Support for Labour Law Reform in the Pacific

There has been a growing commitment among ILO member States in the Pacific to better implement International Labour Standards through labour law reform. ILO is currently providing technical assistance to Kiribati, Palau, Samoa, Tuvalu, Tonga and Vanuatu

News | 19 September 2014
Over the last 12 month the labour law reform project continues to effectively deliver and work towards addressing the recognized need to modernise labour laws for adequate levels of protection for workers and employers across the Pacific.

The Pacific is a region like no other, for its sheer geographical size, diversity, and challenges. Capacity constraints faced by labour administration to develop evidence based policy in consultation with social partners continues to be the most significant challenge in the region across all countries engaged in labour law reform.

To address these challenges, the ILO Office of Pacific Island Countries is working with member states on a range of practical strategies to reinforce local capacities to develop labour policy through strengthening social dialogue. This includes supporting the establishment new tripartite labour advisory bodies and providing training on Good Practice Tripartism with support from the ILO’s International Training Center. Over the last 12 months this training has been delivered to national tripartite labour advisory bodies in PNG, Samoa and Vanuatu.

A further challenge for governments developing labour Bills is to ensure law reform is grounded in the realities of what is practical and realistic in small States. In the Pacific, labour administrations are often very small, sometimes just three people, who have a range of responsibilities – which puts enormous pressure on resources simply to do what is needed, let alone undertake a law reform process and implement it.

As countries move towards developing final labour Bills, the ILO has been providing support throughout 2014 for capacity assessments to assist labour administrations as well as representative organisations of employers and workers identify capability and capacity needs to implement new legislative roles and responsibilities. This work is being undertaken in Kiribati, Samoa, PNG, Tonga and Vanuatu.

In a nutshell, ILO continues to provide technical support to Vanuatu, PNG, Kiribati and Tuvalu that are currently in the phase of modernizing their labour laws and within this process assist other member countries to prepare for legislative compliance reviews.