexpressed do not necessarilyreflect the views of theILO. The designationsemployed do not imply theexpression of any opinionwhatsoever on the part ofthe ILO concerning thelegal status of any country,area or territory or of itsauthorities, or concerningthe delimitation of itsfrontiers.

Reference to names offirms and commercialproducts and processes doesnot imply their endorsementby the ILO, and any failureto mention a particularfirm, commercial product orprocess is not a sign ofdisapproval.

Texts and only ILOphotographs may be freelyreproduced with mentionof source. Writtennotification is appreciated.

All correspondenceshould be addressed tothe Bureau of PublicInformation, ILO,CH-1211 Geneva 22,Switzerland.

Tel. +4122/799-7912Fax +4122/799-8577http://www.ilo.org

Readers in the US shouldsend their correspondenceto the International LaborOffice, Washington Branch,1828 L Street, NW, Suite801, Washington, DC 20036.Tel: +202/653-7652Fax: +202/653-7687Printed by SRO-Kundig SA,Geneva

ISSN 1020-0010

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The ILO and gender:

The long march

Twenty five years ago, a thousand delegates in the main conferencehall of the Palais des Nations in Geneva were all ears. “All measuresshall be taken to guarantee women’s right to work as the inalienableright of every human being”, stipulated the text of the solemn Declarationwhich had just been presented to the 60th International Labour Conference.Thunderous applause hailed its approval.

It was a modest triumph for Mrs. T. Diallo, the government delegatefrom Senegal, who had just summarized the deliberations of the Com-mission on Women Workers. She assessed both the merits of the adoptedtext and the many miles still left to travel. That year, 1975, was alsoproclaimed International Women’s Year. Among the other eminent per-sonalities addressing the ILO Conference, Mrs. Sipilä would be Secretary-General of the World Conference on Women set to take place severalweeks later in Mexico City under the auspices of the United Nations.

Yet despite the breathless sense of progress, the reality was quitedifferent. Women were arriving en masse on the labour market withouta change in either laws or mentalities. An ILO report indicated that inFrance women represented only one-fifth of all university students oftechnological institutes. The United Kingdom registered 110 female ap-prentices – among 112,000 boys! Everywhere, the gap between maleand female salaries was enormous. In the ILO itself, the personnel policywas not at the intended level.

Yet the march of women to the workplace proved unstoppable. Duringthe Decade for Women, between the conferences in 1975 and 1985, thenumber of working women increased by more than 100 million. For itspart, the ILO’s plan of action adopted in 1975 was to contribute to theevolution of national policies and practices. And it would only be 20years later that the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing –marked by an unprecedented number of NGO participants – would adopta “platform” comprising, among other things, the fight against femalepoverty and the elimination of violence against women. The contributionof the ILO to this programme would also be substantial.

This year, the ILO is participating in Women 2000 to be held on 5to 9 June at the UN in New York to assess progress since Beijing. TheILO will put in a strong appearance, not only by its updated standardsand research, but also due to the decisions of the new Director-General:from now on all programmes will have a gender component and, in theframework of the administrative reorganization, several new programmesare headed by women. Things have come a long way since 1975.

– Michel Fromont

ILO/Bregnard, Maillard,Deloche

WORLD OF WORK – No. 34 – 20003

Created in 1919, the International Labour Organization (ILO) brings together governments, employers and workers of its175 member States in common action to improve social protection and conditions of life and work throughout the world. TheInternational Labour Office, in Geneva, is the permanent Secretariat of the Organization.

News in brief ............................................................ 27

● Media: Increasingly, the new media is freelance, femaleand swamped with e-mail

● Workers’ rights: Two major German companies sign anagreement on globally valid labour standards

● Obituary: Gerd Muhr

● Social reinsurance: ILO/World Bank/University of Lyonteam wins big

● ILO and UNV: International Year of Volunteers– With volunteers fighting child labour in India

● Map: Ratifications of ILO Worst Forms of Child LabourConvention, 1999 (No. 182)

Latin America: Becoming “partners in knowledge” In Uruguay, workers and employers join hands to save jobs

and increase profits ....................................................................................... 16

FeaturesTHE ILO IN HISTORY ....................................................................................... 2WORKING WORLD .............................................................................................. 25AROUND THE CONTINENTS ............................................................................... 32

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR (NEW) ..................................................................... 34IN THE PRESS ....................................................................................................... 35MEDIA SHELF ....................................................................................................... 37SEED PROGRAMME ............................................................................................ 40

Geneva: ILO Governing Body Concludes 277th Session Decisions on social dimensions of globalization, Myanmar– ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at

Work on agenda .............................................................................................. 7– Women: ILO examines progress, looks ahead to Beijing+5 ................... 8– East Timor: Ramos-Horta speaks, ILO proposes crisis strategy ............. 10

In a world of winners and losers, the losers go looking for work: Globalization’s impact on migration .......................................................... 4

World: An agenda for decent workILO Director-General delivers policy statements on globalizationin New Delhi, Washington, Bangkok and Durban ................................... 12

India: Child labourIndian children trade hazardous work for three R’s– Interview with Dr. L. Mishra, Secretary (Labour),

Government of India ....................................................................................... 14

Cover story: Migrants

How a new ILO programme is planting theseeds for new jobs and new businesses, SEE SPECIAL INSERT

– Dar-es-Salaam: Changes in the way women work is not just rubbish ....................... 18– Manila: A “negosyante” shows how improved working conditions

can help sell more shoes .......................................................................................................... 20– Kosovo: Postwar “biznes” is rebuilding the job market ..................................................... 22


ENEVA – Thetotal number ofmigrants aroundthe world now

surpasses 120 million – up from75 million in 1965 – and con-tinues to grow. So says “Work-ers without Frontiers”, a newbook on the impact of global-ization on global migration.

“In a world of winners andlosers, the losers do not sim-ply disappear, they seek some-where else to go”, says thebook’s author, Peter Stalker.

The ability to find good jobsand earn much higher pay isthe prime reason people areemigrating today:

● A 1996 survey of 496 un-documented Mexicans in theUnited States found that theyearned an average of US$31per week in their last Mexicanjob compared to US$278 perweek in the United States, anearnings ratio of 9:1

● In 1997, Indonesian la-bourers earned US$0.28 perday in their country versusUS$2 or more per day in neigh-bouring Malaysia

● In 1995, hourly labourcosts in manufacturing stood

at US$ 0.25 in India andChina, US$0.46 in Thailand,US$ 0.60 in Russia, US$1.70in Hungary and US$2.09 inPoland against US$13.77 inthe United Kingdom, US$14.40 in Australia, US$16.03in Canada, US$17.20 in theUnited States, US$19.34 inFrance, US$23.66 in Japanand US$31.88 in Germanyaccording to a study2 quotedby the author.

The book finds that fallingprices for transportation andthe increased speed of com-munication have changed thecharacter of international mi-gration, making it much lessa permanent move. By 1990,air transport costs per milehad dropped to 20 per centof their 1930 level. Between1930 and 1996, the cost ofa three-minute telephone con-versation between Londonand New York fell fromUS$300 to US$1.

“These changes have madedepartures to unknown landsless daunting and traumatic,”Stalker says. “Migration flows,as a result, have become morecomplex and diverse.”

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Cover story

Globalization’s “losers”become its movers

As economic borders fall, migrants come flooding in

Far from reducing international migration flows – by moving products instead of people– globalization will give rise to increased migration pressures in the years ahead. A newbook published by the ILO – Workers without Frontiers: The impact of globalization oninternational migration1 – argues that flows of goods and capital between rich and poorcountries will not be large enough to offset the needs for employment in poorercountries. Instead, social disruption caused by economic restructuring is likely to shakemore people loose from their communities and encourage them to look abroad for work.

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Humans in greater supply

One major shift is that many morecountries have become suppliers, receiv-ers, or both of these of international labourmigrants. An ILO analysis of current

migration patterns in 152 countries showedthat between 1970 and 1990, the numberof countries classified as major receiversof labour immigrants rose from 39 to 67.Over the same 20 years, the number ofcountries designated as major international

labour suppliers rose from 29 to 55.As a sign of the increasing complexity

of migration patterns, the number ofcountries which functioned as both majorsenders and receivers of migrants roseover the same period from four to 15.

United States – Studies quoted by the author highlightthe fact that the jobs held by recent immigrants are sig-nificantly more exposed to foreign competition than thoseheld by nationals. Mexican immigrants, says the book,are over-represented in economic sectors – such asagriculture and garments – “that are at greatest risk fromimport penetration”. Indeed, “many of the industries thathave demanded protection from foreign competition arealso those that employ large numbers of immigrants”.In 1991, the US Department of Labor estimated that “73per cent of all workers employed in US crop productionwere foreign-born”.

Latin America – While most migrants head northwardto the United States, there exist other, slower flows toArgentina, Brazil and Mexico. An estimated 200,000 un-documented migrants from Bolivia, Paraguay and Perulive and work in Argentina, for example. Mexico drawsCentral Americans, many of them on their way furtherNorth.

Western Europe – Germany acted as a magnet in the yearsfollowing the collapse of the fall of the Berlin Wall. Inthe years 1988-94, net immigration into both parts ofGermany totaled 4 million, of whom 2 million ethnicGermans from the former Soviet Union.

Former Soviet Union – More than 9 million former Sovietcitizens moved following the collapse of the communistregime. Among them were many ethnic Russians whofound themselves unwelcome in what had become newrepublics: some 2.7 million moved to Russia between 1993and 1996. Others moved in search of work. There were350,000 legal foreign workers in Russia in 1996, and 400,000undocumented foreigners are thought to be living in Moscowalone.

Persian Gulf – The oil price rise after 1973 triggered anexplosion in the demand for labour, particularly in con-struction. Between 1975 and 1990, the number of immi-grants in the seven States of the Gulf Cooperation Council,rose from 1.1 million to 5.2 million, representing 68 percent of the labour force. Millions however had to leaveas a result of the Gulf war in 1990-91. Many have sincereturned. In spite of statements to the contrary, Statesin the region remain as dependent as ever on foreign

workers. “In Kuwait in 1996, of a total labour force of1.1 million, only 176,000 were Kuwaiti citizens.”

East and Southeast Asia – In Japan, labour shortagesbecame so acute in the late 1980s that numerous immi-grants were allowed in temporarily, on short-term con-tracts. The number of registered foreign residents bal-looned as a result, reaching 1.36 million in 1995 – nearly1.1 per cent of the population. In addition, some 300,000persons who entered the country as tourists are thoughtto have overstayed their visas.

The newly industrialized economies (NIEs) of Singapore,Hong Kong (China), the Republic of Korea and Taiwan(China) have all attracted large contingents of unskilledworkers even as they try to control the inflow. Singaporehas the tightest system, imposing severe sanctions onemployers of illegal immigrants. “But even here”, saysthe book, “there are reports of increasing numbers ofundocumented workers.”

Countries of the next generation of NIEs, such as Thailandand Malaysia, are both sources and destinations for migrantworkers. In 1997, before the economic crisis, Thailandwas host to 600,000 migrants, but also had 372,000 Thaiworkers spread around Asia. Indonesia exports unskilledlabour to the Middle East, Malaysia and Singapore andimports skilled workers, mostly from India and the Phil-ippines. “By the middle of 1997, there were thought tobe over 6.5 million foreign workers in seven Asian countriesor areas: Japan, the Republic of Korea, Malaysia, Sin-gapore, Thailand, Hong Kong (China), and Taiwan (China).”

In a number of Asian countries the majority of emigrantstoday are women, generally working as domestic servantsin the Middle East, Singapore and Hong Kong (China).This is the case for 69 per cent of migrants from SriLanka, 65 per cent from Indonesia and 55 per cent fromThailand.

Africa – Flows of undocumented immigrants into SouthAfrica “have increased markedly in the post-apartheidera”. Their precise numbers are a matter of controversywith estimates ranging from 3 to 8 million, most of whomcome from neighbouring Mozambique, Zimbabwe andLesotho.

MIGRATION: A TRULY GLOBAL PHENOMENONHERE IS A REGION-BY-REGION RUNDOWN ON THE MIGRATION SITUATION

IN THE WORLD TODAY


Stalker points out that migration flowsare “distorted by social and politicalpressures as host communities becomemore resistant to new arrivals”. Govern-ments which do little to interfere withflows of trade and finance “take muchmore resolute action when it comes topeople,” he says. This has little impacton the overall number of migrantsworldwide, but it does affect migrationpatterns. It has also favored the emer-gence of a commercial “migration in-dustry” helping migrants, for a fee, tosecure visas, transportation and employ-ment. And it has spurred the growth ofillegal trafficking.

“In Europe in 1993, some 15 to 30per cent of undocumented immigrantswere thought to have used the servicesof traffickers,” the book says. “In thecase of asylum applications, the propor-tion is even higher: 20 to 40 per cent.”

As an enterprise, trafficking is highlylucrative. Smuggling someone by car acrossan Eastern European border or by boatfrom Morocco to Spain might be worthUS$500, but a sophisticated travel pack-age for an undocumented migrant fromChina to the United States can cost upto US$30,000. The book quotes a studywhich estimates that the trafficking inundocumented migrants brings in from

US$5 billion to US$7 billion per year.“This illegal flow of workers has created

a large market for forged documents,”says the book, adding that Bangkok “hasdeveloped into a major production cen-tre” for forged documents, mainly Ko-rean and Japanese passports – worth aboutUS$2,000 apiece – used by Chineseemigrants to travel on to other parts ofthe world.

“Many people also lubricate the flowof migrants by offering financing,” Stalkerpoints out. Some are long-term loans tobe paid off over years. But short-termfinancing is also available. Bolivianpeasants who wish to enter Argentina astourists must show to immigration of-ficials the equivalent of US$1,500 inspending money. This, says Stalker, “hascreated a new form of financial inter-mediary, demanding what must be a worldrecord interest rate. For the hour or soit takes to cross the border, bus com-panies and others will lend migrants thenecessary cash – for a 10% fee.”

Living standardsare decisive

As always, differences in living stan-dards explain the direction of migrationflows. In terms of GDP per capita, theratio between the United States and Mexico,for example, is 6 to 1. Between Germanyand Poland, it is 11 to 1, Stalker says.

A more realistic indicator of the potentialfor migration is the difference in wagerates for occupations which are open toimmigrants. These vary considerably fromcountry to country, though immigrantstend almost everywhere to be highlyconcentrated in certain sectors.

“In the United States, the sector inwhich the share of immigrants is highestis agriculture,” the book says. “In Bel-gium and the Netherlands, it is the extrac-tion and processing of minerals; in Den-mark, Germany, Australia and Canada,it is manufacturing; in France and Lux-embourg, it is construction and civil en-gineering; in the United Kingdom, it isservices.”

When a free and rapid exchange ofinformation across national borders ex-ists, such as between Mexico and theUnited States, migrant workers can bevery sensitive to changes in the labourmarket. A US study, by the Public PolicyInstitute of California, found that whenK

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California’s economy boomed in themid- to late 1980s, the state experi-enced brisk job growth and undocu-mented immigration peaked. On theother hand, when California sufferedfrom a severe recession in the early1990s, undocumented immigration fell.

Migration is also affected by con-ditions in the sending country. Whenthe Mexican economy is in crisis, un-documented migration rises. One studyconcluded that a 10 per cent decreasein real wages in Mexico is associatedwith an 8 per cent increase in appre-hensions of undocumented workers atthe border.

It’s nothing new,just more

The world has seen larger-scale mi-grations in previous eras – the slave tradeand the European migration to the NewWorld and Australia are cited as twoexamples in the book.

The most brutal transfers of peoplefrom one country to another resulted fromthe slave trade. Prior to 1850, an esti-mated 15 million slaves were transportedfrom Africa to the Americas, and duringthe century following the abolition ofslavery, more than 30 million people weremoved as indentured workers.

Millions more also travelled volun-tarily. Between 1846 and 1939, some 59million people left Europe, with mostheading to the Americas, while otherswent to Australia, New Zealand and SouthAfrica.

While many people are concerned aboutwhat they perceive as burgeoning inter-national migration, the largest flowshistorically occurred in the 100 yearsafter 1815. The peak year for immigrationinto the United States occurred in 1915,when 1.2 million immigrants arrived,equivalent to 1.2 per cent of the totalAmerican population at that time. In 1996,the U.S. received 996,000 immigrants,which came to just 0.35 per cent of thepopulation.

1 Workers without frontiers – The impact of glo-balization on international migration, by Peter Stalker,ILO, Geneva and Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2000,ISBN 92-2-110854-6. For orders in Switzerland,please contact: ILO Publications, route des Morillons4, 1211 Geneva 22. For orders in the USA, pleasecontact: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 1800 30th Street,Suite 314, Boulder, CO 80301-1026, Tel: +303/444-6684,Fax: +303/444-0824,Website: www.rienner.com.2 Morgan Stanley and Co. Inc., 1996.

ENEVA – The GoverningBody1 of the ILO, in its277th session, adopted con-clusions on a wide rangeof subjects,

including a decision to broaden theOrganization’s examination of the socialdimension of globalization, a decisionto expand efforts to end forced labourin Myanmar, and the first review ofthe follow-up to the ILO Declarationon Fundamental Principles and Rightsat Work, which was adopted in 1998.The 277th Session of the Governing Bodywas chaired by Mr. Jean-JacquesElmiger (Switzerland).

In other matters:A special Symposium on Decent Work

for Women highlighted the challenge ofeliminating gender-based discriminationin the workplace and paved the way forthe ILO’s participation in the upcomingUnited Nations’ Conference “Women2000: Gender Equality, Development andPeace for the Twenty-first Century”. (Seeitem:Women 2000, page 8)

The Governing Body voiced unanimoussupport for a reinforcement of ILO technicalcooperation in favour of workers in theoccupied Arab territories. It also endorsedthe report of an ILO multidisciplinarymission to the West Bank and Gaza, whichoutlined 19 projects with a goal ofstrengthening the job and income-gen-erating capacity of small and micro-enterprises.

The ILO Committee on Freedom ofAssociation reached interim conclusions

on complaints involving Australia, Bang-ladesh, Bulgaria, Canada, Cuba, theRepublic of Korea and Zimbabwe. It alsoheard a statement by the Nobel Peacelaureate Ramos Horta (See East Timor,page 10)

Here is a wrapup of the Governingbody’s work:

Working Party onglobalization

The broadening of the Working Partymandate also resulted in a change ofname; the new group’s deliberations willproceed under the title: Working Partyon the Social Dimensions of Global-lization. The Working Party, which iscomposed of all members of the ILOGoverning Body, also pledged to increasecontacts and cooperation with othermultilateral agencies. The Governing Bodyendorsed proposals for the Office to beefup its research capacity on these issues,particularly via its newly established In-ternational Policy Group.

Launch of annualreporting review under

the ILO Declaration

This Governing Body session markedthe first-ever examination of annual reportssubmitted by Governments which havenot yet ratified all the ILO fundamentalrights Conventions. Meeting as a com-

ILO GoverningBody concludes

277th Session

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mittee of the whole to permit countrieswhich are not Governing Body membersto speak about their own situations, speakersreaffirmed their commitment to the Dec-laration and its follow-up. Many stressedthe importance of encouraging more repliesfrom governments and the constructiverole that employers’ and workers’ or-ganizations can play in relation to re-porting. In summing up this discussion,the Chairperson of the Governing Bodypointed out the clear need for technicalassistance and technical cooperation toassist governments to meet their obli-gations under the Declaration, and increating conditions for the ratificationand implementation of the fundamentalrights Conventions.

Myanmar

In an action unprecedented in theILO’s 80-year history, the GoverningBody set in motion a discussion in itsJune 2000 Conference, which could

result in an appeal to its other 174member States to review their relation-ship with the Government of Myanmar(Burma), and to take appropriate mea-sures to ensure that Myanmar “cannottake advantage of such relations toperpetuate or extend the system of forcedor compulsory labour” practised againstthe country’s citizens.

Invoking for the first time Article 33of the ILO Constitution2, the GoverningBody recommended that the InternationalLabour Conference, meeting in Genevain June this year, “take such action as itmay deem wise and expedient to securecompliance” by Myanmar with the rec-ommendations of a 1998 Commission ofInquiry.

The 1998 Commission concluded that“the obligation to suppress the use offorced or compulsory labour is violatedin Myanmar in national law as well as inactual practice in a widespread and sys-tematic manner, with total disregard forthe human dignity, safety, health and basic

needs of the people”. An updated reportby ILO Director-General Juan Somaviaexamined new evidence of the situationand concluded that an order issued by theGovernment of Myanmar on 14 May 1999,does not exclude the imposition of forcedlabour, in violation of the Convention,and “in actual practice, forced or compul-sory labour continues to be imposed ina widespread manner”.

– Source: ILO/00/10

1 The Governing Body, composed of 28 governmentmembers, 14 employer members and 14 workermembers, convenes three times annually. It is theexecutive arm of the ILO and takes decisions onthe implementation of ILO policies and programmes.Ten of the government seats are permanently heldby States of chief industrial importance. The re-maining members are elected for three years bygovernments, workers and employers respectively,taking account of regional distribution.

2 Article 33 is designed for use only in the eventof a country failing to carry out the recommenda-tions of an ILO Commission of Inquiry, which isitself a procedure reserved for grave and persistentviolations of international labour standards.

n preparation for ILO par-ticipation in the upcomingUnited Nations Conference,“Women 2000: Gender Equal-

ity, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century”, a special Symposium onDecent Work for Women during the Gov-erning Body meeting highlighted the chal-lenge of eliminating gender-based dis-crimination in the workplace.

Representatives of governments, work-ers’ and employers’ organizations as wellas NGOs also participated in the Sym-posium. Among topics discussed wererights-based and development-basedapproaches; progress and gaps in decentwork for men and women; promotingwomen workers’ rights; a gender per-spective on poverty, employment and socialprotection; management development andentrepreneurship for women; and genderin crisis response and reconstruction.

Here, key speakers identify existing

obstacles to gender equality, and pro-pose initiatives and actions for the future.One of them, Prof. Bina Agarwal talksto World of Work on what remains tobe done.

Juan Somavia,ILO Director-General:

“We take another step towards glo-balizing social progress when we cham-pion gender equality as a matter of rightsand social justice, as well as efficiencyand good business sense”, the Director-General said. “In putting forward ourdecent work agenda, we have put genderequality and development issues at theheart of the ILO agenda.” He noted thatto chart future actions, it would be necessaryto make breakthroughs in several areas.Poverty and rising inequality need to beattacked. Males still have a dispropor-tionate share of wealth and females a

disproportionate share of poverty. Also,women’s increasing participation in thelabour force is perhaps the most import-ant factor in determining the social policyagenda in the new century. It will be achallenge to come up with new systemsthat can offer protection to women andmen in precarious activities. “Our decentwork strategy is a way out of poverty

for women be-cause it is basedon principles ofequality andequity at workand at home”,Mr. Somaviastressed.

Angela King,Special Advi-sor to theUnited Na-

GB277: Preview Women 2000

ILO examines progress,looks ahead to Beijing+5

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tions on Gender Issues and the Ad-vancement of Women:

“...It is clear that there is still muchtoo much gender inequality in women’saccess to economic opportunities and toactual economic empowerment”, Ms. King

noted in her statement at the Sympo-sium. “In most parts of the world, womenstill have no control of, or participationin, decision-making concerning capi-tal, credit, property, technology, edu-cation and information. Yet they areworking in growing numbers, and

feminization of labour is a recognizedprocess.” She said statistics had con-firmed the fact that women bear thebrunt of the burden of poverty. In ruralareas, where most of the world’s poorlive, women are responsible for 70-80%of the on-farm labour in some countries.

WoW: How do you definedecent work in the con-text of gender equality andthe ILO’s role?

Bina Agarwal: It seems tome that decent work atone level is very simple;that it needs to involve andprovide secure and via-

ble livelihoods for men and women. But it should alsopromote a sense of dignity and self worth. So I seedecent work as having certain characteristics, butalso as a process of moving towards greater equalityand empowerment, and a greater voice in the com-munity and in the country. It should be an enablingprocess. To achieve decent work, I believe a veryessential component that has been missed out is equalityof property rights, equality of property ownership andcontrol. And what this means for many women in Asia,Africa and Latin America is ownership of land in particular,and productive assets.

WoW: What other elements are necessary for achiev-ing decent work for women?

Bina Agarwal: Sharing housework, child care andelder care. We know that women have been carryingthe double burden, so no matter how much we talkabout lack of discrimination in the workplace, wemust recognize that if there is an unequal share inhousework, child care and elder care, whatever thelaws might be in the workplace, women begin withan initial disadvantage. And over time I think thatthis is the responsibility of governments, of employ-ers and of communities, and not just an issue ofindividual families. We need to devise ways in whichcommunities can provide for child care and elder careand that the burden just does not fall solely on thefamilies. There is a lot to be built in the future.

Traditionally we (in India and other developing coun-tries) have had a notion of community; people livetogether, and if there is a crisis in villages and evensmall towns, women provide a network through whichfamilies can survive and cope. But a lot of thosenetworks are breaking down with the notion of nuclearfamilies, migration, and inevitably that is the direc-tion in which communities and families will go. Sowe need to rethink different ways of reconstitutingthe community support structures on a more formal-ized basis.

Those two elements are essential in my view to bringabout gender equality, but they are often left out ofagendas.

WoW: What can the ILO do in this context?

Bina Agarwal: If one would really broaden the notionof one’s understanding of what is necessary to pro-mote decent work, then the ILO and other internationalbodies should work together. There are many inter-national bodies which have been very concernedabout issues of land rights. The Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) for example, in agrarian reforms.The mandate should not be what one particularinternational organization can do, but to what extentit can work in tandem with other institutions to promotea larger vision of decent work and gender equality.Let us unpackage the informal sector and recognizethat very large numbers of women are still dependenton agriculture. It’s not just micro enterprises or urbanenterprises that we are talking about. We should gomuch further.I also feel that a lot of issues get submerged whena phrase keeps getting repeated like “women’s accessto productive resources”, and becomes one sen-tence amongst 50 other sentences, whereas in factit is absolutely key. And what resources are we talkingabout? We are not just talking about a bit of credit.Often it has remained only at that. We must talk aboutthe central distribution of property and resources.It could be land, it could be shares in companies,and financial assets on a much larger scale as well.Our focus should be concentrated on this issue.

WoW: What is your position on maternity leave?

Bina Agarwal: The organizations talk of equality interms of parental leave, paternity and maternity leave.But it should not stop at that. Because these issuesare only valid or become relevant when you areworking in a context where leave is an issue. Hereyou are working in a completely informal contextwhere you don’t even have a formal employer becauseyou are working on the family farm. But you are verymuch workers. You have a claim to the resourceon which you are working which is the land or theasset. That is very important.

*Professor of Economics, Institute of Economic Growth, Universityof Delhi, India, was one of the ILO’s guest speakers at the Symposium.She has written extensively. She wrote an article in Vol. 120 (1981),No. 1 of the ILO’s International Labour Review (ILR):“Agriculturalmechanization and labour use: A disaggregated approach.” She iscurrently also an independent advisor to the ILR.

World of Work talks to Bina Agarwal*

ILO/Didier Bregnard


Women all over the world are workinglong and hard for survival wages. “Thechallenge for us”, she noted, “is howto help them make these extraordinaryefforts remunerative. This means that,using the ILO’s definition, we have toprovide women with productive workin which their rights are protected.”

Bina Agarwal, Professor of Economicsat the University of Delhi:

“Command over property implies notonly rights in law, but also effective rightsin practice,” says Ms. Agarwal, who hashad a long-standing formal associationwith the ILO, publishing her earliest

piece on women and technologicalchange in 1981 (See footnote in box).She focused on two aspects of genderinequality which centrally affect mil-lions of women as workers, but she saidhad failed to receive the attention theydeserve: the gender gap in commandover property and productive assets,and gender-biased social perceptionsand social norms. According to Ms.Agarwal, inequality in command overproperty is the single most importantform of persistent economic inequalitybetween women and men. This impingescentrally on their status both as workers,and as social and political actors. Al-though difficult to quantify, she said,

social perceptions and social norms enteralmost every sphere of activity. Theycan affect economic outcomes for womenin virtually every area, be it propertyrights, employment, or household al-locations. In the labour market, gender,like race, often defines perceptions aboutabilities, and can lead to discrimina-tory hiring and pay practices. Women’scontributions are often undervaluedbecause many do home-based unpaidwork which is less visible in physicaland monetary terms than wage workoutside the home. Men are seen as theprimary breadwinners, and women atbest as helpers (See box for interview).

ILO crisis strategy forEast Timor

GB277: East Timor post-crisis update

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ENEVA–When they went tothe polls in the UN super-vised referendum on thefuture status of East Timor,

nearly 80 per cent of the area’s eligiblevoters voted for independence. Today,over 80 per cent of its working-agepopulation is unemployed.

In the wave of violence which fol-lowed the announcement of the resultsof the referendum on 4 September 1999,more than 75 per cent of the entire popu-lation was displaced and more than 70per cent of all private dwellings, publicbuildings and utilities were destroyed.

Unemployment is contributing to grow-ing social unrest. Personal savings, wherethese might have existed, are quicklydisappearing. Compounding the problem,the exodus of Indonesian professionalsand technical staff dramatically cut intothe capacity to manage administrativeservices such as schools, training facili-ties and employment centres.

“The impoverished population may wellneed to consume their remaining assets,”says a project document, referring, amongother scarce goods, to the seeds requiredfor the next planting season.

In light of this devastation, the Inter-national Labour Office (ILO) has pre-pared a comprehensive plan for recon-struction, employment and skills trainingin East Timor. The proposed plan of

consolidated. But he warned that peaceand stability might not be sustainablewithout creating jobs. He urged donorcountries to “honour their commitmentsand fulfill peoples’ expectations,” em-phasizing that the projects outlined bythe ILO were “extremely important” andshould start immediately, with links toother humanitarian programmes,

Assistance package

Assistance foreseen includes emer-gency employment in labour-intensivereconstruction schemes, the rehabilita-tion of public utilities, the promotion ofsmall and microenterprises and microcredit,the rehabilitation and development ofvocational education and training, andthe establishment of employment regis-tration and services. Complementary ini-tiatives relating to labour administration,labour law and industrial relations arealso outlined in the plan.

The cost of the total package of as-sistance programmes, to be implementedover a period of 3 years, is estimated atsome US$22.7 million. The ILO pro-posal integrates social concerns with theeconomic assistance programmes beingdeveloped by international financialinstitutions.

In a first, quick-impact phase, 2,000unemployed unskilled workers would

● Assistance in the rehabilitation of publicutilities and essential public services● Training and microenterprise devel-opment (8,000 beneficiaries)● Establishment of Local EconomicDevelopment Agencies at the Districtlevel to channel credit to small andmicroenterprises● Establishment of Employment Regis-tration and Services Centres in Dili andother designated towns● Rehabilitation of the Becora Tech-nical School in Dili and development ofvocational education and training facili-ties throughout the territory.

Donor supporturgently needed

The project proposals were preparedby the ILO InFocus Programme on CrisisResponse and Reconstruction, set up bythe Office in October 1999, as a meansof building up its crisis preparednessand response capacity. The Programmeis designed to address employment andother socio-economic challenges in post-crisis situations and, in so doing, topromote reintegration and reconcilia-tion in the affected communities.

“Because the ILO is not a donor agency,the rapidity and effectiveness of theProgramme’s response depends on donorsupport based on the recognition of the

Ramos Horta: No peace andstability without jobs...

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assistance was presented to the Govern-ing Body, meeting in the presence ofMr. José Ramos-Horta, East-Timoresepolitical leader and co-laureate of theNobel Peace prize in 1996.

Mr. Ramos-Horta came to the Gov-erning Body meeting to share his firsthand experience with the GB Committeeon Employment and Social Policy. In hisremarks, he said conditions on the groundin East Timor were currently favourablebecause peace and security had been

be provided with short-term employ-ment and on-the-job training in com-munity-identified priority reconstruc-tion projects throughout the heavilydamaged territory.

The ILO programme, which is to becarried out through the ILO RegionalOffice for Asia and the Pacific, in fullcooperation with the United NationsTransitional Authority in East Timor(UNTAET), would, among other meas-ures, provide for:

fundamental relationship between hu-manitarian objectives and social andeconomic recovery and development,”says the Programme Director, EugeniaDate-Bah.

Over the past year, the ILO has alsoparticipated in international efforts toprovide urgent assistance in the wake ofnatural disasters or in post-conflict situ-ations in Kosovo, the Democratic Re-public of the Congo, the Philippines, SierraLeone, Turkey and India (Orissa).


GENEVA – ILO Director-General Juan Somaviaspoke to important inter-national meetings earlierthis year in New Delhi,Washington, Bangkok andDurban on the concept ofdecent work in the globaleconomy. Below areexcerpts from his state-ments (full texts are avail-able on the ILO website athttp://www.ilo.org/public/english/bureau/inf/speech-es/index.htm “Director-General’s speeches”).

“Decent Work in the Global Economy”,address to parliamentarians, representa-tives of workers and employers, andleading Indian academics, New Delhi,18 February 2000

“Global competition often leads to joblosses. At the same time, the compen-sating mechanisms of the market, workingthrough the creation of new jobs, haveoften been weaker and slower thananticipated. In many countries withoutadequate systems of social protection,the social pain has been particularly acute.Global structural adjustment creates losersas well as winners, and this dynamiccreates reactions that some perceive asprotectionist. We cannot ignore thesethreats. How should we proceed?

“This is a complex and sensitive area.There are diverging views, which weredramatically highlighted at the SeattleMinisterial Conference of the WTO. Those

controversies have been so sharp, andtheir fallout so intense, that they havetended to obscure what is being doneon the ground. The concern in somequarters with the relationship betweenlabour conditions and trade is real andcannot be wished away.

“But I regret that this debate has causedthe ILO to be viewed by public opinionsolely in terms of labour standards andtrade. In fact, the ILO is very much morethan that. As I have indicated, it is abouta decent-work agenda, which includesthe promotion of fundamental humanrights at work.”

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“Decent Work for All in a GlobalEconomy”, address to the staff of the

World Bank, Washington, 2 March 2000

“Reducing inequality, improvingsocio-economic security, strengthen-ing basic rights and democratic gov-ernance, and developing sound insti-tutions, are necessary for the efficientfunctioning of markets. They can allbe made mutually supportive. As such,in terms of policy outcomes, the wholewill be greater than the sum of its parts.This will also be because an integratedapproach will allow for greater policycoherence. This will reduce the riskthat policy in one sector undermines,rather than supports, the attainment ofobjectives in another.

“The ILO’s concept of ‘decent work’can contribute to such an integratedapproach to policy, covering a large

A decent-work agendaDirector-General delivers key policy statements in

New Delhi, Washington, Bangkok and Durban:Excerpts from four speeches

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and strategic part of the overall devel-opment agenda. It can serve as a usefulcompanion to the comprehensive de-velopment framework being developedby the Bank. It is well-suited for thisbecause it spans a whole spectrum ofvariables that have to be taken intoaccount in an integrated approach todevelopment.

“We all have much to contribute toovercoming the limits of sectoral analy-sis in the face of manifestly intercon-nected problems. But we do not haveall the answers by any means. We haveto be part of a drive to improve theperformance of our often disconnectedmultilateral system. This is a major in-stitutional challenge. It is also an intel-lectual challenge. How many experts dowe have in the interconnections betweenfinancial, trade, technology, environment,gender, education, health, employmentand human rights policies? Very few.

“In my view the way forward is to startjointly analysing the impact of all these,and other policy areas, on people. It willrequire strong technical underpinning inorder to develop people-centred indica-tors – much more disaggregated data anda conceptual leap in the way we under-stand and use statistics. We have to learnhow to build more integrated solutionsby actually trying to do it. I think theBank and the ILO, with different man-dates, perspectives and skills could makea start by working on how to integratethe agendas of poverty reduction anddecent work.”

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Presentation to UNCTAD X, Bangkok,15 February 2000

“It was the Social Summit in Copen-hagen in 1995, which first spelled outthe social floor to the global economy.It identified seven ILO Conventionsconcerned with basic rights in four areas:freedom of association, forced labour,discrimination, and child labour, and up-graded their political status.

“It thereby established the realizationof this social floor as a common objectiveof the world community. This wasfollowed by the ILO Declaration onFundamental Principles and Rights at

Work, adopted in 1998, intended tofurther the same goals.

“This Declaration is an instrument fordevelopment, based on promotion andpartnership in putting rights into effectin all countries, regardless of whetherthey have ratified the relevant Conven-tions. It provides for the regular moni-toring of progress. It is explicitly statedthat the Declaration may not be used forprotectionist purposes. It is important tonote that its potential beneficiaries arenot only workers in the formal sector.

“Freedom of association is also a sinequa non for giving voice to the poor andexcluded, through the formation of rep-resentative organizations to defend andadvance their interests.

“The ILO is doing many things toimplement these basic principles. It isworking with countries to help spreadgood practices, and working with busi-ness to make social policy more produc-tive. Eliminating child labour, startingwith its worst forms, is also an importantpart of the development agenda. The ILO’sinternational programme on child labourshows how interventions to end childlabour are often best implemented as partof a developmental package, whichincreases income opportunities for par-ents, supports production methods whichdo not rely on children, and increasesaccess to education and training.

At UNCTAD X, Bangkok

“A global campaign is being mountedto eliminate the worst forms of childlabour, following up the ILO’s newConvention on this issue. These and otherprojects are practical steps towardsimplementing the social floor to the globaleconomy.”

* * *

Address to 17th World Congress of theICFTU, Durban, South Africa, 4 April2000

“Globalization as we know it todaywill not survive unless its benefits reachmore people. It has yet to pass the testof social legitimacy. It is not workingfor billions of people. We cannot con-tinue down the track of increasinglyderegulated national economies towarda growing unregulated global economy.

“We hear a lot that globalization cannotbe changed and is inevitable. I believethat some of its components – the revol-ution in information technology is onlyin its infancy and is here to stay. Butwe have to expose as a lie the idea thatall we can do is adapt to globalization.It simply is not true. Policies have alsoshaped globalization and they can bechanged. If the current model of globaliz-ation does not change it will not survive.

“Our joint task is to shape the processso that the power and potential of theglobal market, the knowledge economyand the network society reaches everynation, every village, every household.

“In the ILO, we believe that the basictest of the global economy will be itscapacity to deliver decent work for all.That is my litmus test for globalization.If it can be organized to deliver for people,it will have proved its worth.

“We have made a start by winning supportfor the decent-work agenda. This is notan intellectual idea, a mere concept, ora notion. It is the most deeply felt aspirationof people in all societies, developed anddeveloping. It’s the way ordinary womenand men express their needs and judgean important part of the quality of theirlives.”

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ndia has made significanteconomic progress since itsindependence. In recentyears, policies of economic

liberalization have resulted in a GNPgrowth of over 5 per cent per annum andrevived domestic foreign investment.However, some areas, particularly on thehuman resource development front, needto be addressed to ensure sustainabilityof this economic process. These includesocial sector issues such as literacy, accessto health facilities and sanitation, andthe nutritional status of the population.One important area in this regard is thatof child labour.

The nature and magnitude of childlabour in India is complex and gigantic.Millions of children are working in alarge number of different industries andoccupations all over the country. Esti-mates range from 11.28 million as perthe 1990-91 census, to 17.2 millionaccording to the National Sample Sur-vey Organization. Unofficial assessmentsmade by NGOs and researchers put thefigures at between 44 and 110 million.About 90 per cent of these children workin rural areas, with an estimated 2 millionworking in hazardous industries. Muchof the work, such as domestic and familyagriculture, goes unrecognized and oftencontravenes children’s rights. Other workis secret and unseen, involving childtrafficking and prostitution.

During a recent trip to India, ILODirector-General, Juan Somavia, visited

the Jigyansu Tribal Research Centre inDelhi’s Seemapuri district, popularlycalled the ragpickers colony. ILO/IPEChas been assisting this project since 1996to help move the child ragpickers fromthe workplace to non-formal education,which will eventually lead them to localprimary schools. These children, mostlyin the age group of 6 to 14, are initiatedinto work at a very early age. They are

Child labour: Backgrounder on India

From ragpicking to reading:Indian children trade hazardous work

for the three “R’s”India was the first country to join the ILO International Programme on the Eliminationof Child Labour (IPEC). Since 1992, IPEC in India has forged a series of partnershipswith employers’ and workers’ organizations, NGOs, and other institutions, againstchild labour. The ILO and the Government of India have just signed a Memorandum ofUnderstanding, extending IPEC’s mandate in the country for a further two years. ILO’sKiran Mehra-Kerpelman reports on the evolution of this flagship ILO project.

either school dropouts or have neverbeen to school. Most suffer from physi-cal ailments, particularly skin diseasesand swelling of the ankles and feet becauseof exposure to refuse and filth through-out the day. Due to the nature of theirfamily circumstances, some of them alsoget involved in petty crime, drug traf-ficking, gambling, drinking, etc.

“Under the project, the girls and boys

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are weaned away from the unhealthyoccupation of ragpicking, and we pro-vide them with classroom teaching, amid-day meal, uniforms, games and craftinstructions, health checkups and medi-cines for common ailments”, says NeetiMahanti, Secretary-General and Direc-tor of the Centre, and the driving forcebehind this project. “We also help themothers to gain employable and income-generating skills and follow throughwith courses on marketing, and helpthem get short-term credit to start small

cutting, gem polishing, slate, match andfireworks, cotton and textile industries.

Over 100 NGOs have been associatedwith the implementation of IPEC pro-grammes. The major central trade unionorganizations in the country, as well asemployers’ organizations, have collab-orated with IPEC in various projects andprogrammes, mobilizing workers andemployers against child labour.

At the signing of the renewed Memo-randum of Understanding between theILO and the Government, Mr. Somavia

businesses and become self-employed.”In its first years in India, IPEC devised

a variety of ways to combat child labour.An important approach involved pro-viding non-formal education leading upto enrollment in regular formal schools.Largely implemented by NGOs, about100,000 children working in hazardousoccupations were rehabilitated undervarious education initiatives. Many moreworking children have indirectly ben-efited from the programme, especiallyin the glass, carpet weaving, diamond

Dr. L. Mishra, Secretary(Labour), Government ofIndia, talks to the Worldof Work.

World of Work: India was the firstcountry to join IPEC, back in 1992and a pioneer in the fight againstchild labour. How would you qualifyprogress in the elimination of childlabour in the world’s largest democ-racy?

Dr. Mishra:We have had anational policyon child laboursince August1987.We havea national Pro-gramme of Ac-tion through

National Child Labour Projects (NCLP)since 1988. As of now, we are imple-menting 91 NCLPs through which 8.9lakh (890,000) children have been re-leased from work and are being reha-bilitated through education, nutritionand skills training. The magnitude ofthe problem of child labour in Indiais very large (11.28 million childrenworking, according to the 1991 cen-sus). Funds earmarked under IPEC cansupplement and complement the Na-tional Programme of Action throughNCLPs. As a matter of fact over 1 lakh(100,000) children have benefitedthrough 160 IPEC projects so far.

WoW: Since one of the main causesof child labour is poverty, do you feel

that the action of the Government andIPEC, together with their partners, hasbeen able to attack this problem suf-ficiently to enable children to stop workingand move towards education?

Dr. Mishra: Child labour breeds pov-erty; poverty breeds child labour. A childdestroyed at a tender age cannot growup to be a productive member of civilsociety. IPEC is not directed towardseradication of parental poverty but to-wards release of children from work, andtheir rehabilitation through education,nutrition and skills training. There areoften special programmes of the Gov-ernment directed towards eradication ofparental poverty, parental unemploymentand underemployment. Since over 300million people in India are below thepoverty line, poverty cannot be eradi-cated overnight. It is a gradual, sequen-tial progressive effort. Our policy andapproach has been multi-pronged; i.e.,attack parental poverty, unemploymentand underemployment with child laboursimultaneously, through integrated plansand programmes.

WoW: During the ILO Director-Gen-eral’s recent visit to India, it was mentionedthat India would soon be ratifying ILOConvention No. 182. What, in yourview, would be the most effective stepsto take to combat the worst forms ofchild labour in India?

Dr. Mishra: We have completed theprocess of tripartite interministerial con-sultations. We are hopeful that we shouldbe able to obtain the approval of com-petent authorities on ratification of ILO

Convention No. 182 very soon. Thebest way to combat the worst formsof child labour would be the sensitizationof employers and parents. For that,we require massive mobilization ef-forts from school age onwards and weneed to create a social climate wherechild labour would be perceived asan evil. Moreover, stringent and rig-orous enforcement of legal provisionsis a prerequisite to success in thisendeavour.

WoW: In view of the rapid modern-ization taking place in India on thetechnological front, with India beingamong those at the forefront of thesoftware industry, there is almost an“internal globalization” occurring inthe country, and a surge in the economy.Would this in any way have an impacton child labour, and if so, how?

Dr. Mishra: Child labour as a phe-nomenon is partly related to the unevenand inequitable development in dif-ferent parts of a country on the onehand, and to mindsets; i.e., fads, taboos,diehard obscurantist ideas and prac-tices on the other. To the extent thatmodernization taking place on thetechnological front helps in removingregional disparities and promotes sta-ble and equitable development in allparts of a country, it will help in theelimination of child labour. To theextent that modernization means pro-motion of a rational, secular andscientific temper, it will undoubtedlyhelp to remove mindsets which areresponsible for the creation and per-petuation of child labour.

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Becoming “partnersin knowledge”

Economic, export and environmental realities requiredthe replacement and upgrading of machines at the Fan-apel paper mill in the Uruguayan town of Juan Lacaze ifit was to stay in business. Along with change came newchallenges – for workers to learn new production skillsand for management to learn new management meth-ods. Mario Trajtenberg explains how a unique collectivebargaining and training agreement has broken newground, helping save jobs and improving output

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announced that the ILO is substan-tially stepping up its child labour budgetfor India in the period 2000-2001. Healso stressed the ILO’s commitment tosupport the efforts of the Governmentand other social partners to effectivelyaddress the issue. The highlight of theIPEC programme in India over the nexttwo years would be a Rs. 11 crore* area-specific approach focusing on the worstforms of child labour in six Districts.An integrated set of 14 strategies de-veloped on the basis of IPEC experiencein the country would be implementedto bring about a sustainable impact againstchild labour.

About 50,000 children employed inthe worst forms of child labour wouldbe rehabilitated and their families pro-vided with supplementary ways ofgenerating income. The ongoing Rs. 18crore** project targeting child labourin Andhra Pradesh would also be com-pleted in the two-year period. IPEC wasnow “shifting away from the fragmentedaction approach to a more comprehen-sive one. We should be able to tell childrenthat they can count on us, the adults,to do everything that is possible to extricatethem from the Worst Forms of ChildLabour.”

IPEC will also be providing leader-ship within the UN system in India onaction against child labour. This wouldfollow the initiative that ILO/IPECrecently took within the UN system inthe country to initiate and articulate acommon position on child labour.

Kiran Mehra-Kerpelman

* Appx. US$ 2.55 million** Appx. US$ 4.18 million

uan Lacaze, Uruguay – Asa cellulose mixture dries anda ribbon of glossy papersnakes through massive

rollers, Aníbal Villanueva’s fingers flyover a computerized terminal.

“We used to access pushbuttons unitby unit and stop the rollers manuallywhen things went wrong,” says Mr. Villa-nueva who, at age 45, has been workingat the Fanapel paper mill here since age18. “Now,” he says, “I do most of thecontrol from here”.

Times have changed since Mr.Villanueva and many of his colleaguesworked in the old-fashioned control house,monitoring the progress of each machinestep-by-step. Today, the specially-de-signed software, using clear shapes andvivid color, gives him real-time infor-mation about each machine, showingexactly how fast the cellulose mixtureis drying and how regularly the resultingpaper ribbon advances through the chain.

In Uruguay, workers and employers joinhands to save jobs and increase profits

The changes in working conditionshave helped Fanapel stay viable, buthave brought new challenges for bothworkers and managers in their wake.

“Before these changes, if a workerdetected flaws on the paper, such as fluff,he was not supposed to react; qualitycontrol was not his concern,“ he says.“Now we have to send back any defectivepieces.” This means that a worker canno longer afford to be passive; he actsboth as a purveyor and as a customer,and has to anticipate complaints by thebuyers.

Still, retraining for a changed jobhasn’t been a smooth process for allworkers, and several had preferred tostay with routine jobs or move else-where.

“Forty-eight tons of paper are nowproduced by an eight-hour shift, whereasin the old days the output was twenty-five,” he said. “We had to adapt to anew workload, to new responsibilities,and to a large increase in the informa-tion we process.”

Small is beautifulThis paper factory, Fanapel, became

the largest employer in the Uruguayantown of Juan Lacaze when the local textilemill closed down seven years ago, causinga loss of 800 jobs. Fanapel employs justunder 500 people, owns its own euca-lyptus forests and is the main producerin the country, selling 63 million US

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dollars’ worth of paper every year.This is not a large amount compared

to the production of neighbouring Ar-gentina and Brazil. However, there aresome advantages to small-scale produc-tion even in a market dominated by giants.A decade ago the firm was advised byFinnish consultants to concentrate on top-quality print paper. As a result, it is nowknown for its coated (glossy) paper, usedfor such things as labels and publicityflyers. The large mills prefer leaving thisitem, needed in relatively small quan-tities, to a smaller producer.

Even so, the local Uruguayan marketcould still use imported paper, which ischeaper, especially now that such im-ports have become duty-free insideMercosur, a four-country customs union.“True, but we hold a further advantage”,says Aníbal Grasso, the human resourcesmanager. “We deliver in 24 hours, andensure product service after we do.”

The radical changes in production whichwere introduced six years ago called forreplacement and upgrading of a numberof machines. These included some thatwere intended to make environmentalcontrol much more stringent – a keyconcern, says Mr. Grasso, since paperproduction used to be the second mostpolluting industry in Uruguay, aftertanneries. It has also succeeded in driv-ing up exports of its own production from30 per cent to 65 per cent.

The significant investment then madeincluded the cost, in time and resources,of personnel retraining. With support fromanalysts in Cinterfor, the ILO trainingclearinghouse in Montevideo, key skillswere identified in several processes suchas provision of inputs, supervision,manufacturing, safety and health. On thatbasis a training programme was devised,and Brazil’s Industrial ApprenticeshipService (SENAI) helped to train instruc-tors. Thanks to this cooperation, the firmnow has an in-plant training tool whichhas been instrumental in raisingproductivity.

A groundbreakingagreement

But the unique character of this train-ing and retraining operation lies in the

fact that it was negotiated betweenFanapel and the industry-wide paperand cellulose workers’ union.

“This is a rare example of collectivebargaining with a strong training com-ponent,” says ILO regional expert OscarErmida.“It contradicts an ingrained re-sistance by the employers, who have aneye on the cost of training. They nowknow that new production and manage-ment methods make personnel retraininginescapable if they are to succeed.

“The second obstacle that has to befaced is that you need an educated labourforce to cope with the new demands.”In Fanapel, says Mr. Grasso, 73 per centof the staff have a secondary educationand this facilitated the changeover.

“And the third problem is that theenterprises have not evaded the generaltrend to cut down long-term contracts,without which a training programme ismeaningless.” The 1995 collective agree-ment does regulate subcontracting tooutside firms, some of which have in factbeen set up by former employees nowworking on their own.

Employment safeguards

The collective agreement signed byFanapel in 1995 sets out to “regulatelabour relations in the framework of ashared vision of the role of thefirm...implying technological change anda new organizational design”. The Fanapelmanagement – in tune with ILO stand-ards – undertook to share with the work-ers information about the economic andfinancial situation of the firm, and aboutits market and investment prospects. Theagreement also created a worker-employercommittee with authority to oversee anylayoffs.

It allows for some jobs and specifictasks to be subcontracted, “when theyare either too highly specialized or requireno specific skills, when they are of atemporary nature or when they are notpart of the central production process”.The agreed procedures include accept-ance of layoffs, of which a minimum(involving 50 jobs) were deemed in-evitable when the new organizationwas introduced.

The agreement acknowledged thattraining of the workers, and their iden-tification with the aims of the firm, werevital to the shaping of the flexible jobsrequired by a newly productive andcompetitive factory. Training was to bea free choice of each worker, but theircareer would depend on performance andalso on the theoretical and practicalknowledge acquired.

Another original feature of this com-pact is the new salary scheme described.For each job a basic salary is fixed, basedon the level and complexity of the tasksinvolved. A further element of “variablepay” is determined by the overall per-formance of the enterprise, taking ac-count of its financial situation andcompetitiveness.

How theworkers see it

Asked about the strength of the unionand how it reacted to the collectiveagreement, union secretary Omar Díazsays “90 per cent of our workers on dailypay are unionized, and 20 per cent ofthe white-collar staff. We feel supportedin our policy of staff-management re-lations. Nearly all members of our unioncommittee have shared a common listand have been re-elected during the past16 years”, i.e., including the period whenthe plant was overhauled, the job struc-ture was changed and the new salaryscheme was adopted.

From the union’s point of view, hesaid, it was clear that when productionprocesses were stood on their head, anda strong need for training was created,new issues became negotiable.

“As for the motivation of the manage-ment”, he added, “my own feeling is thatsuch an extensive change involvingtechnology and quality control could nothave taken place without cooperationbetween the two sides. It also becameclear that, for the firm to remain com-petitive, costs had to be lowered andsupervisory methods changed. The pro-duction line was needed as a partner inknowledge.”

(Photos: Mario Trajtenberg)

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AR-ES-SALAAM, Tanzania– Like many of the world’surban centers, the Tanzaniancapital has been a magnet

for rural residents seeking better oppor-tunities. This migration has spawned prob-lems, ranging from unplanned housingto critically low water supplies.

It has also generated unemployment,pushing many unskilled young men intooccupations traditionally held by women.It was such competition in food process-ing that led Ms. Msosa and her sistermembers of the Kisutu Women Devel-

Work from wasteSweeping change among women workers?In Dar, it’s more than just simple rubbish

“We had nothing. We used to cook some bites (food snacks) but you can’t makemoney out of that.” That, explained Mwanaidi Msosa, was why she and 20 of herneighbours in Dar-es-Salaam took up trash collecting. Journalist Elaine Eliahreports how women workers are cleaning up their city, and breaking new groundin small-scale private sector employment

Dopment Trust (KIWODET) to seek fi-nancial returns in some other form ofwork.

Trash collecting? Not exactly whatmany consider women’s work.

“If men can do it why not us?”, shesays. “Why not we women?”

In fact, in1995, the City’s workers col-lected only about 5 per cent of Dar-es-Salaams’s solid waste. That started chang-ing in 1998 when groups like KIWODET’stwenty unstoppable home-based workerspicked up their brooms and took to thestreets.

In a short while, they built a reputationfor getting an unpleasant job done – andgetting it done well. When their resourcepool grew, they purchased trash-sizedplastic bags and presented them to Kisutuneighbours – along with the option ofhaving filled bags removed and dumpedfor 200 shillings each.

Six months later, when the Dar-es-Sa-laam City Commission (DCC) privatizedurban trash collection and street clean-ing, KIWODET was ready. It tenderedwith other contractors and organizationsto operate in their neighbourhood, known

Trash collecting? “If men can do it why not us? Why not we women?”

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locally as a mtaa. Successful bidders re-ceived permits to collect not only trashin designated areas, but also receive directfee payments based on DCC-set rates.

Private companies tendered and gen-erally won contracts to clean the innercity and other key areas they had pre-viously received city funds to clean. ButKisutu mtaa had never had regular trashremoval service. Residents used to buryor burn their garbage.Not only did thecity’s new law against burning catch themby surprise, the idea of paying moneyfor trash removal sparked even greaterprotest.

“People’s thinking about paying fortrash pickup had to be changed,” saysAlodia Ishengoma, coordinator of the ILOSolid Waste Management Project (SWMP).She helped Community-Based Organi-zations (CBOs), many of them informalneighbourhood groups, to make their bids.Once licensed, these groups received groupmanagement and simple business man-agement training from collaboratinginstitutions. Alodia then suggested waysfor awareness raising campaigns in thedesignated neighbourhoods. Many of thebid winners were assisted to purchasewheelbarrows, two-wheeled carts and pro-tective gear.

Today, private enterprises and CBOsare collecting about 35 per cent of Dar-es-Salaam’s solid waste. And it shows.The city is cleaner, while an estimated1,000 new jobs have been created. Morethan half of these are for women, andmany unemployed youth – over 16 yearsold – now earn a small income.

Recycling opportunitiesBut for larger companies and CBOs

alike, direct fee collection remains aproblem. Moreover, CBOs don’t havethe trucks to transfer the heaps of wasteto the dump site, or valuable recyclablesto buyers. Though DCC said it wouldtry to make municipal trucks availablefor smaller groups, the help has declinedand CBOs are forced to hire vehicleswhen needed. It clearly dents their profits.Recycling has, therefore, become anattractive side-business.

“There are five main recyclables,”explained Godfrey Mwendwa who workson the recycling side of the SWMP project.“Paper, plastic, metal, glass, and or-ganic materials.” But lack of water makes

Informal sector or informal economy?

The informal sector is today nolonger considered a marginal andtransitional phenomenon confined todeveloping countries. It is now rec-ognized as the major creator of jobs,a safety net in times of economiccrisis, a place for creative entrepren-eurship, and certainly, no longer onlya Third World phenomenon. In mostdeveloping and transition economies,the vast majority of jobs and income-earning opportunities are in what isnow dubbed the “informal economy”,and are increasingly recognized asbeing an integral part of the overalleconomy. The fact remains however,that most such work is carried outundr harsh conditions and at asubsistence level.

The SEED Programme is takingseveral new initiatives to meet thechallenges constituents face in cre-ating an enabling environment forincreasing decent work in the infor-mal economy. Studies identify newtrends and developments, providinga basis for pilot demonstration projectsand policy initiatives at the local,institutional and national levels.Support for public/private partner-ships include a “basket of tools”comprised of guidelines, trainingmodules and case studies of goodpractices for use by local govern-ment officials who are at the fore-front of interaction with entrepreneursand microenterprises in the urbaninformal economy.

The social impact of globalizationis another theme in which SEEDmonitors trends and assesses theirimplication for work in the informaleconomy. Support for the organiz-ation of workers, particularly wom-en, is a key strategy to enhance thevisibility of informal sector workers,promote their leadership capacities,ensure their representation and voice,and provide an alternative institu-tional framework for delivery ofservices, including savings and credit,health and child care. Finally, pro-posals are under consideration tohold a General Discussion and/or aGlobal Event on the informal sectorin the year 2002 to coincide with the30th anniversary of the seminal ILOemployment mission to Kenya in whichthe significance of the informal sectorto labour and employment policy wasfirst highlighted.

Within the decent work paradigm,the informal economy presents per-haps one of the biggest challenges

to the ILO because it cuts across allof the major areas of the ILO’s workand requires close collaboratiowitha wide range of social partners.

Home work in the global economy

Home work is an old and flexibleform of work which is acquiring newimpetus as a result of technologicalprogress, economic restructuring andchanges in the organization of pro-duction and work. Homeworkers areusually placed at the end of chainsof enterprises of differing sizes anddegrees of formality/informality whichoperate within and across nationalboundaries. Traditionally associatedwith low-productivity and labour-intensive activities, homeworkingtoday is emerging also in cutting-edge sectors, and absorbing highlyqualified manpower.

Data on the extent and character-istics of home work are scanty andunreliable, often being “invisible” innational employment and labourstatistics, and difficult to distinguishfrom self-employment, because theyare often combined. Labour law hasbeen ambiguous about homework-er’s rights and enforcement weak.Gender seems to be a key determi-nant of the quality of jobs associ-ated with this form of work, withwomen being concentrated in anarrower range of occupations thanmen, and which are characterized bylower productivity, lower and moreirregular pay, lack of social insur-ance benefits and higher instability.

Research and technical cooperationprojects in several Asian countriesand, more recently, in Latin Americahave contributed to a better under-standing of homeworking and thegendered socio-economic process-es in which it finds its origins. ILOConvention No. 177 and Rec-ommendation No. 184 concerninghome workreflect these efforts.

The SEED Programme aims to raisethe understanding of how globaliz-ation and subcontracting chains affectthe magnitude, trends and charac-teristics of homeworking. Operation-ally and in partnership with the ILOBureau for Workers’ Activities, SEEDassists homeworkers to overcometheir isolation by promoting their or-ganization into representative asso-ciations at the grassroots level andencouraging networking with sup-port institutions at the national andglobal levels.


ANILA – For eleven yearsuntil 1996, footwear producerEmmalyn Arevalo workedfrom sun-up to sundown to

run her home-based shop, known as “ArdaShoes”, in Laguna province south ofManila.

Emmalyn is among millions of entre-preneurs locally known as “negosyante”inthe Philippines, where micro and smallbusinesses have been a reliable engine

of growth for several decades, and arein fact the backbone of the country’seconomy, constituting about 85 per centof all Filipino businesses.

Steeped in an age-old family tradition,Emmalyn ran her small shop with thehelp of family members. And during peakseason, they hired additional workers tocope with the volume of orders.

Yet, despite the family’s collectiveefforts, their business was practically at

“A major businessbreakthrough”

Manila: Helping the “negosyante”build up business

Emmalyn Arevalo’s home-based shoe-making shop strug-gled along for years as a typical family-run business. Then,an ILO training project called “Improve Your Work Environ-ment and Business” showed her how improving workingconditions could increase productivity and competitive-ness. Today, her “Arda Shoes” is a big success. JournalistIsabelo A. Samonte explains why.

The ILO training for entrepreneurs package, called “Improve Your Work En-vironment and Business” has made Emmalyn one of the more successful entre-preneurs in the area.

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it difficult to wash plastics well enoughfor buyers to accept them, and frustratescomposting of the many waste vege-tables and fruits – a profitable smallbusiness venue during wetter seasons.

Better services andmore jobs

To encourage networking and infor-mation exchange among the new busi-nesses, the SWMP project also helpedestablish the Tanzania Environment andWaste Management Association (TEWA).With 50 members among the seventylicensed contractors in Dar-es-Salaam,TEWA intends to become a voice fortheir interests and help them to get technicaland financial assistance.

After a brief one-year history, Dar-es-Salaam has demonstrated that the small-scale private sector can provide wastecollection services far more efficientlythan the cash-strapped city itself could.And they now also reach the poor.Following the success with solid wastecollection, other community services suchas water distribution, parking fee col-lection, and market maintenance may wellbe services better offered by smallenterprises – provided that local Gov-ernments let them do it, for a fee. Thevery formation of such businesses willexpand the private sector and create moresustainable employment.

Though KIWODET eagerly contrac-ted for another three years, it is hard toignore the recyclable heaps piling higheraround Ms. Msosa’s home. The womenhope that not only recycling opportu-nities, but also local water supplies willimprove. CBOs wonder whether DCC orothers might assist them with vehiclesor by leasing trucks from larger com-panies to collect in smaller neighbour-hoods. Organizations also hope the cityof Dar-es-Salaam will work harder toeducate people to pay for their trashcollection.

“It is for them, too, to make them freefrom the health hazards,” explained Ms.Msosa. Her group continues to work hard.“When they see that you are taking thewaste they get shy for not paying.”

– Elaine Eliah

Elaine Eliah is a freelance journalist based in Uganda.

ILO

/SE

ED

I N F O C U S P R O G R A M M E

J O B C R E A T I O N A N D E N T E R P R I S E D E V E L O P M E N T D E P A R T M E N T

illions of people worldwideare urgently looking for

decent work as the doorwayleading out of poverty. For mostof them that door is firmly lockedbecause permanent jobs inestablished enterprises withaccess to social protection serv-ices, decent working conditionsand a pay check able to sustain afamily remain out of reach.

The mission of the ILO’s newInFocus Programme on BoostingEmployment through SmallEnterprisE Development (SEED)is to help governments, socialpartners and communitiesunlock the potential for creatingmore and better jobs in the smallenterprise sector. This is its con-tribution to ILO efforts to meetthe employment challenge.

The small enterprise sectorencompasses micro, small andmedium-sized enterprises aswell as cooperatives, homework-ers and other self-employed per-sons. It includes formal andinformal enterprises, whetherproducing independently oroperating as the smallest units inglobal production chains. Com-mon to all these activities is thenotion of entrepreneurship - peo-ple undertaking business activi-ties in order to make a betterliving for themselves.

SEED’s strategies to boostemployment through small enter-prise development target both

individuals and the economicenvironment in which they live:• Assisting governments toimprove their policy and regula-tory framework for small enter-prise development;• Developing innovative methodsto improve competitiveness andworking conditions in smallenterprises and help them enternew markets;• Training people in how to suc-cessfully start a business andmake it grow.

The SEED programme waslaunched in January 2000 to cap-italize on the ILO’s work in sup-porting micro and smallenterprise development over thepast thirty years. This wealth ofexperience was recognized bythe ILO’s International LabourConference in adopting Recom-mendation 189 on Job Creation inSmall and Medium-sized Enter-prises (1998). It offers a vision ofa vibrant, job-creating, poverty-fighting small enterprise sector.

SEED’s themes for research andtool development reflect funda-mental ILO concerns and values,as embodied in R-189 in the areaof small enterprise development:• Improving job quality; • Increasing economic opportu-nities for women;• Promoting representativeassociations of enterprises andworkers in the sector; and• Upgrading employment forworkers in the informal sector.

Throughout its work, SEED seeksto derive best practices, build astrong knowledge base on thelinkages between small enter-prise development and employ-ment, and put this knowledge towork through policy guidance,technical assistance, and inter-national advocacy. The touch-stones in promoting proven toolsand developing new approachesare their potential scale ofimpact, ease of implementation,relevance to constituents’needs, cost-effectiveness, andsustainability beyond ILO inter-ventions.

In building a programme that canmake a substantial contributionto decent work for women andmen, SEED is committed to fol-lowing a step by step approach:Step 1: Identify general princi-ples of effective development ofsmall enterprises, and promoteeffective practices to adapt themto specific country circum-stances.Step 2: Assess the impact of itsefforts on job creation and jobquality.Step 3: Boost the scale of tech-nical cooperation and other serv-ices which SEED is confidentwork well.Step 4: Develop and test newtechnical and advisory servicesthat build on the ILO’s long expe-rience in small enterprise devel-opment, international networks,critical examination, and newresearch findings.

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S E E D S T R A T E G I E S

Job Quality

Informal Sector

Market Opportunit

Policies, institutions and regulations shouldprovide a welcoming environment for smallentrepreneurs. But many do not. Armedwith an international research programme tocompare employment performance in thesmall enterprise sector, SEED develops newpolicy tools and tests them in a wide varietyof national circumstances and conditions.Through country-level action programmes,SEED works with national stakeholders toassess their policy environment and tostrengthen national and local capacity todesign, implement, and evaluate policy reform.For instance, as part of the ILO response tothe Asian financial crisis, an ILO-led reviewof the support needs for job creation in microand small enterprises created momentum fora new policy regime in Thailand.

Small enterprises survive and grow only ifthey can sell their products and services.Entrepreneurs’ marketing ability, and thedemand for their goods and services are cri-tical aspects of small enterprise promotionprogrammes. SEED research shows how toselect industry sectors which offer the grea-test potential for small enterprises and howto include small enterprise development innational strategies to develop specific indus-tries. New training services are offered inidentifying and exploiting new markets - forexample, turning privatization schemes intonew business opportunities for smallerenterprises. In Tanzania, one ILO program-me has seen hundreds of jobs created inlocal businesses that collect and recyclegarbage in urban fringe areas not served bylarger waste management services.

To small business owners and managers,globalization means rapid change andincreased competition. To encourage com-petitiveness, business growth and employ-ment creation, SEED assists partners inbuilding national and local capacity in cost-effective and sustainable business devel-

opment services; such as managementtraining, access to finance, information ontechnologies, export and domestic marketaccess, and inter-firm linkages. To date, theILO has introduced the “Start and ImproveYour Business” methodology in more than80 countries, for example to help rebuildwar-torn economies in the Balkans.

Market Opportunities

Policy Environment

AssociationBuilding

Business Development

Policy Environment

S E E D T H E M E S

t ties

Improving the quality of jobs in micro andsmall enterprises is an equally importantconcern of the InFocus Programme. Thechallenge is to ensure that basic ILO valuesand core labour standards can be mademeaningful to these enterprises and becomean integral part of their management prac-tices. SEED is developing practical innova-tive tools which enterprises can use toimprove their competitiveness through betterjob quality, focussing initially on working con-ditions and access to basic measures of

social protection. For example, working withlocal small brassware manufacturers in Asiato improve their working conditions willincrease their productivity and make themmore attractive outsourcing partners forlarger enterprises. SEED compiles case stud-ies to document such linkages as the basisfor technical cooperation programmes andcloser support with other ILO units devoted topromoting labour standards.

In most countries, women and menencounter different barriers in establishingand expanding their businesses. Often reg-ulations and institutions are blind to existinggender inequalities and may inadvertentlyreinforce them. SEED supports govern-ments in creating a gender-balanced legaland regulatory framework for small enter-prises and in ensuring equal access tocredit, training, business networking andother resources important to the success ofwomen and men as small business ownersand operators. It takes into account thespecial concerns of women in all aspects ofits research and technical cooperation, anddevelops support programmes for womenentrepreneurs.

Despite their substantial share in nationaljob creation, small entrepreneurs often donot have adequate channels of representa-tion to voice their concerns and aspirations,and influence policy decisions. They alsooften lack means of networking to poolresources so that they can widen marketopportunities and improve competitiveness.Workers in small and micro-enterprisesalso typically lack conduits of representa-tion. SEED helps small entrepreneurs andtheir workers to increase their representa-tion in employers’ organizations and trade

unions, and helps them build their own dem-ocratic and representative associations.For example, in Mali the ILO assisted inestablishing the National Federation of Arti-sans which now represents 450 sub-associ-ations and 20,000 members and is givingthem a distinctive voice in national affairs.This model is now being replicated in Beninand other countries.

Today the informal sector is growing inindustrialized, transition and developingcountries alike. SEED targets the dynamic,growth-oriented subsectors which have thepotential for large-scale creation of quallityjobs, income growth and improved condi-tions of work. For example, it investigatesthe potential for job growth among smallproviders of information and communica-tion services, as well as how this subsectorcan help spread the benefits of the “knowl-edge economy” more widely. SEED aims toincrease understanding of what nationaland local governments and the social part-ners can do to create an enabling and sup-portive environment for the growth ofdecent work in self-employment and micro-enterprises.

By taking a systematic approach to manag-ing its knowledge of small enterprise devel-opment globally, SEED is able to set logicalpriorities for interventions, develop innova-tive pilot projects, and advise ILO con-stituents and others about the most effectiveways to boost employment through smallenterprise development. It also influencesthe debate in international circles; for exam-ple, it is playing a leading role in developingGuidelines for Business Services for theCommittee of Donor Agencies for SmallEnterprise Development.

Association Building

Job Quality

Informal Sector

Best Practices

Gender Equality

BestPractices

BusinessDevelopment

GenderEquality

For information on ILO activities concerningsmall enterprise development in your area,please contact one of the following multidisci-plinary teams:

Abidjan 01, Côte d’Ivoire01 Boîte postale 3960Tel. +225.21.26.39 - Fax. +225.21.28.80

Addis Ababa, EthiopiaP.O. Box 2532Tel. +251.1.51.03.46 - Fax. +251.1.51.36.33

Bangkok 10200, ThailandP.O. Box 2-349, RajdamnernTel. +66.2.288.12.34 - Fax. +66.2.267.80.43

Beirut, LebanonP.O. Box 11-4088Tel. +96.11.37.15.76 - Fax. +96.11.75.24.06

Budapest 1386, HungaryPf. 936Tel. +36.1.301.49.00 - Fax. +36.1.353.36.83

Cairo, Egypt9, Taha Hussein Street11561 ZamalekTel. +20.2.340.01.23 - Fax. +20.2.341.08.89

Dakar, SénégalBoîte postale 414Tel. +221.822.16.33 - Fax. +221.821.09.56

Harare, ZimbabweP.O. Box 210Tel. +263.4.75.94.38 - Fax. +263.4.75.93.73

Lima 1, PerúApartado Postal 3638Tel. +51.1.215.03.00 - Fax. +51.1.421.52.92

Manila, PhilippinesP.O. Box 7587 ADC/NAIATel. +63.2.815.23.54 - Fax. +63.2.761.11.90

Moscow 103 031, Russian FederationPetrovka 15, Apt. 23Tel. +7.095.925.50.25 - Fax. +7.095.956.36.49

New Delhi - 110 003, IndiaEast Court, 3rd FloorIndia Habitat Centre - Lodi RoadTel. +91.11.460.21.01 - Fax. +91.11.464.79.73

Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and TobagoP.O. Box 1201Tel. +1.868.628.14.53 - Fax. +1.868.628.24.33

San José 1000, Costa RicaApartado postal 10170Tel. +506.253.67.47 - Fax. +506.224.26.78

Santiago, ChileCasilla 19034Correo 19Tel. +56.2.201.27.27 - Fax. +56.2.201.20.31

Yaoundé, CamerounBoîte postale No. 13Tel. +237.21.74.47 - Fax. +237.21.74.46

Abidjan

I N T E R N A T I O N A L L A B O U R O R G A N I Z A T I O N

Addis Ababa

Beirut

Budapest

Cairo

Dakar

HarareLima

ManilaBangkok

Moscow

New DelhiPort-of-SpainSan José

Santiago

Yaoundé

We gratefully acknowledge the substantial contribution from the Dutch Government in launching this programme and for the long-term support from, among others, Sida, Dfid, AUSAID, UNDP, the Governments of Austria, Italy and Switzerland and the Ford Foundation

in implementing national and regional small enterprise development activities.

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For information on SEED, please contact:Phone: + 41 (0)22 7996862 - Fax: + 41 (0)22 7997978

e-mail: [email protected]: International Labour Office, Job Creation and Enterprise Department, IFP/SED,

4, route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland Web page: www.ilo.org/sed


a stand-still. The little earnings theygot were barely enough to meet thefamily’s basic needs.

Training in 1997 by the ILO and thePhilippine Business for Social Progress(PBSP) changed that. The ILO trainingfor entrepreneurs, using the pilot trainingpackage called “Improve your Work En-vironment and Business” (IWEB) hasmade Emmalyn one of the more success-ful entrepreneurs in the area.

Improve your WorkEnvironment and Business

(IWEB)Emmalyn’s example illustrates how

increasing productivity and competitive-ness through improved working conditionshas helped local enterprises which foryears struggled for survival.

“It was a major business breakthrough,”Emmalyn asserts, recalling the difficul-ties that she had encountered before.

After Emmalyn’s training in IWEB,her business began to grow. She gavepriority to the improvement of workingconditions through a number of innova-tions: improved family relations whichbuilt on the family’s mutual trust, co-operation and better human and technicalunderstanding of the business, morevigilance in controlling quality, improve-ments in the working environment,improved shop-floor layout and produc-tion flow, which brought about bettersafety for the workers as well as a cleanerand more effective production and, ef-fective record keeping that monitored theshop’s expenses and sales, resulted inthe manufacture of twenty per centadditional pairs of shoes from the sameamount of material.

Emmalyn’s experience was reportedas a case study and has been cited asa role model among the increasing IWEBclientele.

This new innovative training package,now being further developed by the InFocusProgramme on Small Enterprise Devel-opment (SEED), is based on the conceptthat increasing the productivity of theenterprise by improving the working con-ditions will promote the growth of theenterprise.

An ILO impact-assessment study ofIWEB reported that the improvement ofproductivity, income and working

IWEB has been developed by com-bining strategically two existingILO programmes, namely Im-prove Your Business (IYB) andWork Improvement in Small En-terprises (WISE). The IWEB train-ing package, consisting of anAction Manual and a Trainers’Guide, is intended for very smallmanufacturing shops, particularlyin the garment, woodwork andmetalwork sectors. The packageintegrates the concepts of busi-ness development and workingcondition improvement, previous-ly considered separately, whileadapting them to the specificneeds of the microentrepreneurs,

In the Philippines 31 trainerswere trained to use IWEB and69 microentrepreneurs from thefootwear, garment and metalworkindustries were initially trainedby them.

“An interregional project willbe launched in June 2000, underthe InFocusProgramme on smallenterprise development, to fur-ther develop the IWEB packageas well as other approaches andtools in increasing productivityand job quality in micro and smallenterprises,” says Rie Vejs-Laurs-en, Senior Specialist on JobQuality and Small Enterprise De-velopment. Also, she adds, “wewill extract global best practiceson how to efficiently extend socialprotection to workers, ownersand managers of micro and smallenterprises, as a way to improvejob quality”.

environment are interlinked, and im-provements, in either can be mutuallyreinforcing. The study reported the ex-istence of two problems: poor businesspractices and poor working conditions.It further referred to these as, “the primarycauses of low productivity and profitsamong micro and small enterprises, whichin turn decrease the enterprises’ abilityand willingness to invest in the im-provements in working conditions”.

The lesson learned, as presented in thereport, is that, “there is a need to change

the mind-set of entrepreneurs towardsworkplace organization and cleanlinessto achieve lasting improvements in workingconditions”.

Not necessary to sacrifice profits for quality

During periods of economic down-turn, many enterprises are often temptedto delay improvements in the qualityof working life until better times return,fearing that job quality improvementswill eat up the profits. Now, this situ-ation has changed dramatically becausethe use of IWEB has shown practicaland measurable “bottom-line” resultsto the enterprises. The point, that jobquality improvements can mean “goodbusiness”, has been made, and is morebroadly accepted among the enterprises.

As expressed by the ILO SeniorEnterprise Specialist in Manila, MaxIacono, the answers to the problems ofpoor working conditions in these typesof enterprises can only be found by applyinga multidisciplinary approach appropriatefor the technical complexity of theproblems. He continues, “we must con-tinually strengthen the substance, train-ing methodology, and training deliveryof our packages, such as IWEB”.

Earlier workimprovement programme

The coming of IWEB in the Philip-pines was not sudden. It was born bymerging aspects of WISE (Work Improve-ments in Small Enterprises), developedby the Conditions of Work Branch, withaspects of IYB (Improve Your Busi-ness), developed by the Department ofJob Creation and Enterprise Develop-ment. The use of WISE and IYB haslaid the groundwork for the introduc-tion of the concept of higher produc-tivity and competitiveness through in-creasing safety and health, and im-proved working conditions for microand small enterprises..

The Manila-based MDT known asthe Southeast Asia and the Pacific Multi-disciplinary Team (SEAPAT) takes anactive role in providing technical supportand guidance to the ILO activities pro-moting job quality in small enterprises

IMPROVE YOURWORK

ENVIRONMENT ANDBUSINESS (IWEB)


RISTINA – Can the spiritof enterprise flourish in post-war Kosovo? Evidently yes,even in this difficult period

of reconstruction of its economic andsocial fabric.

Albana, Arton, Vejsel and Fatima haveproven that it is possible. Last month,in Pristina, they took a two-week training

After the war in Kosovo, reconstruction should go hand-in-hand with employment.Easier said than done, but the ILO has immediately taken up the challenge with anenterprise training programme. Journalist Juan Pekmez was present for this“premiere”.

Kosovo goes into “biznes”

in the Region, including IWEB. Jointlywith the representatives of the Depart-ment of Labor, and Employment and otherpartners, the SEAPAT team regularly visitsproject sites to monitor developmentsand suggest areas for improvement.

Implementing theIWEB package

The Philippines’ IWEB country re-port cited ILO collaboration with fourlocal partner organizations, led by theBureau of Rural Workers of the Depart-ment of Labor and Employment. Theyteamed up with private sector entities;namely, the Philippine CEFE NetworkFoundation Inc., the Kahublagan SangPanimalay Foundation, Inc., (KSPFI)and Philippine Business for SocialProgress. It was decided to focus onentrepreneurs in the garment, metal craftsand footwear industries; in particular,because considerable impact in theseindustrial sectors could be expected.

The Bureau of Rural Workers (BRW)programme in Binan, Laguna consistedof granting ten thousand pesos for eachparticipating firm. The grant was intendedfor the improvement of the workplace.Some of the funds were spent on equip-ment, like high-speed sewing machines,

scouring machines, and building physi-cal infrastructure such as factory walls,additional shop floors, toilets and faucets,and improvement of the working envi-ronment, like lighting systems, storageand handling, work stations and manyothers.

ILO consultant Marilou Calzado, said“Improvement of working conditions isthe foundation for the improvement ofproductivity and the quality of products.”In the Philippine context, she added, “itis very difficult for a firm to get thecooperation of workers if you do notshow concern for the workers”.

While the project in Binan, Lagunagave grants through the auspices of theBRW of the Department of Labor andEmployment (DOLE) of 10,000 pesos toeach participating firm channelled througha cooperative, in Iloilo the entrepreneursavailed themselves of loans from the De-velopment Bank of the Philippines (DBP)channelled through KSPFI, the localpartner.

Another example of an IWEB enter-prise is KB Blacksmith (named after thecouple Kona and Bert Trojillo), in a shopof 50 sqm nipa hut in Iloilo which pro-duces scythes and knives. The passingof Bert left Kona a young widow as owner-manager of the enterprise, with fiveworkers, a brother-in-law, a cousin and

three neighbours. She hires up to threeadditional workers during peak sea-sons. She attended the IWEB trainingconducted by KSPFI.

She applied for a 30,000 peso six-monthloan at 2 per cent interest from KSPFI’sMicro Development Finance Programme,using the business plan for improvementsshe prepared during the training course.Kona said, “recordkeeping is my mostimportant learning”. She said, “before,I was not aware of the nature andcomputation of overhead expenses. NowI keep a record of my costs and cashflow and therefore I keep track of howmuch I am earning. I would know howmuch is the cost per unit of making ascythe, and for how much shall I sellit.”

Dealing with hot and sharp metals isextremely dangerous. Improvements inworking conditions were therefore madeto eliminate possible hazards in shaping,sharpening, teeth etching and wood shapingprocesses. Tailor-made tools and workstations were designed and installed. TheKB Blacksmith is now well-ventilatedand lighted with enough working space.

Isabelo A. Samonte is presently a correspondentof the London-based Asian Review of Business andTechnology, a freelance journalist, and a contribu-tor to the World of Work magazine.

course as part of an ILO programme,“Start Your Business” (SYB), financedby Belgium. Fifteen young Kosovars fromhalf a dozen NGOs active in the areaof microcredit, are now at the startingblocks to deliver the SYB message tothe four corners of the Province. Theyare the first group of trainers in the serviceof free enterprise after half a century of

a controlled economy and ten years of“ethnic apartheid”.

Vejsel, his ILO “diploma” in hand,returns to Prizren where his NGO, to-gether with others, is endeavouring torevive the local economy by grantingsmall loans to those persons wishing torelaunch a business swept away by war,or to create a new “biznes”. This word,

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taboo for some time in this enclave ofthe Balkans, symbolizes a dream. It isbecoming a common word in the every-day vocabulary, merging all the energyand hopes of the youth who make upthe large majority of the population –60 per cent are under 30 years of age.Vejsel is confident of the future: “Wewere able to develop democratic struc-tures during the darkest hours of ourrecent history. We will be able to facethe new challenge which awaits us inbuilding the economy of our society.”

At the Headquarters of the UN admin-istration in Pristina, LajosHethy, co-director of theDepartment of Labour andEmployment, is standingin as the interim “Minis-ter”. A former Secretaryof State in the HungarianLabour Ministry, he wasmade available to theKosovo Peace Mission bythe ILO. A close collabo-rator of Bernard Kouchner,Hethy daily faces a thou-sand-and-one postwar prob-lems with pragmatism andlucidity. “The young ageof the population is a big advantage, butis also a time bomb. Today, in Kosovo,we will be judged by our capacity to

rapidly manage vocational training.Without vocational training, job crea-tion is an illusion. Without job crea-tion, social security and pension sys-tems will remain neglected.”

International awarenessgrowing

Fortunately, the international commun-ity is becoming aware of the problem.In the coming months, the ILO will createseveral vocational training centres inKosovo. The US$ 2.1 million project has

been financed by Italy. It’s a beginning.Other projects inaugurated by the ILOon small and medium-sized enterprise

development are looking for sponsors.They are not in any way less timely thanvocational training. “Kosovo is the landof choice for the small and medium-sized enterprise”, adds Lajos Hethy. “Torevive and expand this sector, even throughforeign aid transfusions, is a priority. Forthis reason the first group of trainers whohave benefited from the SYB programme,are invaluable capital. Once they returnto their towns, they will begin workingand we will have started a snowball effect.”

Impartingthe knowledge to othersLavdije regards her stay in Pristina

as “enlightening”. A war widow (herhusband, a travel agent, was caught ina raid), she has four children to bringup, and works for an NGO in Gjakova.“I discovered reasons for hope here. Dieter,our SYB trainer, created an extraordi-nary atmosphere – relaxed, friendly, butat the same time strictly professional.I tell myself that I should not give up,I must hang in there. Like me, there arenow thousands of single mothers left inKosovo. They have absolutely nothing,and have to ensure the survival of theirchildren. I have to help them.” Lavdijeprepares to leave for the countrysidewith her brand new marketing parapher-nalia in hand. Knowing what “businessplan” means, she will impart this knowl-edge to others – other women probably,since most of the NGOs have establishedprogrammes to help this vulnerablecategory of the population. Dieter’s groupreflects this reality also. After screening

120 candidates, 12women and 3 men werechosen. But what do “enterprisemanagement”, “market-ing”, “business” and “start-up” mean in Kosovo, oneyear after a near humani-tarian disaster? Mevlyde,Besa and Vahdet have re-turned to Peja, in thewesternmost part of thecountry, at the foot of themountains which lead toMontenegro. Here, thedaily reality is still an-

chored in a decor of destruction: burntroofs, gutted houses; a major part of thisrural region’s housing is in “intensive

“But I feel a bit frustrated”, admits Dieter, the SYB Programme instructor(right). “I won’t be around to see the fruits of their intense two weeks of hardwork”.

The recently organized Start and Improve YourBusiness programme in Kosovo is a goodexample of how the InFocus Programme onBoosting Employment through Small EnterprisEDevelopment (SEED) not only transfers busi-ness skills but also creates hope and confi-dence among unemployed people and theircommunities.

Business Development Services

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care”. But reconstruction is goingsmoothly, and with the advent of Spring,the population is settling down to workin the fields, and in the villages thereare dreams of giving birth to small busi-nesses and handicraft activities.

“Every day, we are being asked forfinancial assistance, to repair a smallshop or to start a new activity”, explainsMevlyde. “Women are usually moreinterested in sewing or learning to behairdressers. We hear everyone out, butbefore we allocate any start-up money,we evaluate the project and its feasibil-ity. What we have learned at the SYBcourse will enable us to give relevantcounseling, to provide follow-up and helpin making the right choice.” Dieter ispleased; the message got through and hisfifteen Pristina “protégés”, now bettermotivated, will be first-rate trainers,pioneers in the field of enterprise. “ButI feel a bit frustrated”, he admits. “Iwon’t be around to see the fruits of theirintense two weeks of hard work. I’vebecome quite attached to them andimpressed by their resilience and theirhard work.”

Biggest challenge to face:problem of jobs

Due to their previous university stud-ies, like Vahdit, an architect they didnot hesitate to enter the new world of“business” in Kosovo. “With 60 to 80per cent unemployment, our biggestproblem is jobs, and we have to facethis challenge”, he adds with determi-nation. “The SYB training that we havereceived in Pristina, should be integratedinto a wider spectrum of Kosovo-widevocational training. This will boost em-ployment and strengthen small andmedium-sized enterprises.” It is in thisdirection that the ILO is moving, withthe project of creating vocational train-ing centres well on the way to realiz-ation.

A year after the war, the emergencyphase is now over. But reconstruction,until now seen in very concrete termsof building shelters for the winter andputting roofs over the heads of the popu-lation, is now extending to economicand employment dimensions. In thiscontext, the Director of the daily news-paper “Zëri” is worried about the return

For the last few years, the ILOFIT programme has been ex-ploring how to work with pri-vate providers of business de-velopment services – most oftensmall businesses themselveswhich sell counselling, train-ing and information services intheir communities.

Working with local providersis not as simple as it might sound,because very often these localtrainers and advisors are part-time and informal, may onlyspeak the local language, andhave no telephones or evenoffices. But they are workingat the grassroots level, and earlyevidence suggests that they doreach the smallest (and poor-est) enterprises.

The recently published book,The Wheels of Trade (IT Pub-lications, London) details the

experiences of the FIT and otherprogrammes with this approachto making business developmentservices relevant and sustain-able. “International agencieslook for quality and certainty;people in small enterprises lookfor convenient access and lowtransaction costs,” says Jim Tan-burn, co-author and Senior Spe-cialist in SEED. “By working toupgrade private sector provid-ers, the ILO is bridging this gap.”

Case studies prepared for theCommittee of Donor Agenciesfor Small Enterprise Develop-ment, and information about theILO Seminar on Emerging GoodPractice in Business Develop-ment Services can be found onthe ILO web site (http:/ /www.ilo.org/public/english/em-p l o y m e n t / e n t / s e e d / b d s /index.htm.)

home of tens of thousands of Kosovarsover the next few months, who havetaken refuge in Western Europe. “Amassive influx of workers while thestructures are not yet in place to absorbthe shock, will compromise the recon-struction effort. Those countries shouldhelp Kosovo by creating jobs for the

refugees by adopting income-generat-ing projects here in Kosovo. Continu-ing high unemployment will escalatesocial tensions which are already beingexpressed in our society, deeply af-fected by the aftermath of war.”

– Juan Pekmez

THE ILO FIT PROGRAMME

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The Fit programme of the ILO started as an interregional project fundedby the Government of the Netherlands. Over the last 6 years, it has beentesting innovative approaches for the sustainable delivery of BusinessDevelopment Services (BDS).


Working

A regular review of trends anddevelopments in the

world of work

WorldSOCIAL PARTNERS

● Medef, the main employ-ers’ organization of Francehas proposed that a new typeof fixed-term contract be cre-ated, called a “mission” or“maximum period” contract,not to exceed five years. Despitetheir reluctance, the tradeunions have agreed to discussthe matter. (Libération, 11 April2000)

● The increase in tradeunion membership is continu-ing in the United States. In1999, trade unions represented16.48 million workers, or265,000 more than in 1998.This is the highest member-ship in the last twenty years.(Wall Street Journal, 20 Janu-ary 2000)

SOCIAL MOVEMENTS

● In Paraguay, demonstra-tions were organized last Marchby peasants’ organizations de-manding higher agriculture

servants to transform their staffassociations into true tradeunions. (CISL en ligne, 25January 2000)

● In the United Kingdom,the law which incorporates theEuropean Directive concern-ing the European WorksCouncil into national legisla-tion came into effect on 15January 2000. Last Decem-ber, the law incorporating theDirective on parental leave alsocame into effect. (EIRR, Janu-ary 2000)

prices, and better access tocredit and social services. (LatinAmerican Monitor, April 2000)

● In Austria, the unionsare strongly opposed to theeconomic and social pro-gramme of the new govern-ment; in particular, to its plansto reduce labour costs and toraise the retirement age. (WallStreet Journal Europe, 10February 2000)

● In Argentina, industrialrelations reform which insti-tutionalizes an existing and

visible flexibility (stable em-ployment represents 40 per centof total employment), is div-iding the trade unions: thoseopposed to it organized a20,000-strong demonstrationin Buenos Aires on 24 Feb-ruary. (El Pais, 26 February)

LABOUR LEGISLATION

● The Labour Minister ofSouth Africa presented a billon unemployment insurancewhich will ensure protectionfor such categories of work-ers as domestic workers orseasonal agriculture workers.(Marchés tropicaux, 10 March2000)

● The ICFTU (Inter-national Confederation of FreeTrade Unions) believes thatthe new trade union law whichwill come into effect in Tan-zania threatens union rightsby allowing the Governmentto interfere in union activity.(CISL en ligne, 25 January2000)

● The Parliament of Thai-land has adopted a law onlabour relations in State en-terprises which will allow civil

Paraguay peasants demand a better deal in agriculturalprices, access to credit and social services.

PUBLIC SERVICES

● The Government of theCentral African Republic hasbegun to pay the back salariesof 17,000 civil servants in thecountry. It has just paid theFebruary 1999 salaries, andthe procedure should be com-pleted by the end of the year.(Marchés tropicaux, 10 March2000)

● The Government ofMauritania has decided to raisethe salaries of the worst-paidcivil servants by 8 per cent.The minimum salary is around60 US dollars. (Marchés tropi-caux, 10 March 2000)

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EMPLOYMENT

● A report of the Instituteof Working Life of Swedenexpresses doubts about thepossibility of creating jobs byreducing the legal hours ofwork, but judges that volun-tary agreements by industryor profession can have posi-tive effects. (Social Inter-national, February 2000)

● The Netherlands is suf-fering from a labour shortagewhich affects almost everyeconomic sector. The unem-ployment rate is 2.7 per cent.The situation is due to verystrong growth (4 per cent) andthe wage restraint negotiatedby the social partners. The lowlevel of women’s labour forceparticipation and the largenumber of persons on disabil-ity pensions also contribute tothe situation. (Wall Street Jour-nal Europe, 4 February 2000)

FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

● Another assassination ofa trade union leader in Co-lombia: the head of the publicservice workers union waskilled by armed men in thecity of Yarmual, near Medellin.(CISL en ligne, 25 January2000)

● The nongovernmental or-ganization Christian Solidar-ity International announced that

between 9 and 19 March, itbought back nearly 5,000 slavesin Sudan, for 35 US dollarsper head paid to middlemen.The NGO says it has boughtback more than 30,000 slavessince 1995. (Le Courrier, 22March 2000)

EQUALITY

● Inequality between menand women in the workplacepersists in France: the wagegap is 27 per cent (33 per centfor managers), the unemploy-ment rate of women is higherthan that of men (13.5 per centvs. 9.8 per cent), and womenrepresent only 7 per cent oftop management. In Switzer-land, the difference in income,which was 23 per cent in 1996,is now 21.5 per cent. (Le Monde,La Tribune de Genève, 8 March2000)

GENDER ISSUES

● Police in Bradford,England have helped some60 local Asian women fleeingforced marriages, to find se-cret accommodations. Offi-cials say administration ofsleeping potions, kidnappingsand even murder have beenused against Asian women whorefused to enter forced mar-riages, including one casewhere a woman and her son,were jailed for life for killingher daughter. (The Scotsman,Scotland, 8 April 2000)

● Maternity rights advo-cates have received a new ally.Cherie Blair, wife of Britain’sPrime Minister Tony Blair, hascalled on employers to endthe “long hours” workplaceculture and help employees,particularly women, strike abalance between work andfamily. Mrs. Blair who is ex-pecting, said these changesincluded improved maternityrights, parental leave, emer-gency leave for family crisesand equal rights for part-timeworkers. (The Guardian,London, 21 March 2000)

LABOUR ACTIONS

● Miners staging a sit-inat the Czech town of Mostreceived some added musclefor their protest. Their wivesforwarded a petition askingthe government to tackle thegrowing problem of unemploy-ment in the district, which hasthe highest jobless rate in thecountry, with miners the worstaffected. (CTK news agency,Prague, 11 April 2000)

● A labour dispute hassent workers at the privately-owned Grenada Broadcast-ing Network out in the streetsafter two union membersinsisted on presenting theevening news wearing unionT-shirts. The strike action cameafter replacements were rushedto the news desk by manage-

ment, who ruled the network’sdress code could not be bro-ken for the evening news show.(Cana news agency, 23 March2000)

● The 40-day strike byBoeing Co.’s high-tech work-ers have raised organizedlabour’s ambitions by show-ing white collar workers canstrike too. Mike Goodwin,president of the 100,000 mem-ber Office and ProfessionalEmployees International Unionwas quoted a saying “it meansa new recognition by white-collar workers that they canorganize.” (Chicago Tribune,22 March 2000)

MISCELLANEOUS

● In Belgium, the averagetime spent commuting betweenwork and home was 32 min-utes in 1999, eight minutesmore than in 1981. (Social In-ternational, February 2000)

● According to a study bythe fiscal administration of Ja-pan, annual salaries in theprivate sector decreased by 5per cent in the country be-tween 1997 and 1998. (SocialInternational, February 2000)

● On 5 March, 150 minersdied in an underground sandcave-in in a diamond mine inSierra Leone. (Le Temps, 8March 2000)

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Commuting time between work and home in Belgium hasincreased over the years.

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A new ILO study says the onlinerevolution in the media and entertain-ment industries is changing the wayjournalists work, and overhauling theemployment patterns and gender dis-tribution of the world’s media workforce.

GENEVA – Along with the new media,comes a new workforce. That’s theconclusion of a new ILO report whichsays newsroom innovations in informa-tion and communications technology (ICT)are levelling the playing field betweenfixed staff and freelancers and creatingincreased career opportunities for women.

In the United Kingdom, the report says,“more women are becoming journaliststhan ever before”, while at daily news-papers in Spain, the number of womenamong editorial staff rose from 27 per-cent to nearly 30 per cent, despite a generaldecline in overall employment in the sector.

The ILO report also notes that the vastmajority of journalists in major indus-trialized countries now access the Internet,

a medium which scarcely existed adecade ago. Some 80 per cent of thesebusiness and financial journalists usethe Internet at least once a day for research,and 80 per cent have their work publishedin both online and offline publications.

Many are freelancers, the report says,who have been using and exploiting ICTfor both the longest time and the greatestgain.

New media, new jobsThe report notes that while the growth

in the Internet and the overall prolifera-tion of ICT is eliminating many tradi-tional media jobs and altering the struc-ture of remaining jobs – particularly ondaily newspapers – it is fuelling demandfor workers who can provide editorialand creative input in an ever-increasingarray of technical formats.

Yet despite of the many new opportu-nities, overall employment in print mediais clearly declining, the report says, adding,

“Technology has eliminated many jobsin newspapers over the past 25 years, largelyamong composing room and clericalworkers.” Compared to these workers,“journalists have been fortunate”. Whilethe ILO report notes that the number ofstaff required in a newsroom has declinedslightly, “journalists are not being replacedby computers”.

Older workers in traditional crafts(typesetting, paste-up) appear to havesuffered the greatest job losses, and jobdescriptions have blurred for remainingworkers as technology alters establishedroutines. The report says that “a majorchallenge for printing workers is to adaptthemselves to new equipment, unaccus-

MediaIncreasingly, the new media is freelance,

female and inundated by e-mail

“You’ve got (too much) mail!”

There’s one big downside tothe new technology. That’s whatthe report calls the danger of “in-formation overload,” or journal-ists being inundated by e-maileddata, press releases, electronicnewsletters, internal memos andreaders’ responses.

tomed ways of working and sometimesmoving away from print into new media.”

Journalists face similar challenges, andthey are increasingly called upon to filestories or prepare scripts for a numberof different formats, for example, radio,television and the Web, and for anincreasing number of outlets.

Broadcasting is seeing a similar pat-tern, with declines in permanent employ-ment due to the restructuring of state-owned media outlets and to consolida-tion in the wake of mergers and acqui-sitions among private firms. But hereagain the bulk of job losses have beenin technical and administrative areas,whereas production and “content” jobshave been created by new technologies.

The ILO report notes that “traditionallabour-management relations have prob-lems coping with technology and otherdevelopments in media and entertain-ment, because the workforce is morefragmented than before and enterprisesare subcontracting work that used to becore business”.

New forms of social dialogue, suchWhile...the number of staff required in a newsroom has declined slightly,“journalists are not being replaced by computers.”

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Global agreements onworkers’ rights

Two major German companies sign anagreement on globally valid labour standardswith the international trade union movement

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as the promotion of voluntary initia-tives, incorporation of gender issues,and involvement of transnational cor-porations as dialogue partners, will benecessary. International labour stand-ards, including those on freedom ofassociation, collective bargaining, homework and discrimination, are thoughtto be relevant in a sector in which issuesof ICT training, social protection,independent workers and freelancers,as well as issues of informal sectorworkers, are increasingly predominant.

Widening the“digital divide”

Still, the main impact of the Internetis being felt in the industrialized world.And while the Internet’s reach seemsglobal, its benefits are hardly so. Pov-erty, skills shortages and a paucity ofinfrastructure mean that some develop-ing countries risk lagging behind in thenew information age. Data shows thatin the late 1990s, between one in sixpeople in North America and Europe

used the Internet, while in Africa, it wasone in 5,000.

Still, while this “digital divide” hasprompted concern, ILO Director-GeneralJuan Somavia says that “improving Internetaccess is probably one of the most cost-effective way of spreading the benefitsof globalization to developing countries.”

Source: Background document to the Symposium oninformation technologies in the media and entertain-ment industries: Their impact on employment, workingconditions and labour-management relations, ILO, Geneva,2000, ISBN 92-2-111254-4, Swiss francs 17.50.

The German group HOCHTIEF, oneof the world’s biggest constructiongroups, signed an agreement on 15March 2000, committing it to observethe international labour standards ofthe ILO in its building activitiesanywhere in the world. On 3 March,theInternational Federation of Buildingand Wood Workers (IFBWW) hadalready signed a similar frameworkagreement on workers’ rights with theGerman Faber Castell company, oneof the world’s leading pencil makers.

The agreement between HOCHTIEFand the IFBWW imposes the sameobligations on all of HOCHTIEF’s sub-contractors, whose combined workforcestotal many times the group’s own 37,000employees. At the signing ceremony,Friedel Abel, member of the ExecutiveBoard and Human Resources Directorat HOCHTIEF, said that by signing theagreement “we seek to do more than justset the standards for our own behaviour.As one of the world’s leading construc-tion companies, we want to play a partin the long-term process of improvingthe rules that govern conduct in our in-dustry.”

HOCHTIEF is the first internationalconstruction company to conclude anagreement of this kind with the inter-

national labour union movement. It requiresthat in future, HOCHTIEF and its con-tractual partners will comply with whatis called a social charter which imposescertain minimum standards in the worldof work. These include freely chosenemployment, no discrimination, a banon child labour, the right to freedom ofassociation and free collective bargain-ing, adequate wages, reasonable work-

ing time and decent working conditions.On 3 March, Faber-Castell, based near

Nuremberg in Germany, signed with theGerman Metal Workers Union IG Metalland the IFBWW a framework agreementcommitting itself to achieve in its pro-duction and sales companies employmentand working conditions which respectthose Conventions and Recommendationsof the ILO which apply to their business.It means, for example, the prohibitionof child labour and the right of workersto join trade unions and to take part infree collective bargaining.

Faber-Castell employs 5500 employ-ees worldwide in 14 production and 18sales companies in Australia, Austria,Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, India,Indonesia, Malaysia, Peru and the UnitedStates.

In May 1998, the IFBWW signed asimilar agreement with IKEA.

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Gerd Muhr (1924-2000)

Gerd Muhr, former Chairperson of the ILO Governing Body (GB), diedon 25 February 2000 at the age of 75. Born in 1924 in Germany, he helda number of senior positions including that of Chairperson of the GB in1990/91. This was only the second time in the history of the ILO thatthe members of the GB had elected a worker member as their Chairperson.In 1969, Mr. Muhr was elected Vice-Chairperson of the German Con-federation of Trade Unions. Between 1984 and 1986 he served as Chair-person of the Economic and Social Committee of the European Commu-nities. An ILO obituary honoured Mr. Muhr as a man of “determination,authority, serenity and impartiality, which earned him the respect of all”.(Source: ILO document GB.277/17 (Add.1), March 2000)

OBITUARY

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With a study entitled “Social Re: re-insurance for community-based healthinsurance schemes”, an ILO/WorldBank/University of Lyon team won themost important prize at the WorldBank’s Development Marketplace, afair for innovative ideas to reducepoverty, which took place on 8-9February in Washington.

Most of the world’s poor are not protectedagainst the financial risk of illness.Although many countries set up centralhealth insurance systems, these usuallyrestrict coverage to people who are informal employment. Some community-based schemes attempt to fill the gapamong excluded groups, by offeringvoluntary microinsurance schemes fi-nanced mainly by members’ contri-butions.

With often less than 1,000 members,microinsurance groups are small and quite

Social reinsurance

different from other groups in terms ofincome, risks, demography, illnesses,occupation and life styles. Due to insuf-ficient resources, each microinsurancemust limit its benefit package to coveronly the most pressing needs. Small groupsize and fluctuations in risk levels rendermicroinsurance particularly vulnerableto financial risks.

A new form of reinsurance for micro-insurance schemes (SOCIAL RE) couldstabilize these schemes by sheltering themfrom the excess risk. This idea waspresented at the World Bank’s Devel-opment Marketplace by experts from theILO, the University of Lyon (France) andthe World Bank. SOCIAL RE can beconsidered as the missing link betweenthe macro and micro levels in healthinsurance financing since it passes onsome of the risk to the “Social Re” scheme,against a premium. In return, Social Rewill pay excess expenditure above an

agreed global floor, or alternatively sharethe cost of every claim and/or reimbursethe cost of claims above a certain number.

The World Bank, the ILO and otherdevelopment agencies are constantly facedwith the challenge of assisting govern-ments to establish viable health insur-ance systems for the poor in many countrieswhich do not currently – nor in the fore-seeable future – have functioning tax-ation systems. Setting-up SOCIAL REwould provide an instrument during theperiod when many of the poor remainunprotected.

The aggregate flows of funds transiting“pro-poor” schemes can reach very highvolumes, as has been demonstrated bythe experience of microcredit schemeswhich helped globalization’s “have-nots”gain access to financial services. Fur-thermore, the large numbers of the targetpopulation largely compensate for thelow contributory capacity of each indi-vidual. There is every reason to assumethat SOCIAL RE can interest both publicand private reinsurance bodies once thedevelopment stage is completed. WorldBank President James Wolfensohn con-gratulated the authors of the project idea,who excelled among 1,200 competitorsand won the US$380,000 award at theclosing of the fair, which took place on8-9 February in Washington.

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An ILO/World Bank/University of Lyon teamwins major award

Countries which have ratified ILO Convention No. 182 (1999),as of 30 April 2000

Ireland(20.12.1999)

Finland(17.1.2000)

Botswana(3.1.2000)

Seychelles(28.9.1999)

Malawi(19.11.1999)

Slovakia(20.12.1999)

USA(02.12.1999)

Brazil(2.2.2000)

The boundaries on the map arepurely graphical and may not bepolitically correct. They are notendorsed by the ILO.

Tunisia(28.2.2000)

Belize(06.3.2000)

Indonesia(28.3.2000)

UK(22.3.2000)

SanMarino

(15.3.2000)

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ILO to collaborate with UNV onInternational Year of Volunteers in 2001

UNV and the ILO

GENEVA – The International LabourOffice (ILO) is to collaborate with theUN Volunteers Programme (UNV) onthe International Year of Volunteers,to be held throughout 2001. The Bonn-based UNV is to be the focal point forthe year, and will act in close collabo-ration with other organizations of theUN system.

The year “is an excellent opportunityto join the institutional efforts at theinternational, national and local levels,with the initiative, enthusiasm and com-petence of individuals in taking up themajor challenges this world is facing atthe turn of the century,” said ILO Di-rector-General Juan Somavia in a letterto Ms. Sharon Capeling-Alakija, UNVExecutive Director. “All this is in linewith the emphasis laid by the World Summitfor Social Development on the import-ance of new players, particularly indi-viduals and organizations of civil so-ciety, acting in partnership with govern-ments.”

“Volunteer service has been a part ofvirtually every civilization and society,”says a guidance note prepared by theUnited Nations regarding the Inter-national Year. “Defined in the broadestterms as the contribution that individualsmake as non-profit, non-wage and non-career action for the well-being of theirneighbour, community or society at large,it takes many forms, from traditionalcustoms of mutual self-help to communitycoping responses in times of crisis, andspearheading efforts for relief, conflictresolution and the eradication of poverty.

“The scope of the year would extendbeyond local and national volunteers toinclude bilateral and multilateral volun-teer programmes extending beyondnational frontiers,” the note said.

The need for volunteers is apparentlyrising due to the need to mitigate theimpact of such issues as environmental

degradation, drug abuse or HIV/AIDS,on the more vulnerable sectors of so-ciety; concern of the international com-munity to focus on addressing suchproblems, with special attention to de-veloping countries in general and pov-erty eradication in particular; and, giventhe contemporary trend for civil society– in partnership with Government andthe private sector – to assume every greaterresponsibilities in the development pro-cess.

The United Nations General Assemblydesignated 2001 as the International Yearof Volunteers during its 52nd session on20 November 1997, in Resolution 52/17, co-sponsored by 123 countries.

The objectives of the year are to achieveincreased recognition of the efforts ofindividuals and groups engaged in vol-unteers activities; increase facilitationof volunteer work by building on factorswhich encourage, and addressing issueswhich inhibit, volunteer service; enhancednetworking, whereby volunteer achieve-ments can be disseminated and shared;and promotion of volunteering, with aview to more requests for the deploymentof volunteers and to offers of volunteerservice from even more individuals.

In 1999, 4,383 UN Volunteers – thelargest number ever served in 139 coun-tries. They represented 149 nationalities,with about 36 per cent coming from in-dustrialized countries and 64 per centfrom developing countries. UN Volun-teers contribute to protecting human rights,assisting in humanitarian relief, recon-struction and electoral activities,combatting desertification and workingon other environmental issues, and helpingto alleviate poverty, as well as other socialand technical issues.

Further information on the International Year ofVolunteers is available from UNV in Bonn, Germany(tel: +49228/815 2220, fax: +49-228 815 2953, orthe UNV web site at http://www.iyv2001.org)

(This is the first of a series of oc-casional articles in World of Workabout volunteer work. Others willappear between now and through 2001,the International Year of Volunteers)

HYDERABAD, India – “I want tostudy. Study as much as I want. Studyvery fast so that I can become a doctorand treat the sick, free.’’

This is not a pipe dream, but aplausible reality for twelve-year-oldDevi. Only two years ago her desireto become a doctor had been dis-missed as wishful thinking by herparents, and had drawn the derisivescorn of her playmates. As she grazedcattle in the parched countryside ofrural Andhra Pradesh in Southern India,she hoped that a miracle would happen.She hoped that her father who hadborrowed Rs.5,000 (US$120) toconduct the marriage of her elder sister,pledging Devi’s free labour as suretyfor the loan, would find money enoughto pay back that debt and send herback to the local school.

Today, she is studying hard to beadmitted into Class 8 at the local school.

Devi’s is one of the over 15,000stories resulting from the efforts ofthe Hyderabad-based M. Venkata-rangaiya Foundation (MVF for short).Another hundred thousand non-bondedbut uneducated children have also madeit to school through the “bridge course”camps of the Foundation.

The Foundation began its activitiesin 1991, after a preliminary studyrevealed the high incidence of bondedchild labour in the Ranga Reddy districtof Andhra Pradesh which adjoins thestate capital Hyderabad.

“We began in a small way, and itsurprised many of us that these chil-dren were so enthused by the prospectof going to school that they wouldstudy hard to make up for lost time.We realized that most children workedas farm labor simply because theywere not studying, and not the otherway round. The parents, too, werewilling to put in extra hours to seetheir children through school. So weorganized bridge courses in a camp

Torch-bearers

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that education is one of those pleasures.”He now contributes regularly towards theeducational needs of about 10 childrenfrom his village, and provides a few sacksof grain to the Foundation from everyharvest.

If the MVF today can draw up a listof over one hundred villages which are100 per cent literate between 6 and 14years of age it is “because we have graduallywon over the people and made them re-sponsible for the future of the childrenof the village. But all this has taken time,energy and a lot of patience. We couldhave read out from the rule book andused force to get the children to school,but there would have been no joy, onlyfear,” says Ms. Sinha.

Ramiah’s two children worked as bondedlabourers until three years ago when theFoundation volunteers came to the vil-lage for an awareness-generation pro-gramme. Now both his sons are in schooland the elder one is on the threshold ofentering college studies in Hyderabad.“I asked the volunteer whether he wouldgive me a thousand rupees as an interest-free loan to help me pay back a loanat 36 per cent interest. He said no, butthat he would give me something better– a future for my children. I lost interestand returned to chew tobacco. But in afew months my neighbour’s children were

going to school and that got me started.says Ramiah.

That there has been a total changein societal thinking as far as educationis concerned, is more than borne outby the atmosphere at the Girls’ Campat Allur where bridge courses are con-ducted by the Foundation to preparethe children to enter regular schools.IPEC has contributed in a big waytowards the running of camps in termsof financial, technical and logisticssupport.

Classes at the camp are now con-ducted in disused poultry sheds. Theslightly larger sheds serve as dormi-tories. Song, dance, and story-tellingare all an integral part of learning.Some 300 girls in the 9 to 14 age groupreside here before they are admittedto the local school and the social welfarehostel run by the state government.

Mr. Rao who is the middle-schoolheadmaster in Parveda village, has beena great support to the activities of theFoundation in a teaching career span-ning two decades. “Initially we teach-ers posted to the rural areas used towhile away the time, as no childrenwould turn up in our schools. We wouldhave parents sauntering in and pullingout their wards when work came by.But now the rush of students is sohigh. The school I head has a strengthof 550 and the two government-ap-pointed teachers can hardly cope. Sowe are helped by volunteers supportedby the government and the MVF.”

With the Foundation’s area of op-eration expanding from five villagesin 1991 to about 500 villages today,the volunteer strength is poised to crossthe 10,000 mark. But the volunteersat MVF realize that statistics arepleasing, but don’t matter in a countrywhich is overwhelmed by a lack of,or an inability to use, educational fa-cilities.

Says Dhananjay, a bio-engineeringgraduate who gave up a lucrative careerin New Delhi to work with the Foun-dation, “We have in these 10 yearsrealized ways and means of gettingthe community involved. This systemcan be, and must be, emulated else-where in Andhra and the country.’’

(Some names have been changed to protectidentities.)

of tomorrowby Geetha Raghuraman

atmosphere for the children, who wouldbe trained intensively for a period of time(generally 4 months) and then admittedin a regular school,” says Ms. ShanthaSinha, Secretary-Trustee, MVF.

The ILO/IPEC programme has beeninvolved with the project since 1992,providing funding and technical exper-tise. “IPEC’s constant support and thediscussions it has initiated on our ex-periments at various fora across the globehas helped us derive a great deal of mileage,including suggestions from others involvedin similar experiments elsewhere in theworld,” says Ms. Sinha.

But as the first few batches of bondedchild labourers began to enter mainstreamlife, the Foundation’s euphoria was short-lived, for a fresh set of children (neverin short supply in a populous countrywhere over 40 per cent of the populationis below the poverty level) took the placeof the released children.

Says a local landlord who once em-ployed children as laborers because theirwages were low, “Initially I did resistthe Foundation’s activities and thoughtthat they were infringing upon a time-tested pattern of living that had workedthrough centuries. But as we began toread the joy of learning in the faces ofchildren, I realized that no child shouldbe denied the pleasures of childhood, and

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AROUND THE CONTINENTS

THE EUROPEANSOCIAL MODEL

▲ “The enlargement of theEuropean Union is the strong-est incentive to the neighbour-ing states for modernizationand for taking on board theEuropean Social Model,”according to Heribert Scharren-broich, ILO Regional Direc-tor for Europe and Central Asia.At a Conference on “The SocialPartners’ Role in the Devel-opment of the European So-cial Model”, organized by thePortuguese EU Presidency inLisbon on 10 January 2000,he reminded participants to themeeting that the core Conven-tions included in the ILODeclaration on FundamentalPrinciples and Rights at Workhad been ratified by the ac-cession countries with very fewexceptions, and that the re-spect of the values of the newILO Declaration was of majorsignificance to globalizationand strengthening the Euro-pean Social Model.

For further information, pleasecontact the Regional Officefor Europe and Central Asia(SDG/EUROPE), phone:+4122/799-6666; fax: +4122/799-6061; e-mail: [email protected]

ILO/IPEC: ANTI CHILDLABOUR CAMPAIGN

▲ The US Labour Depart-ment announced on 23 No-vember 1999, a $6 million grantto fund IPEC programs toeliminate child labour in thecoffee industry in Costa Rica,El Salvador, Guatemala,Honduras, Nicaragua, andthe Dominican Republic.

A regular review of the International Labour

Organization and ILO-relatedactivities and events taking

place around the world.

(Prohibition and Regulation)Act to address the problem ofabout 2.6 million underagelabourers working throughoutthe country. The Act is basedon ILO Convention 182on theElimination of the Worst Formsof Child Labour, unanimouslyadopted by the InternationalLabour Conference in June1999. Nepalese children workin brick kilns, mines, teagardens, minibuses, carpet andgarment factories. Many un-derage children are workingas commercial sex workers orin bonded labour.

ILO/IPEC will assist SriLanka’s Department of La-bour in the release of a newsbulletin, “Lama Lanka”, to beissued every four months. Thefirst copy of this bulletin, whichaims at the elimination of allforms of child labour andcreating public awareness, wasrecently launched in Colombo.

For further information, pleasecontact the ILO InternationalProgramme on the Elimina-tion of Child Labour (IPEC),phone: +4122/799-6486; fax:+4122/799-8771; e-mail: [email protected]

ACTIVITIES FOREMPLOYERS’ ORGANIZ-

ATIONS IN CENTRALAND EASTERN

EUROPE

▲ The ILO Central and East-ern European Team (CEET)organized a number of Dutch-and Danish-financed activitiesfor employers’ organizationsin the last quarter of 1999: ● A seminar entitled, “TheRole of Employers’ Organiz-ations in Vocational Train-

IPEC will work with the sixcountries to remove more than21,000 children from jobsharmful to their development,give them schooling and healthservices, and prevent theemployment of other childrenin the workplaces which theprojects target.

On the occasion of his visitto Bangladesh, US PresidentClinton announced on 20 March2000, an assistance packageof over US$14 million toexpand upon the progressalready made to keep childrenout of factories and enrolledin school. The initiative in-cludes removing some 30,000children from hazardous in-dustries in Bangladesh andplacing them in school, aregional project to stop traf-ficking of children into ex-ploitative work, a program toimprove working conditionsfor women and to raise healthand safety standards for haz-ardous work. Approximately30,000 children, now work-

ing in the construction, shrimp,and leather industries, on teaplantations, as cigarette andglass bangle makers, or asdomestic servants, scavengers,transport helpers and weav-ers, will be able to go fromwork to school. An unknownnumber of children, especiallygirls, are trafficked each yearfrom Bangladesh, Nepal andSri Lanka to end up in sexualslavery, forced labour ordomestic servitude.

The International Pro-gramme on the Elimination ofChild Labour (IPEC) Directorof Operations, Ng Gek-Boo,congratulated the governmentof Tanzania for forming aNational Steering Committeeto implement anti-child labourmeasures. Child labour in thecountry is predominant on teaand tobacco plantations, as wellas in mining areas.

In early March, the par-liament of Nepal passed themuch awaited Child Labour

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ing”, was held in Tirana(Albania) on 18 November1999. ● On 16 and 17 Novem-ber 1999, delegates of employ-ers’ federations from the firstwave of candidate countriesfor EU accession, held a work-shop in Prague (Czech Re-public) entitled, “Vital Tasksof Employers’ Federations inthe Pre-Accession Period”. ● A workgroup of rep-resentatives of employers’ or-ganizations of south-eastEuropean countries convenedon 7 September 1999 in Zagreb(Croatia) to prepare a resol-ution of south-east Europeanemployers’ organizations aboutthe economic and social situ-ation in the region in the wakeof the Kosovo crisis. ● On 18 and 19 October1999, the Romanian employ-ers’ organizations invited allRomanian regional and sectoralassociations to a seminar inBucharest entitled, “The Fu-ture Role of Romanian Em-ployers’ Organiaztions”. ● On 9 November 1999,the Bulgarian Industrial As-sociation (BIA) held a work-shop at its Sofia headquartersentitled, “How to Setup anAssessment Centre”.

For further information, pleasecontact ILO CEET in Buda-pest, phone: +361/301-4900;fax: +361/353-3683; e-mail:[email protected]

AGEING OF THELABOUR FORCE INOECD COUNTRIES

▲ Europe’s elderly popu-lation is projected to increasefrom 20 per cent in 1998 to35 per cent in 2050. A recentreport* of the ILO Employ-ment Strategy Department sug-gests that with the shrinkingsupply of young entrants, theolder workforce will have toremain additional years in thelabour market. The extension

some of the new approachesin public policies and com-pany strategies to tackle thechallenges of ageing. It endswith policy recommendationsbased on ILO labour stand-ards and former work under-taken by the InternationalLabour Office in this area.

* “Ageing of the labour forcein OECD countries: Economicand social consequences”,Employment Paper 2000/2, byPeter Auer and MariangelsFortuny, can be obtained fromthe Employment StrategyDepartment, phone: +4122/799-6564; e-mail: [email protected]

SAFE WORK WITHPESTICIDES

▲ Ever more intensive cul-tivation and narrow speciali-zation of agricultural produc-tion have increased the im-portance of pest control. About100 million people worldwidemaking a living from agricul-ture are likely to have signifi-cant exposure to pesticides,while another 500 million maybe exposed to a lesser extent.In view of the major problemof acute pesticide poisoning,particularly in developingcountries, efforts of the na-tional authorities, non-governmental organizationsand industry are needed in orderto control the health impactsof pesticide use. The latestissue of the ILO/FINNIDAAsian-Pacific Newsletter onOccupational Safety and Health(Vol. 6, No. 3, December 1999)addresses the issue of the healthimpact of pesticide exposureand approaches to prevention,and provides a voice for safetyand health practitioners fromall over the region.

For further information, pleasecontact the InternationalOccupational Safety and Health

INDONESIA – FIRST ASIAN COUNTRY TORATIFY ILO WORST FORMS OF CHILD LABOUR

CONVENTION

s In the wake of the 1997-98 financial crisis, Asia’sgnawing poverty, unemployment and underemploymentare keeping greater numbers of children at work – muchof it harmful to their physical and psychological health– and exposing them to unscrupulous traffickers whopluck them from their families and use them for illicitactivities like the drug trade and prostitution, says anILO report to the ILO/Japan Asian Regional High-levelMeeting on Child Labour held in Jakarta from 8 to 10March 2000.

Indonesia’s President Abdurrahman Wahid seizedthe occasion to make Indonesia the first Asian countryto ratify the ILO’s newest core labour standard: theWorst Forms of Child Labour Convention, 1999 (No.182). This ratification also made Indonesia the firstcountry in Asia to have ratified all eight ILO core labourstandards, which guarantee respect for freedom of as-sociation and call for the abolition of forced labour,child labour and discrimination in the workplace.

Of the 250 million working children in developingcountries, the ILO estimates two thirds are Asian.According to government figures, there are about 1.6million working children in Indonesia between the agesof 10 and 14. Of these, seven out of ten work in agriculture.Prostitution, gold mining and fishing from offshoreplatforms figure among the worst forms of child labourdocumented in the country.

A new ILO project which builds on IndonesianGovernment initiatives to halt child labour on offshorefishing-platforms is targeting the abusive conditions inwhich young boys are left to fish for months on endfrom a platform – known as a jermal – which is thesize of a tennis court. Child labour in the country’sfootwear sector is the focus of a related project recentlylaunched in the country.

For further information, please contact the ILO RegionalOffice for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP), phone: +662/288-1725; fax: +662/280-1735; e-mail: [email protected]

of working life in OECD coun-tries will also result in anincrease in employment ratesand alleviate pressures onpension systems. New effortsof governments, employers,unions and workers in the fieldof pension systems, workorganization, working time andtraining, are required to copewith these developments. Thereport analyses demographictrends and their labour marketconsequences, and highlights IL

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Information Centre (CIS),phone: +4122/799-6740; fax:+4122/799-8516; e-mail:[email protected]

OVERCOMINGADVERSE

CONSEQUENCES OFTHE TRANSITION

PERIOD IN RUSSIA

▲ While the August 1998financial events impacted nega-tively on the overall social andeconomic situation in Russia,this impact was not as dra-matic as some may have fearedit could be. However, majordifficulties remain in the labourand social spheres whichrequire urgent and strongcorrective action. The issue atstake is not only to restructureand consolidate the Russianeconomy, but also to rebuildsound governance and socialefficiency, concluded an In-ternational Conference on So-cial and Labour Issues inRussia, jointly convened from4 to 6 October 1999 in Moscowby the ILO, the RussianMinistry of Labour and SocialDevelopment, the Federationof Independent Trade Unionsof Russia and the CoordinatingCouncil of Russian Organiz-ations of Employers.

For further information, pleasecontact the ILO Moscow Office,phone: +7095/925 -5025; fax:+7095/956-3649; e-mail:[email protected]

✍ It was with much delight that I readthe December 1999 issue of the ILO maga-zine, World of Work, and hasten to congratu-late you for an excellent publication.

Nafis Sadik, M.D.

Under-Secretary-General

United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), New York.

✍ Notre Institut propose une formationde secrétaire trilingue – anglais, français,espagnol – et une formation de médiationculturelle. Pour notre centre de documen-tation, nous souhaterions recevoirrégulièrement votre magazine, Travail....

Christiane LacanResponsable Langues étrangères

Institut für Sprachen und WirtschaftFreiburg, Switzerland.

✍ I am a researcher in the field of In-dustrial relations. I came across a copy ofthe journal World of Work, which I find tobe of immense use for my research pur-poses...

Dr. K.R. Shyam SundarLecturer, Mumbai University, India

✍ Congratulations for the wonderfuledition of the journal, “Shram ki Duniya”(Hindi edition of World of Work). We wouldalso like to receive the English version.

Ms. Malti VohraWomen’s Studies Research Centre,

Kurukshetra University, India

✍ I have come across your publication,World of Work – The Magazine of the ILOand I find it very interesting and informa-tive. I think it is also a good source of in-formation of great utility in my work aslecturer in Sociology. I would very muchappreciate it if I could receive this publi-cation.

Dr. George CassarMosta, Malta

✍ La presente tiene por objetosaludarlos y felicitarlos por la magníficaRevista “Trabajo” de la OIT, la cualviene impulsando la justicia social en elmundo, tratando de mejorar lascondiciones de vida y de trabajo. Su lecturame complació y anima a solicitarlesrespetuosamente, si tienen a bien remitirmedicha prestigiosa publicación...

Dr. Edison GuivenAbogado, Lima, Perú

✍ I, on behalf of my General Sec-retary and on my own behalf ,acknowl-edge with thanks receipt of the Hindiedition of ILO magazine “World of Work”.This is really a very good effort madeby the ILO, and circulation ... in Hindiwill help a large chunk of workers toknow more about the activities of theILO, and also about the important hap-penings in the world related to workers.We have accordingly decided to requestILO-India Office to send this magazinedirectly to some of our important affili-ates, whose list is enclosed.

R.A. MitalSecretary, Hind Mazdoor Sabha

New Delhi, India

✍ This is to acknowledge with thanksthe receipt of the Hindi edition of yourmagazine “World of Work”. The pub-lication is indeed very informative anduseful, and is being placed in the Cham-ber’s Library for wider readership.

H.S. TandonPHD Chamber of Commerce and

Industry, New Delhi, India.

✍ I thank you for sending me theWorld of Work magazines. I have col-lected a good volume of material fromthem.

Dr. Mohammad Taghi ImanHead of Center for Population Studies

Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran

World of Work has started a Letters to the Editor column to reflect theinterests of a wide readership. Letters will be printed according to spaceavailability and relevance, and the Editor reserves the right to edit thetext.

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LA NACIÓN

ILO/IPEC-Government of India Memorandum ofUnderstanding extended for two years.

(Chile, 16.2.00)

LA NACIÓN(Argentina, 19.3.2000)

Globalization, child labour, migration,among ILO newsmakers

(India,19-20.2.00)

(India,18.2.00)

(Philippines,16.2.00)

(India,18.2.00)

(UK 16.2.00)

Articles have been excerpted and are not always in the exact format in which they appear originally. They are trimmed for space reasons.

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(USA, 7.3.00)

ThePakistan

Times(Pakistan, 15.3.00)

(Thailand, 2.3.00)

(India, 2.3.00))

(Spain, 9.3.00))

(France, 2.3.00)

(France, 13.3.00)

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ILO requests $20 million for the creation ofemployment opportunities in Gaza and West Bank

(France, 29.3.00)

(Japan, 29.3.00))

(India)

(Sri Lanka, 22.3.00)

(Switzerland, 9.3.00)) (USA, 25-26.3.00)

ILO will intensify sanction measures againstMyanmar where forced labour is still prevalent.

MainichiShimbun

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ILO publications for sale can be obtained through major booksellers or ILO local offices in many countries, or directly from ILO Publications, International Labour Office, 4 routedes Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland. Tel: +4122/799-7828; fax: +4122/799-6938; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.ilo.org/publns. Catalogues or listsof new publications are available free of charge from the above address. The ILO Publications Center in the US can be contacted at tel: +301/638-3152; fax: +301/843-0159; e-mail:[email protected]; Web site: http://www.un.org/depts/ilowbo.

Media shelfIn print

■ Social Dialogue and Pen-sion Reform: United King-dom, United States, Germany,Japan, Sweden, Italy, Spain.Edited by Emmanuel Reynaud,ISBN 92-2-110835-X. Price:20 Swiss francs.; US$14.95;£9.95. Also available in French

At a time when pensionsare a major topic of publicdebate, this unique and re-vealing study examines theimportant, but little known,involvement of employers‘ andworkers‘ organizations, aca-demics, professionals andexperts, in developing andreforming public pensionpolicy. It illustrates the var-iety of approaches taken topensions by analysing theschemes of seven industrial-ized countries: the UnitedKingdom, the United States,Germany, Japan, Sweden, Italy,and Spain. Above all, itevaluates the role of socialdialogue among the groups inreaching a consensus on vi-able pension reform.

■ Social Health Insurance,Social Security Series No. 52000, ISBN 92-2-110738-8.Price: 16 Swiss francs;US$12.95; £6.95. This manual provides anoverview of social health in-surance schemes and looks at

the development ofhealth care policies andfeasibility issues. It alsoexamines the design ofhealth insuranceschemes, health care ben-efits, financing, costs andorganization, and con-siders the operational andstrategic information re-quirements.

■ Workers Without Fron-tiers: The impact of globali-zation on internationalmigration. By Peter Stalker2000, ISBN 92-2-110854-6.Price: 30 Swiss francs;US$18.95; £12.95.

Offering a unique assess-ment of a complex and con-tentious issue, Workers With-out Frontiers brings togetherthe latest information on in-ternational migration and glo-balization. It examines howmigration connects with move-ments of goods and capital,and how it is closely tied tosocial andeconomicc h a n g e s .Often, dis-cussions ofglobaliza-tion do notc o n s i d e ri n t e r n a -tional mi-gration oronly dealwith it as a residual category.Workers Without Frontiershelps to redress these discus-sions by looking at how eco-nomic convergence may causemigration pressures to sub-side, or how years of economicupheaval may release new mi-grant flows. (See also p.4)

■ ABC of women workers’rights and gender equality.ILO Geneva, 2000. ISBN 92-2-110844-9. Price: 20 Swissfrancs.

Women’s rights and gen-der equality have gained grow-ing attention over the past dec-ades, both at international andnational levels. In order topromote equality between

women andmen in theworld ofwork, inter-national la-bour standards and nationallegislation have been adoptedon a wide range of relatedissues. However, workers areoften unaware of their rightsderived from these standards.

This guide is intendedto bridge that gap. It focuseson states’ or employers’ ob-ligations, and correspondingworkers’ rights, relating togender concerns based on theILO Conventions and Rec-ommendations. The guide in-corporates information onsexual harassment, womenin development, the glass ceil-ing and many more topics.Other major developmentsare included under gendermainstreaming and other gen-der issues, fundamental prin-ciples and rights at work, glo-balization, export-processingzones, part-time work andworkers with family respon-sibilities.

■ Labour Education No.116 , 1999/3 (published in Eng-lish, French and Spanish) bythe ILO Bureau for Workers’Activities. Trade unions inthe informal sector: Findingtheir bearings. Nine countrypapers.

Throughout recent dec-ades, instead of disappear-ing as the modern economyexpanded, the informal sec-tor has actually grown in themajority of developing coun-tries. Parallel to this evolution,the industrialized countrieshave witnessed a gradual re-

shaping of their labour mar-kets which has led to newand more precarious formsof employment and to cutsin incomes in the traditionalsectors of the economy.

Trade union organiza-tions, affected by this phe-nomenon, have been attempt-ing to organize workers inthe informal sector of theeconomy, and have beentrying to find more viable for-mulas for mobilizing societyas a whole in this effort.

The ILO Bureau for Work-ers’ Activities, aware of theseconcerns, devoted an editionof its Labour Education quar-terly journal– No. 116 , 1999/3: Trade unions in the infor-mal sector: Finding their bear-ings. Nine country papers –to an analysis of trade unionaction in favour of workersin this sector, based on ninenational studies embracing thefour major regions of the world:Africa, Asia, Europe and LatinAmerica.

This 148-page edition ofLabour Education representsa major thrust on the part ofthe Bureau for Workers’Activities and constitutes first-rate reference material for allthose engaged in studies onthe informal sector, be theytrade unionists or academicscholars.

■ International Social Se-curity Review, ISSA, Geneva.Vol. 53, No. 2, April-June2000. ISSN 0020-871X.

Taking up the theme ofthe previous issue, articles byStanford G. Ross and MonikaQueisser look at approachesto pension reform.

In his examination of doc-trine and practice in this area,Ross describes the debate onthe most appropriate way forstates to provide citizens withretirement income, and analy-ses the main doctrinal ap-


proaches in relation to ac-tual outcomes in particularcountries around the world.Rather than economic orsocial policy, he argues, themain issue is one of politicalculture. The critical problemis how to base a pensionsystem on the economic,social and political condi-tions of a country.

Queisser finds that, al-though recommendations forreform have in recent yearsbeen at the top of the agendaof international organizationsinvolved in pension policy, theideas espoused have varied.Comparing the positions of theILO, ISSA, the World Bank,IMF and OECD, she finds thatfiercely ideological debate hasgradually given way to coor-dination and cooperation; amove, in her words, “from con-flict to convergence”.

Also in this issue of theInternational Social SecurityReview, as well as the regular,comprehensive roundup of allthe latest publications in thesocial security field, AbdellahBoudahrain exposes the in-secure social protection ofmigrant workers from theMaghreb residing in westernEurope and the Gulf States,and David M. Dror seeks toestablish how far the theoreti-cal differences between pri-vate and public (or social) healthinsurance have influencedhealth reforms in differentindustrialized countries.

For further information:www.issa.int (“Publications”)Subscribers receive Trends inSocial Security free of charge.Subscriptions: Institutionalrates/annual: £72 or US$115;£33 (Eastern Europe & De-veloping World); personalrates/annual: £30 or US$48(Canadian customers/residentsplease add 7% for GST).

Distributed by BlackwellPublishers Journals, PO Box805, 108 Cowley Road, Ox-ford OX4 1FH, United King-dom (tel. +44(0)1865.244.083,fax: +44(0)1865.381.381;email: [email protected]).

Controversial questions surrounding employ-ment abound, many revolving around theclosely related issues of insecurity, flexi-bility and the role of market forces. All thearticles in the first issue of 2000 help toclarify the ways in which constructive socialpolicy in this area can contribute to goodemployment outcomes consistent with econ-omic logic and globalization.

First of all, in a continuation of the Review’sattempt to encourage multidisciplinary in-quiry, G. M. Kelly reflects on concepts ofwork as typically presented in cultural, econ-omic and statistical form. The “archaeologi-cal” sweep of “Employment and conceptsof work in the new global economy” takesthe reader from early Christian writings, theReformation and Calvinist ideology of workthrough “the secularization of work as afactor of production in the industrial ma-chine,” the Marxian focus on work, and thecommodification of labour. This has rel-evance for the very contemporary debate onmorality and economics, and on the placeof work among fundamental values. He be-lieves that in the long term, “the marketclearing orientation is likely to be seen moreclearly as offensive to human rights anddignity and thus found unsustainable”. Witha revival of the concept of political com-munity, he argues, we might well make progress“on the road back from radical individualism[and] the sovereignty of greed”.

Then Bernard Gernigon, Alberto Oderoand Horacio Guido underline the contem-porary importance of collective bargainingin “ILO principles concerning collectivebargaining”. The dramatic developments ofthe past decade in the world economy andin political systems have had their impacton the form and style of bargaining, but havenot undercut its value. On the contrary. Ina world of widespread insecurity and un-restrained capital flows, the protection af-forded workers by freely entered collectiveagreements with management assumes greatimportance. The authors demonstrate thatthe ILO has not been idle in this area, thatit has in fact supported the practical evol-ution of the application of the enduringprinciples of freedom of association and theright to collective bargaining.

The strictness of employment protectionis a frequent target of those who advocatethe primacy of market forces. That viewtypically rests on the argument that priorityto employment security contributes import-antly to unemployment and discourages jobcreation. The discussion on this question is

severely hampered by seriously inadequatemeasures of protection, the important sub-ject addressed by Giuseppe Bertola, TitoBoeri and Sandrine Cazes in “Employmentprotection in industrialized countries: Thecase for new indicators”. The topic mayseem narrowly technical, but many haverushed to endorse outdated, simplistic in-dicators which are deeply flawed. If wehave no useful indicators of the extent ofprotection, then policies formulated on thebasis of those poor indicators are them-selves suspect. The authors demonstratethat “available rankings of employment pro-tection are too imperfect and imprecise toinform the debate on...reforms and cannotbe used to monitor structural reforms inthe labour market”. Yet indicators are in-deed needed, because the question of rela-tive flexibility cannot be avoided in theanalysis of comparative employment per-formance. Thus, serious research to de-velop indicators which capture the com-plexity of employment protection must bea priority.

Then Vincenzo Spieza addresses anotherpresumed villain in the poor employmentperformance of a number of industrializedcountries – the generosity of unemploy-ment benefits. In “The effects of benefitson unemployment and wages: A compari-son of unemployment compensation sys-tems”, he makes a strong theoretical casefor examining the impactsof assistance andinsurance separately, and shows that thereis no reason to expect unemployment in-surance to contribute to higher levels ofunemployment. If assistance is the instru-ment of choice for promoting social equity,then generous unemployment compensa-tion can be consistent with a superioremployment performance. This is a findingof substantial practical importance in sup-port of the moral case for social policy inthis age of flexibility.

The Books section highlights a great manyimportant themes. Starting with the argu-ment for global public goods, reviews andnotes take up “the therapeutic corporation”,the economics of child labour, labour anddemocracy in Namibia, images of poverty,the French employment debate, industrialincentives in the United States, and healthissues. And there are notes on 15 new ILOpublications.

Note: Starting with Volume 138 (1999) the InternationalLabour Review is for sale online – by volume, issueand individual article – and in English, French andSpanish.

■ International Labour Review

ccess to decent work is an antidote tosocial exclusion right across our globaleconomy. SEED seeks to unlock the potentialfor creating more and better jobs in the smallenterprise sector. Since this is where mostwomen and men earn their living now – inmicro and small enterprises, in self-employment, as homeworkers – this is wherepolicies, regulations, business training, marketdevelopment, and organization building canmatter most.

This is exactly what the InternationalLabour Conference confirmed in 1998 byadopting Recommendation No.189 on “Job Creation in Small and Medium-sizedEnterprises.” It offers a vision of a vibrant, job-creating, poverty-fighting small enterprisesector. Now SEED is working withgovernments, social partners andcommunities to craft new policy tools,invigorate entrepreneurship and managementtraining, and involve small business in newmarkets. The Programme conducts research

on what works where and why to boostemployment through small enterprisedevelopment.

As one of the ILO’s new InFocusProgrammes, SEED builds on the ILO’s thirtyyears of experience in supporting smallenterprise development. SEED’s mission is tostrengthen understanding of howdevelopment of this economic sector canbetter serve employment goals. Mostimportantly, this knowledge is being put towork through policy guidance, technicalassistance and international advocacy. ILO concerns and values drive our work toimprove job quality in small enterprises,increase economic opportunities for women,promote representative associations ofemployers and workers in the sector, andupgrade employment for workers in theinformal economy.

For more information about SEED, seeinsert in this issue.

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For further information, please contact:Phone: +4122/7996862, Fax: +4122/7997978e-mail: [email protected] Labour Office, Job Creation and Enterprise Department, IFP/SED4, route des Morillons, CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland www.ilo.org/sed

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people on the move - international labour organization · 2014. 6. 9. · world of work – no. 34...

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