July 2005

1. Article

   Decent food at work: Raising workers' productivity and well-being

   28 July 2005

   In the workplace, the main concerns of employers and trade unions seem to be safety, wages and job security. The question how do workers eat while at work is not always given much thought, according to a new ILO study. Too often the workplace meal programme is either an afterthought or not even considered by employers. But access to healthy food is as essential as protection from workplace chemicals or noise. The study demonstrates that good nutrition at work is good business leading to gains in productivity and worker morale, prevention of accidents and premature deaths, and reductions in health-care costs. Adequate nourishment can raise national productivity levels by 20 per cent and a 1 per cent kilocalorie (kcal) increase results in a 2.27 per cent increase in general labour productivity.

2. Article

   "Female future": employers' organizations address gender equity

   20 July 2005

   From Norway to New Zealand, via Croatia, Kenya, Jamaica, Malaysia and the Philippines, there is almost universal recognition that equality and educational opportunities for men and women and a better balance between work and family life are vital elements in achieving equality in employment. Though the situation of women varies considerably between countries, a new ILO study on employers' organizations addressing gender equity reveals that almost everywhere more could be done to promote effective gender equality in practice.

3. Article

   Fuelling Gender Equality in the Canadian Auto Workers Union

   11 July 2005

   The ILO Bureau for Gender Equality has included the Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) into its recent compilation of 25 good practices entitled "Gender Equality and Decent Work, Good Practices at the Workplace" ( Note 1). The CAW, Canada's largest private-sector union with about 260,000 members, has a long-standing reputation in promoting gender equality, advocating for women workers' rights and fostering women's activism.

4. Article

   Smoothing the way from education to employment: UK becomes first Western country in the Youth Employment Network

   05 July 2005

   During this year's International Labour Conference, the UK Parliamentary Under Secretary for the Department of Work and Pensions, James Plaskitt, MP, announced that the UK would join the Youth Employment Network (YEN). Mr. Plaskitt called the joint ILO, UN, World Bank network a "framework we can use to exchange our experiences with other countries". UK participation in the YEN comes just as the UK hosts a G8 summit and assumes the Presidency of the European Union and is a sign of the growing importance which the Millennium Goal of decent and productive work for young people is taking on within the intertwined global agenda for development and collective security.

5. Article

   Rethinking social security: pension reform in Latin America

   01 July 2005

   SANTIAGO de Chile (ILO on line) - In the past decade, many Latin American governments have radically restructured their old age income security systems, following the lead of Chile, which undertook its major pension reform in 1981. The defining characteristic of the reforms has been a shift in the basis of public pensions from social to individual responsibility. Numerous countries in the region, including Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay, have adopted a system that relies on individual savings accounts. The United States is considering a pension reform proposed by President George W. Bush which foresees a private system, similar to the one introduced in Chile in 1981. ILO online asked Fabio Bertranou, a Senior Social Security Specialist with the International Labour Office in Chile, about the pros and cons of private retirement plans.

June 2005

1. Article

   "Employment fuels development"

   28 June 2005

   The newly elected Chairman of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office (ILO), Carlos A. Tomada says employment should be seen as an important element of democratic stability and the fight against poverty. The link between employment, democracy and poverty will be on top of the agenda of the next Summit of the Americas scheduled in November in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata.

2. Article

   93rd International Labour Conference Closing the "hope gap": youth speak about finding jobs

   23 June 2005

   A recent high-level discussion held by the Youth Employment Network (YEN) brought international policy-makers face-to-face with young people to discuss the role of youth employment in the international development agenda. That agenda has been the subject of discussions here on finding solutions to the global youth employment crisis that will require the creations of tens of millions of new jobs for youth over the next decade just to maintain the current youth jobs status quo. The youth agreed they needed decent jobs. But how to translate this into projects and programmes that will close the youth hope gap? This feature examines the responses of young men and women.

3. Article

   93rd International Labour Conference Armenia: part of decent work is being safe at work

   22 June 2005

   Safety at work in Armenia has been deteriorating since the Soviet Union's collapse. The situation is typical for many transition countries but Armenia has taken the first steps now to promote safer and healthier working environments. Occupational safety and health was also on the agenda of the International Labour Conference which considered a new promotional framework in this area. Delegates decided to establish such a framework through a Convention supplemented by a Recommendation. The development of national occupational safety and health programmes and the continual improvement of national occupational safety and health systems would be at the heart of the new Convention to be adopted by a future Conference.

4. Article

   93rd International Labour Conference Azerbaijan: Leading the way to decent work for youth

   21 June 2005

   Delegates to the International Labour Conference discussed youth unemployment which has reached record levels in recent years. In Azerbaijan, young people account for 69 per cent of the country's unemployment. Olga Bogdanova from the ILO Office, Moscow, reports from Baku.

5. Article

   93rd International Labour Conference ILO Knowledge Fair: Uniting workers and employers to address the challenges of the informal economy

   17 June 2005

   As recent campaigns to end poverty have shown, a common cause links people worldwide: at the International Labour Organization's annual conference, a Knowledge Fair on the informal economy sponsored by the ILO secretariat with financial support from UK Department for International Development (DFID), has seen some interesting encounters. Shortly after the fair opened, a Mexican trade union leader established a warm rapport over shared concerns with a trade union leader from Cameroon despite their inability to speak each other's language fluently. What bridged the linguistic divide? Their struggle to achieve the same goal - social protection and rights for workers outside the formal economy. The Fair highlights examples of how action on decent work and the informal economy is critical to fighting poverty. In a panel on 13 June, employer and worker leaders stressed the need to look at the causes of informality. They voiced their commitment to promoting job creation and social protection, while ensuring that fundamental rights at work are respected wherever people work.