Transcript A1-08180 Trade Union Policies for Decent Work

A1-08180
Trade Union Policies for Decent Work
Generation for Young Workers
ITCILO, Turin, 16 to 27 February 2015
Lusophone and Anglophone Africa
Trade Union Approach and Actions
on Informality and Labour Migration
Labour Informality
 Pervasive characteristic of the African labour markets
 Persisting and expanding [informal economy remains
widespread in most African countries]
 Close correlation between poor and working informally
[working poor]
 Large army of working poor: concept of mass + cheap production for
export – the current global model that is perpetuating a race to the
bottom
 Higher informality rates for women and youth
 Workers in the informal economy are either not covered
or insufficiently covered by social security systems
Categories of Workers in the Informal Economy
 Unregistered workers (those in a genuine employment relationship but who do
not enjoy any rights - the situation is worse if they are migrants in irregular situation or if
their employer is unregistered);
 Under-registered workers (those who receive part of their earnings informally –
they are registered as part-time workers but in fact work full-time – which means that less
taxes are paid on their behalf);
 Disguised workers (those who perform the same tasks as employees in regular
situation but often do not have the same rights because they are employed under different
contracts such as civil or commercial contracts);
 Ambiguous workers (those about whom doubts are raised concerning whether
they are employees or not);
Categories of Workers in the Informal Economy
 Vulnerable own-account workers (those who are genuinely self-employed
but are vulnerable and exploited);
 Employees in precarious situations (fixed-term, part-time or temporary
workers who may not enjoy the same rights as workers in regular situation, or do not enjoy
the same rights in practice);
 Special cases (domestic workers, home workers, and other types of workers who are
not always covered by employment laws); and
 Workers in triangular relationships (often, one does not know who the
employer is because of the involvement of one or more third parties to the relationship; this
includes situations where one resorts to an employment agency, or where there is
franchising – see brief on the employment relationship).
Reasons for Informality
Demand-side Causes [pull-effects]
 Capital intensive growth which orients public and private support
institutions away from SMEs
 Needs of urban poor for cheap goods and services
 Avoidance of high taxation
 Governments’ avoidance of social protection burdens
 Bribery and cumbersome procedures for formalization
 Less incentives for OSHE investment
 Avoidance of trade unions
Continues…
Supply-side Causes [push-effects]
 Internal constraints brought about by poverty
 Inadequate human capital accumulation [low education and
training and ability to manage risks and income]
 Difficulty [or impossibility] to find employment with formal
employers
 Economic restructuring processes including privatization
leading to shrinkage of employment and wages in public
services
 Population growth and migration
 Mis-match between demand and supply in the labour market
 The scourge of the HIV and AIDS epidemic
Continues…
On the External Environment
Globalization and greater competiveness that force
companies to rely on:
Atypical and non-standard work arrangements that are less
costly to employers [But results in greater precariousness
for workers]
Financial and economic crises [austerity policies]
create new pressure on formal employment and often
result in the expansion of the informal economy
Why Are Trade Unions Concern About Informality?
Employment Gap:
 Total unemployment: 201 million (+ rising)
 31 million before the start of the global crisis
 The global jobs gap stood at 61 million in 2014
An additional 280 million jobs need to be created by 2019 to
close the gap caused by the crisis
 On current trends, global unemployment is expected to
remain at 3 million in 2015 and by a further 8 million in the
following 4 years
 About 74 million young people [aged 15-24 years] were
unemployed in 2014
 Current youth unemployment rate stands at 13%
Continues…
Rights Gap - unprotected and exploited workers:
Blatant denial of freedom of association and right to
collective bargaining
Poor working conditions [low or no pay – working poverty, limited or
no social security coverage, injustices in the distribution of the gains of
economic growth often resulting into growing inequality and the lack of equity,
etc.]
Forced labour: approximately 21 million people are
victims of forced labour [11.4m women + girls and 9.5m
men and boys]
Child labour:
168 children worldwide are trapped in child labour [85 million are in
involved in hazardous work – down from 171 million in 2000]
Victims of Forced Labour by Region
Victims of forced labour by region
Continues…
Social Protection Gaps
Limited social protection measures have worsened
economic insecurity and vulnerability:
73% of the world’s population do not access to
comprehensive social security
39% of the world’s population without right to coverage in
healthcare
Less than 10% covered in the least developed countries
20-60% covered in middle income countries
100% covered in the industrialised countries
Child + family programs rooted in legislation exist in 108
countries, yet often cover only small groups
Continues…
Occupational Safety and Health Gaps
 2.34 million people die from work-related accidents + diseases each
year
 2.02 million people die each year from work-related diseases alone
 321,000 people die each year from occupational accidents
 Non-fatal work-related injuries: 317 million
 Non-fatal work-related diseases per year: 160 million
This means that:
 Every 15 seconds, a worker dies from a work-related accident or
disease
 Every 15 seconds, 151 workers have a work-related accident
Critical Sectors
Agriculture
Mining
Construction
Informal Economy (accounted for >90% of New Jobs
in African countries in the last decade)
More than 80 feared
dead in --- mining
accident
Continues…
Social Dialogue Gap:
Gap in freedom of association
Lack of democratic foundations
Inappropriate legislative and policy framework
Lack od strong and independent workers’ and
employers’ organizations
Lack of technical knowledge and capacity as well as
access to information
Lack of capacity to reconcile interests + deliver on
agreements
Lack of political will to engage in social dialogue
Continues…
Other Considerations:
Productivity: firms too small? Barriers to
growth?
Indicator of non-progressive taxation system and
poor provision of public services
Indicator of legislative and regulatory distortions
Weak rule of law and Governance [enforcement
and compliance due to weak labour inspection]
Dividends of Formalization
Formalization brings:
Protection and improved conditions to workers
Fair competition and improved sustainability to
enterprises
Revenues and strengthened authority of
governments
Therefore the on-going discussion will hopefully lead
to ILO Constituents to adopt in June 2015 a standard
that will facilitate and pave the way for the transition
from the informal to the formal economy
Labour Migration
International Migration Stock by Origin and Destination, 2013
North
81.9
million
(35%)
South
53.7 million
(23%)
Total = 232
82.3 million
(36%)
North
13.7
million
(6%)
South
Labour Migration
 Labour mobility has become a key feature of globalization and the
global economy with migrants earning US$440 billion in 2011
 The World Bank estimating that more than US$350 billion of that total was
transferred to developing countries in the form of remittances
 When properly managed, labour migration has far-reaching potential
for the migrants, their communities, the countries of origin and
destination, and for employers
 Despite the efforts made to ensure the protection of migrant workers,
many remain vulnerable [suffer high levels of exploitation and
discrimination: new forms of racism and xenophobia]
 Demographic, Social and Economic factors are increasingly the
DRIVERS of migration
Fair Migration Agenda
The tenets of this agenda are:
 Making migration a choice by creating Decent Work opportunities
in countries of origin
 Respecting the human rights, including labour rights, of all migrants
 Ensuring fair recruitment and equal treatment of migrant workers
to prevent exploitation and levelling the playing field with nationals
 Forging stronger linkages between employment and labour
migration
 Involving Ministries of Labour, trade unions and employers’
organizations in migration policy making
 Fostering genuine cooperation between countries and with regions
Trade Union Actions on Informality
and Labour Migration
Political will and clarity of direction: getting TU leadership
to prioritize the organization of migrant workers and
workers in the informal economy
 FOA is both a fundamental right and a key stepping stone to the realization of
other dimensions of DECENT WORK
 C87 and C98 apply to all workers, including migrant worker and workers in the informal
economy
 Legal changes: trade unions need to demand necessary changes to
the laws to incorporate workers [including migrant workers] and
economic units in the informal economy into mainstream economy.
 Constitutional changes: changing trade union constitutions where
this is the obstacle to organizing migrant workers and workers in the
informal economy
 New organizing strategies that are more appropriate for reaching
out to migrant workers and workers in the informal economy
Continues…
 Appropriate policies and services: becoming acquainted with and
devising services for workers in marginalized sectors and for
migrant workers [campaign against racism, xenophobia and the
far right in local communities; document abuses suffered and
publicize the them] and give Migrant Workers the opportunity to
tell their stories to more people
 Address decent work deficits in the informal economy: including
actions to improve earnings, working condition, income security,
promote social dialogue and expand social security coverage
through tax-financed systems
 Lower the cost of transition to formality [and increase benefits of
formalization] through advocacy for an enabling policy and
regulatory environment
 Promote active labour market policies to assist all workers,
including migrant workers in the transition to formality
 Advocate for explicit formalization obligations for labour
inspection services
22
Continues…
 Support services:
 Provide an effective support service for migrant workers and workers in the
informal economy in need
 Maintain a close and consistent working relationship with service providers
 Learning from those doing it already:
 Through exchange visits or other engagement to profit from the
experiences of those who are already organizing migrant workers and
workers in the informal economy and thus avoid some of the mistakes and
replicate the more successful strategies — rather than re-invent the wheel.
Joint campaigns:
Around projecting the rights and position of migrant workers and workers in
the informal economy within trade unions, workplaces and the wider
society
Continues…
Tackling globalization: workers need to
confront the negative consequences of
globalization in a unified way
Taking a lead in civil society: if trade unions
are sufficiently representative of the working
people they will become the natural leaders of
any civil society movement
More enforcement
The End
Questions
Thank You!