21 September 2021
The United States has just joined the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC), an initiative led by the ILO (International Labour Organization), UN Women, and the OECD, the mission of which is to achieve equal pay for women and men for work of equal value by 2030. Although US President John F. Kennedy signed the Equality Act into law on 10 June 1963, nearly 60 years later in 2021, an 18%-20% pay gap still exists between both genders. According to the Department of Labor, this gap is even wider in black and...
17 June 2021
On 15 June the European Commission launched the second stage consultation of European social partners on better protecting people working through platforms. This follows the Commission’s first consultation stage (c.f. article No.12304) that took place between 24 February and 07 April 2021, and that led to the Commission concluding there was a need for ‘further EU action to ensure basic labour standards and rights to people working through platforms measures’; a need made only more acute by the Covid-19...
4 May 2021
US$ 15 billion (€12,400 billion) over the next 2 years. This is financial support the UK government is helping to co-ordinate as the G7 host nation in order to fund businesses and services that promote the integration of women into the labour market in developing countries. This commitment has been placed on the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ meeting table, held under the UK Presidency in London (03-05 May), in a bid to work on joint responses to global threats. “This year, as we build back better...
29 April 2021
A European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) study of 22 countries is raising alarm bells over the fall in the number of labor inspections being carried out across Europe (c.f. below). According to ILO data, since 2010, the number of annual visits by labor inspectors has fallen from 2.2 to 1.7 million, or a 20% fall in just over a decade. This situation coincides with the loss of more than 1,000 labour inspectors in the European Union and has ‘left workplaces less prepared for the Covid-19 pandemic,’ according...
28 April 2021
On 28 April, the date of the UN’s annual World Day for Safety and Health at Work, the International Labour Organization is calling for occupational health services to be strengthened so as to make them more ‘robust and resilient’ in the event of a new global health crisis. In a comprehensive report, the UN agency shows that ‘frontline’ workers have been particularly exposed to Covid-19. The text cites examples and suggests ways of improving the situation, which the ILO believes include social dialogue...
4 February 2021
In January 2021 the International Labour Organization (ILO) published Working Paper 24 entitled: Online digital labour platforms in China – Working conditions, policy issues and prospects. This reports provides an overview of current online platform usage in China based on a vast survey conducted in 2019 of 1,071 self-employed workers who were using the three largest operators in the online platform sector, namely ZBJ (Chongqing/ southwest China), EPWK (Xiamen/southeast China) and 680 (originally based in...
29 June 2020
One of the main achievements of the last International Labour Conference, which took place in Geneva in June 2019, the Violence and Harassment Convention (C190) obliges the ratifying states to equip themselves with the appropriate judicial means to prohibit and sanction violence and harassment at work. In particular they must ask employers to adopt, after consultation with employees and their representatives, a policy addressing all forms of violence and harassment (see article n°11188). To establish the date of...
26 May 2020
‘The determining factors in any decision to return to work must be considerations of life and health and the anticipation and mitigation of risks. For the reactivation of economies to be sustainable, workers need to feel safe at their workplaces and reassured that they will not be exposed to unnecessary risks directly related to the new coronavirus,’ emphasizes the ILO’s Guidance Note on a Safe and Healthy Return to Work issued on 22 May. The international organization continues stating, ‘Social...
31 March 2020
The guidelines formulated by both the ILO and UNICEF and released on 30 March urge employers to consider the impact of decisions on workers’ families and to prioritise improved social protection where and whenever possible. In it the organisations also call on employers to provide additional support, especially to those on low incomes.
12 March 2020
Momentum from the Centenary celebrations in 2019 (which saw the conclusion of a declaration and a new international convention on violence at work c.f. article No. 11189 and No. 11188) has ultimately proved insufficient. 2020 began with a much-anticipated meeting on decent work in global supply chains, which meant to define how the International Labour Organization should address this 21st century issue. In the face of such a complex topic, which raises among others the debate on the due diligence obligations of...
