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GB.271/STM/1
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Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues |
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FIRST ITEM ON THE AGENDA
Follow-up activities on sectoral meetings held in 1996-97
Introduction
1. One of the outcomes of the evaluation of the Sectoral Activities Programme was the agreement by the Governing Body that " ... the Office should report to the Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues each biennium on the follow-up action it had taken in each sector. The stimulus for follow-up action by the Office will be the conclusions and resolutions adopted by the meetings themselves."(1)
2. This first report under the new system of meetings for the revised groups of sectors provides information on follow-up action on the requests made by the ten meetings held during the biennium 1996-97. It does not cover other sector-specific activities (including follow-up on meetings held before 1996) that were already planned before the new programme of meetings started. Subsequent reports to the Committee will show a more complete picture of the follow-up on the new meetings, since requests for follow-up action will be included in the future programme and budget proposals of the Sectoral Activities Department and other departments and MDTs as appropriate, and a report made each biennium.
3. All requests from meetings for the Office to undertake follow-up action are circulated Office-wide following each meeting. The departments, offices and multidisciplinary teams concerned are asked to take the requests into account when carrying out their existing programmes and in preparing their future activities. While the Sectoral Activities Department is sometimes able to undertake a limited amount of follow-up action shortly after the end of a sectoral meeting, the nature of the programme and budget cycle precludes rapid reaction by other areas of the Office unless a request is in line with an existing or planned programme of activity.
4. The circulation of the Note on the proceedings of each meeting -- to all member States and, through them, to the national employers' and workers' organizations concerned, and to the international organizations of employers and workers concerned and, where appropriate, to intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations -- ensures that the requests for action at the national level and by the Office are widely disseminated. In addition, the new home pages of the Sectoral Activities Department and the Hotel and Tourism Branch on the Internet provide links to recent meetings, the reports of the discussions, and the conclusions and resolutions adopted. Articles on recent meetings and their outcome also appear in the World of Work, which is published in 12 languages.
5. At the sectoral level there is continuing close contact with constituents, both direct and through sector-specific newsletters and other means, to develop and undertake follow-up action. The new sectoral briefing kit and an updated list of sectoral publications have been widely circulated and are stimulating interest in the programme.
Sectoral and other meetings, 1996-97
6. Ten sectoral meetings were held during 1996-97; seven of which adopted conclusions and resolutions, and one which adopted conclusions. One was a meeting of experts that developed a new code of practice; one was a symposium with no formal conclusions, but at which a number of suggestions were made for follow-up action by the Office.
7. The 84th Session of the International Labour Conference dealing with maritime issues was also held in 1996. For completeness, follow-up action on the resolutions adopted by the Maritime Conference is also reported in this paper, as is the outcome of the 28th Session of the Joint Maritime Commission, held immediately after the maritime session.
8. Requests for follow-up generally fall into one of five categories:
- promotion of the ratification and application of specific international labour standards;
- research and the publication and dissemination of the results;
- the organization of sector-specific local, national and regional meetings;
- the collection and dissemination of sector-specific information and data;
- the provision of technical advisory services and technical cooperation.
The extent to which follow-up action is undertaken by the Sectoral Activities Department, by other departments at headquarters, or in the field depends on the nature of the request and the availability of resources -- both personnel and financial.
9. The following paragraphs summarize, for each of the sectoral meetings held in 1996-97, follow-up activity that has been completed, is under way, or for which resources are committed.
10. Several meetings requested that the Office reinforce its action in order to urge governments to ratify and apply one or more of the seven core labour standards. The campaign for ratification of these basic rights Conventions has been an important part of the Office's work programme over the last two years and has shown significant results in terms of new ratifications (as reported to the Governing Body at its 270th Session and in a paper before it at its present session).(2) More generally, requests for action by sectoral meetings have proved helpful in the examination of the needs for revision of the relevant Conventions submitted to the LILS Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards.
Tripartite Meeting on Social and Labour Issues
concerning Migrant Workers in the Construction Industry
(4-8 March 1996)
11. The conclusions called on the Office to determine why there are relatively few ratifications of the Conventions on migrant workers (Migration for Employment Convention (Revised), 1949 (No. 97); Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions) Convention, 1975 (No. 143)). The Committee of Experts will carry out a General Survey of these Conventions and their Recommendations at its 1998 session, for presentation to the International Labour Conference in 1999. It will examine in particular the possible needs for revision of these instruments, including the question of the low level of ratification.
12. In the context of assisting migrant sending and receiving countries, the Office is leading the work of the Working Group on International Migration established by the ACC Task Force on Basic Social Services for All. Within the framework of this working group, a Technical Symposium on International Migration and Development will be held in The Hague (29 June-3 July 1998). Also in 1998, the Office will organize a tripartite interregional seminar on achieving equality for (im)migrant workers. An informal network on foreign labour in Central and Eastern Europe was launched in 1996. The project aims at strengthening governments' capacity to deal with international migration in the region. A Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Future ILO Activities in the Field of Migration was held in Geneva (21-25 April 1997). The meeting reviewed Office proposals on protection issues related to workers engaged under temporary migration schemes; migrant workers recruited by private agents for employment in another country; and a new Office instrument aimed at protecting migrant workers not falling under Convention-based procedures. Each of these categories of worker is prevalent in the construction sector. The report of the meeting was approved by the Governing Body at its 270th Session.(3)
13. In response to a request to prepare a study on the impact of globalization in the construction industry, the Sectoral Activities Department has just published a working paper (Ryo Kawano: The impact of globalization on the construction industry: Activities of contractors and workers across borders, ILO, Geneva, 1998).
14. A resolution concerning urban employment and job creation in the construction industry requested the Office to play a leading role in follow-up on the Habitat Agenda. In response to the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II),(4) the Office will carry out a programme of technical assistance -- the Urban Employment Programme -- which has the objective of developing the capacity of constituents to create jobs and alleviate poverty in the urban informal economy. The ILO's forthcoming Labour-management guidelines are designed specifically for employers' and workers' organizations to combine employment policy concerns with labour standards in the construction industry.
15. As follow-up on a resolution on public procurement for construction services and labour clauses, the Office helped set up and participated in a meeting with the World Bank's Senior Manager for Procurement Policy and Coordination and a delegation from the International Federation of Building and Wood Workers (IFBWW) in February 1997 to discuss the results of the review of labour protection clauses in construction contracts of World Bank client countries. Following this meeting, the IFBWW was invited to visit World Bank-funded sites to review workers' living and working conditions and compliance with labour standards. The Office also attended an expert seminar on the World Bank's Inspection Panel, a new mechanism through which the Bank can review violations of human rights that might occur in projects that it funds.
Joint Meeting on the Impact of Structural Adjustment
on Educational Personnel
(22-26 April 1996)
16. In the area of employment, the report of a country study undertaken as part of follow-up on the Social Summit contains a chapter on education and employment, including teachers (Hungary: Country review on employment and sustainable livelihoods (ILO, Budapest, 1997)). Three joint regional, subregional and national seminars and symposia which included participants from private school employers have been organized by the ILO, two of them jointly with UNESCO: for the Arab States in Amman, Jordan; for French- and Portuguese-speaking countries of West Africa in Dakar, Senegal; and for higher education teaching personnel of Romania in Brasov, the latter involving observers from other countries in the region. The seminars responded to the request to promote increased dialogue on improvements in teachers' status and development in the context of economic austerity and the dissemination of best practices. The ILO also participated in a regional seminar for Eastern and Central Europe, organized by the World Confederation of Teachers. A study visit to Geneva of South African government and trade union officials was organized to assist in resolving problems related to education-sector labour relations. A report on research and national workshops for women teachers in French-speaking countries of West Africa was published (Les femmes dans les filières techniques et professionnelles: Situation des enseignantes dans quatre pays ouest-Africains (Bénin, Côte d'Ivoire, Mali et Sénégal), July 1996), and a consultation on feminization in the teaching profession was held with Education International. There are resources in the 1998-99 Programme and Budget for studies on the other subjects identified as priorities by the Meeting and to hold seminars or workshops as requested.
17. Most of the issues referred to in the Meeting's conclusions and resolutions were also the subject of preparatory work for the Special Session of the Joint ILO/UNESCO Committee of Experts on the Application of the Recommendation concerning the Status of Teachers (CEART, Paris, 15-18 September 1997),whose Report (January 1998) will be examined by the Committee on Legal Issues and International Standards at the present session.(5) A comprehensive survey on indicators for teachers was commissioned by the ILO and UNESCO in 1997 and is expected to lead to the start of a long-term project on the subject in 1998-99, fulfilling a request by CEART and by the Meeting. Information on teachers' salaries has been shared with UNICEF.
18. Additionally, extensive work on higher education teachers' status has been carried out in the context of elaborating the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of Higher-Education Teaching Personnel, adopted by the General Conference of UNESCO in November 1997 following several years of consultations with the ILO.(6)
Tripartite Meeting on Social and Labour Problems
caused by Structural Adjustments in the Port Industry
(20-24 May 1996)
19. The conclusions called, inter alia, for the results of the meeting to be disseminated through the holding of tripartite workshops. Three national workshops on structural adjustment and human resources were held in 1996-97 in Brazil, India and Indonesia, plus a regional workshop in the Philippines. The views expressed will be used as a basis for further discussions between the governments and the social partners in the restructuring of their ports.
20. In the area of cargo-handling in ports, the application of relevant ILO instruments has remained the principal basis for ensuring the safety and health of portworkers. In the United States, for example, new regulations on portworker safety and health include the provision of the Occupational Safety and Health (Dock Work) Convention, 1979, No. 152, instead of the earlier Convention (No. 32).
21. The resolution requested the Office to study the difficulties in ratifying and applying the Dock Work Convention, 1973 (No. 137), and its accompanying Recommendation (No. 145). At its 270th Session the Governing Body decided, on the recommendation of the Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards and the Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards itself, to maintain the status quo regarding Convention No. 137, to invite member States to submit reports under Article 19 of the Constitution in respect of Convention No. 137, and to request the Committee of Experts to carry out a General Survey on the matter. The Governing Body also decided that the status of Convention No. 137 should be re-examined in due course.
22. The resolution also requested the Office to promote and develop the Portworker Development Programme (PDP). Promotion of this centrally prepared material for the training of portworkers has been a priority activity. The testing of the material in Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania was positively evaluated by a joint donor/ILO evaluation team. Assistance to the two countries is continuing. At the request of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa, the ILO undertook a training needs survey of that region's ports and is currently preparing a proposal for the Association for a regional training programme based on PDP. A brochure on PDP has been prepared and distributed to interested parties, and missions have been undertaken to follow up on the interest expressed by various port authorities and governments (Brazil, Costa Rica, Cuba, India, Mauritius, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Philippines and Uruguay). Specific proposals for technical assistance are now being prepared and discussed with the various parties involved. In India, for example, with the support of the Government of the Netherlands, the ILO is carrying out a major training needs assessment for five container ports, and a large-scale PDP-based project for the training of container handling staff in these ports is proposed. In Brazil a PDP course for container terminal staff was held, and a programme of training for a wider range of container terminal workers is expected to be undertaken. Discussions are progressing on the financing of the translation of the course material into Spanish.
Tripartite Meeting on Improving the Conditions
of Employment and Work of Agricultural Wage Workers
in the Context of Economic Restructuring
(23-27 September 1996)
23. In response to requests to carry out research and on recent trends and developments in the agricultural sector, the Office has recently completed studies on working conditions in the flower sector in Colombia and Ecuador, which will be supplemented in 1998 by similar studies in Kenya and Zimbabwe. The studies highlight the employment implications of the diversification of the agricultural base, with particular reference to the occupational safety and health aspects of using agrochemicals. The case-studies will be synthesized and published together with an overview of the world flower industry to draw out the implications of the rapid expansion of international trade in flowers.
24. Studies on workers' living standards and workers' organizations in the sugar cane industry in developing countries have been undertaken. As sugar exports still dominate trade in many of these countries, questions relating to the distribution of the gains from trade have been addressed. The results of the studies will be published in mid-1998.
25. A major project to study the impact of globalization on agricultural workers and food security commenced late in 1997. Country studies will be undertaken in China, Colombia, Ghana, Guyana, Malaysia, Mexico, Sri Lanka, Uganda and Viet Nam, and will examine the role of agriculture under globalization from the point of view of employment creation and workers' living standards. Export diversification and new methods of production will be highlighted. Individual country studies will be published as working papers, and the collected country studies with a synthesis as a monograph. National workshops will be organized in some of the countries. The project is expected to be completed in mid-1999.
26. The ILO played an active role at the World Food Summit in November 1996 where a Deputy Director-General delivered a major speech on the role of the agricultural sector from the point of view of employment, poverty and food security.
Tripartite Meeting on the Globalization of the Footwear,
Textiles and Clothing Industries: Effects on employment
and working conditions
(28 October-1 November 1996)
27. There was considerable interest at the Meeting in the potential of voluntary codes of conduct, adopted by enterprises or employers' organizations, as instruments for promoting basic human rights at work. At the Meeting's request, the Office carried out research and published a working paper on the codes of ethics adopted in those industries (J.-P. Sajhau: Business ethics in the textile, clothing and footwear (TCF) industries: Codes of conduct, Geneva, ILO, 1997). This paper has aroused substantial interest among a range of sectoral constituents, non-governmental organizations and the general public, and has enjoyed wide distribution.
28. The Meeting called on the Office "to continue work already initiated concerning codes of conduct in the TCF industries, possibly including the development of models that could be used with suitable adaptation in particular countries". Consequently, in July 1997, the Office organized tripartite pilot workshops in four Asian countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand) on codes of conduct in the TCF industries. The participants expressed interest in follow-up activities that might lead to the formulation and adoption of national codes of conduct that could be adopted by interested enterprises on a voluntary basis. The Office was requested to provide technical assistance and advisory support to achieve this objective. Similar workshops will be held in other countries, the first in Mauritius in the first half of 1998.
29. To follow up on a request to carry out further research work focusing specifically on the problems facing homeworkers in the TCF industries, the Office will shortly publish a Sectoral Activities Department working paper reporting on its research.
30. The Office is also preparing two country studies (Indonesia and the Philippines) on the best training and retraining practices in the textile and clothing industries. These studies might be used at a later stage as background material for a subregional workshop the ILO envisages to hold in Asia on this topic during the present biennium.
31. The Meeting adopted a resolution concerning child labour. The Office continues to work very closely with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child to promote the implementation of the Convention. The work of IPEC has been widely reported to the Governing Body. Two examples concerning the TCF sectors are: collaboration between the ILO and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers' and Export Association (BGMEA) on a comprehensive and effective monitoring and verification system to ensure that BGMEA factories and their subcontractors do not employ children under the age of 14 years; and a Partners' Agreement between the ILO, the Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and UNICEF with a view to the gradual elimination of child labour in the production of soccer balls. The ILO is also stepping up its work with the Pakistan Carpet Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PCMEA). Over the next year they will work together to design a monitoring component for the programme similar to that designed for soccer ball manufacturers. It is also envisaged that the number of training centres providing rehabilitation to former child workers will be expanded.
Symposium on Multimedia Convergence
(27-29 January 1997)(7)
32. Although no conclusions or resolutions were adopted, the symposium did provide the Office with many suggestions and proposals from participants for activities to be carried out in the future for the media, culture and graphical sector, particularly in the fields of employment, training and labour relations, as well as regional activities and seminars.
33. In response to requests by both the employers' and workers' participants at the symposium to review working and social conditions and new forms of employment in this sector, work has commenced on two studies on the effects of the far-reaching transformation of the entertainment and media industries through digital technologies and on the employment and social situation of actors and musicians. They will be published in 1998. A regional seminar in Brazil in 1998 will analyse specific regional issues and approaches concerning the rapidly changing employment and working conditions of performers, actors and musicians.
34. Also in response to a request from the symposium, the ILO has continued to develop its involvement in the field of intellectual property rights related to the work of performers, actors, authors and journalists. The ILO was represented at the World Congress on the Implementation of the UNESCO Recommendation concerning the Status of the Artist (Paris, 16-20 June 1997). The Final Declaration of the Congress invited the ILO, among others, to conduct global studies on the employment and working conditions of artists, in particular those relating to safety and health. The Office was an official member of the secretariat of the meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee for the Application of the International Convention for the Protection of Performers, Producers of Phonograms and Broadcasting Organizations (Rome Convention, 1961 -- Paris, 30 June-2 July 1997). The ILO was requested by government members of the Committee to develop, collect and disseminate information on training and retraining activities, initiatives and programmes in regard to the impact of multimedia convergence on social and labour conditions. In this regard, the Office was also asked to organize regional and subregional seminars to raise awareness among the social partners of the implications of convergence and to promote structures for dialogue within the multimedia industries. The two studies and regional seminar mentioned above respond simultaneously to this request of the Rome Convention Committee and to the invitation by the 1997 World Congress on the Status of the Artist.
35. The Intergovernmental Committee Meeting for the Rome Convention also requested the ILO to develop further its involvement in the field of intellectual property rights related to the work of performers, authors, journalists and other intellectual workers. The question of revising the Rome Convention to extend certain rights to performers involved in audiovisual productions was raised, and the Intergovernmental Committee requested the secretariat (ILO, UNESCO and WIPO) to prepare a study on the relationship between the Rome Committee and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (December 1996) and the implications for the future of the Rome Convention. This study will be prepared jointly by the ILO, UNESCO and WIPO in 1998 in preparation for the next Intergovernmental Committee Meeting in 1999. The Office was also represented as an observer at the WIPO Committee of Experts meeting on a protocol concerning audiovisual performances (Geneva, 15, 16 and 19 September 1997). The proposal for such a protocol is a consequence of the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT, December 1996) which, even though it extended new rights to performers, excluded them from certain rights in relation to audiovisual productions. The Office continues to follow closely these developments to ensure the promotion of a tripartite approach in addressing employment issues and working conditions related to the media, culture and graphical sector.
Tripartite Meeting on the Effects of New Technologies
on Employment and Working Conditions in the Hotel,
Catering and Tourism Sector
(12-16 May 1997)
36. The conclusions, inter alia, called on the Office to ensure that follow-up in member States includes technical cooperation and advisory services concerning human resources development; training including management training, productivity enhancement and the environment. Since the meeting, seven advisory missions (Cambodia, Fiji, Mongolia, Nigeria, Slovenia, United Republic of Tanzania and Ukraine) on human resources development and small enterprise development have been carried out. In the context of examining obstacles to the ratification of the Working Conditions (Hotels and Restaurants) Convention, 1991 (No. 172), the Office provided advice to the Government of India on the possibility of ratification in the light of existing national legislation.
37. In relation to improving access to accurate data on employment and working conditions in the sector, a consultancy on these labour statistics was completed in December 1997 with a view to increasing the amount of statistical data collected by the ILO and to cooperate with the OECD and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) on tourism satellite accounts.
38. Cooperation with intergovernmental, employers' and workers' organizations to address problems relating to the sector has been enhanced through the Office's contribution to various conferences organized by the WTO, OECD, the European Commission and the International Hotel and Restaurant Association.
39. In response to a request in a resolution concerning the sexual exploitation of children and child labour, the Office has commenced an externally funded study on combating child labour in the hotel, catering and tourism sector worldwide.
Tripartite Meeting of Experts on Safety and Health
in Forest Work
(23-30 September 1997)(8)
40. The Meeting adopted a Code of practice on occupational safety and health in forest work which is being actively promoted, together with the provision of advisory services to assist constituents in its implementation. Several mutually supporting activities were undertaken in parallel with the preparation of the Code. The fourth edition of the Encyclopaedia of Occupational Health and Safety contains a chapter on forestry that points to the Code as the authoritative guide to practical prevention. Two manuals that will form part of an information and training package on the Code have been drafted, one on labour inspection, the other a guide to the formulation of national codes of practice. The new Code provides an ideal basis for the safety-related aspects of broader national codes of practice. The Office has evaluated the impact of a national code of logging practice that was introduced in connection with an ILO logging-training project. The findings were positive and were used in drafting the manual mentioned above.
41. The Office played an important role in the preparation and tripartite adoption of a national code of practice for forest plantations in Chile in 1997, suggesting the code approach and providing procedural and practical advice during its formulation. ILO support is now directed at implementation and the monitoring of code compliance. A training course for labour inspectors organized and held in November 1997 will lead to the definition of inspection procedures for forestry early in 1998, which will also serve as a tool for monitoring the implementation of the Code. Similar work is under way in Zimbabwe, where a second draft of a national forestry code of practice is being discussed, and Uruguay is interested in using the ILO Code as the basis for its national regulations. The preparation of national codes of practice is very cost-effective, and the Office is seeking extra-budgetary resources to supplement its limited internal resources for this follow-up activity.
Tripartite Meeting on the Iron and Steel Workforce
of the Twenty-first Century: What it will be like
and how it will work
(27-31 October 1997)(9)
42. The conclusions of this Meeting include a request that the ILO actively encourage member States to ratify and implement the seven "core" labour standards. Activity on these standards is covered above. The conclusions also called on the Office, in view of the impact of globalization on the iron and steel industry, to develop a means to facilitate the sharing of comparative information on working conditions, work practices and training in the industry. A study of innovative approaches and methods for flexible training delivery will be undertaken this biennium. The objective is to offer guidance on flexible training delivery methods as a means of enhancing employability, mobility and adaptability of the labour force to changes in labour markets. A case-study will be devoted to the development of company-specific and industry-specific training programmes. It is planned to publish a working paper in September 1998 entitled: "Towards more flexibility in training delivery: A review of some experiences to rationalize the provision of vocational qualifications". A monograph Work organization and ergonomics is due to be published shortly. It is designed to assist in the combining of human resources, new technologies and a quality working environment in a "positive-sum game" to achieve greater competitiveness and success. A new programme to examine the relationship between certain safety and health regulations and various working time arrangements has just started. Its results could be of interest to this industry.
43. The ILO was asked to continue to promote widely the Tripartite Declaration of Principles concerning Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy. Activities carried out by the Office include participation in, and co-sponsorship of, national and regional tripartite meetings and seminars, the briefing of delegates to the International Labour Conference and individual visitors from government institutions, employers' and workers organizations, universities and non-governmental organizations. Groups on study tours organized by various ILO departments, the International Institute for Labour Studies and the International Training Centre of the ILO (Turin), are also apprised of the aims and recommendations of the Declaration. The main objective of these activities is to increase awareness of this voluntary instrument and to encourage its observance in all industries and sectors worldwide. Consequently, they cover the iron and steel industries. As part of ongoing efforts to make the Declaration widely known, the text of this voluntary instrument has been published in 30 languages. The English, French and Spanish versions can be accessed from the ILOLEX database via the Internet, and a web site devoted to the ILO's Programme on Multinational Enterprises and Social Policy is planned.
Tripartite Meeting on Breaking through the Glass Ceiling:
Women in management
(15-19 December 1997)(10)
44. The Meeting urged the widespread ratification of several Conventions, including two of the "core" Conventions covered above. The Committee of Experts plays close attention, inter alia, to indicators of women's access to higher-level positions as an indicator of whether equality of opportunity and treatment really exist.
45. The development in 1997 of training materials for management development institutions to use in training trainers and women managers in Africa, including a General trainer's guide jointly produced by the ILO and the University of Alberta, is an example of an early response to requests for a wide range of measures to promote women in management in the public and private sectors, as well as to promote gender equality in general. During 1998 follow-up activities will be carried out to promote the training materials and to develop women in management units in management development institutes in Africa. Also in 1998 the Office will launch a study on modern management approaches, including diversity management, to assess their effectiveness in promoting women in management.
28th Session of the Joint Maritime Commission
(22 October 1996)
46. Based on a report prepared by the Office, at its 28th Session in 1996 the Joint Maritime Commission agreed to revise the minimum basic pay or wage figure for able seamen in accordance with the Seafarers' Wages, Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Recommendation, 1996 (No. 187). The figure is used as a benchmark for different categories of seafarers when collective agreements are negotiated nationally and internationally.
Follow-up on the 84th (Maritime) Session of the
International Labour Conference
(October 1996)
47. As requested by the Conference, the Office, together with the International Maritime Organization (IMO), has prepared draft guidelines for the development of tables of seafarers' shipboard working arrangements and formats of records of seafarers' hours of work or hours of rest. The drafts were revised by an ILO/IMO Working Group in January 1998 and will be submitted to the Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues at its meeting in November 1998.
48. The Conference adopted a resolution on the application of the revised placing of Seamen Convention, 1920 (No. 9) which contained a request for the early convening of a tripartite meeting for the fishing sector to assess which of the other ILO maritime instruments should be applied to the fishing sector through the adoption of appropriate protocols, and/or the adoption of new international labour standards for the sector and, in this regard, to place the issue of new labour standards for fishermen on the agenda of an early session of the International Labour Conference. A Tripartite Meeting on Safety and Health in the Fishing Industry will be held in the second half of 1999. One part of the report to be prepared for the meeting will review ILO standards adopted specifically for fishermen. The LILS Working Party on Policy regarding the Revision of Standards has agreed on a "fast track" to deal with these standards. The Working Party and the LILS will discuss Office proposals, prepared after consultation with the International Transport Worker's Federation and the International Organization of Employers, at the November 1998 session of the Governing Body, and the outcome will be included in the report for the tripartite meeting.
49. Another resolution concerned the inspection of seafarers' working and living conditions, and requested a further meeting of experts (a tripartite ILO meeting of experts adopted in 1989 guidelines for procedures for the inspection of labour conditions on board ship) to review the guidelines in the light of the Conventions adopted by the Conference, and for the promotion of the widest possible use of such guidelines. A draft revised code of practice to be prepared this biennium will be the basis for discussion by a tripartite committee of experts at a subsequent meeting.
50. The Committee on Sectoral and Technical Meetings and Related Issues is invited to take note of and comment on this information concerning follow-up action arising from requests of sectoral and other meetings held in 1996-97.
Geneva, 11 February 1998.
2. GB.270/LILS/5 and GB.271/LILS/6.