Attending the ILO AP RM: Francina, WSM South Coordinator

I wanted to come to learn more about the trade union dynamics and the process of the ILO. As WSM closely works with labour standards, it is important for me to know what is being debated on regional and global level. In the context of WSM’s work on Social protection, our partners contribute to job creation by offering vocational skills to members.

During this ILO meeting, the aspect of skills was put in a larger context, linking it to multinationals, the importance of new technologies and young workers. Also the social dialogue was very relevant, because workers facing problems on the work floor have to first turn to the first step of social dialogue, the bipartite plant level, before the government is brought in. Also that many states have not yet ratified some of the core conventions was revealing, like India hasn’t ratified freedom of association (ILC87) or collective bargaining (ILC98).


I particularly remember the intervention from the India workers’ representative, M Singh, relating to the struggle of trade unions, where on the 2nd of September of this year, 200 million workers gathered all over India in the largest strike to take place, with almost all the trade unions uniting to protest against the proposed reforms of the labour laws.
I think if I would have had the opportunity to intervene, I would have pleaded for the living wage as a concept to be included. The Bali Declaration that came out of this ILO Regional Meeting only refers to minimum wage, which are only poverty wages and often the average. As the DG of the ILO said, it is high time we start referring to a wage that allows people to live in dignity, rather than just survive.