Employment and the RIGHT TO WORK

1. Employment and the RIGHT TO WORK The promotion of full, productive and freely-chosen employment

2. The right to work in international law • Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 23. • (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.

3. ILO Constitution 1919 • The Preamble to the Constitution listed the prevention of unemployment as among the conditions whose improvement was urgently required in order to address "such injustice, hardship and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled". The same year, the very first International Labour Conference adopted the Unemployment Convention, 1919 (No. 2), which called upon member States to report on measures taken to combat unemployment.

4. Art. 6 of the Covenant on ESC Rights: • 1. The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right to work, which includes the right of everyone to the opportunity to gain his living by work which he freely chooses or accepts, and will take appropriate steps to safeguard this right. • 2. The steps to be taken by a State Party to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include technical and vocational guidance and training programmes, policies and techniques to achieve steady economic, social and cultural development and full and productive employment under conditions safeguarding fundamental political and economic freedoms to the individual.

5. Right to work was promoted by « Socialist » countries as a counter to the « capitalist » approach. • Could not get it adopted until late at the ILO, the logical place – so did in the UN. • Nevertheless has proven a useful concept to group a set of criteria under which employment can be promoted and conditions laid down.

6. And the ILO … • No recognition of a « right to work » by the ILO untilRecommendation No. 169 in 1984: 1. The promotion of full, productive and freely chosen employment provided for in the Employment Policy Convention and Recommendation, 1964, should be regarded as the means of achieving in practice the realisation of the right to work. 2. Full recognition by Members of the right to work should be linked with the implementation of economic and social policies, the purpose of which is the promotion of full, productive and freely chosen employment.

7. Employment Policy Convention,1964 (No. 122) Preamble: • Considering that the Declaration of Philadelphia recognises the solemn obligation of the International Labour Organisation to further among the nations of the world programmes which will achieve full employment and the raising of standards of living, and that the Preamble to the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation provides for the prevention of unemployment and the provision of an adequate living wage, and

8. Considering further that under the terms of the Declaration of Philadelphia it is the responsibility of the International Labour Organisation to examine and consider the bearing of economic and financial policies upon employment policy in the light of the fundamental objective that "all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity", and …

9. Considering that these instruments should be placed in the wider framework of an international programme for economic expansion on the basis of full, productive and freely chosen employment, and

10. Article 1 • 1. With a view to stimulating economic growth and development, raising levels of living, meeting manpower requirements and overcoming unemployment and underemployment, each Member shall declare and pursue, as a major goal, an active policy designed to promote full, productive and freely chosen employment. • 2. The said policy shall aim at ensuring that-- • (a) there is work for all who are available for and seeking work; • (b) such work is as productive as possible; • (c) there is freedom of choice of employment and the fullest possible opportunity for each worker to qualify for, and to use his skills and endowments in, a job for which he is well suited, irrespective of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin.

11. 3. The said policy shall take due account of the stage and level of economic development and the mutual relationships between employment objectives and other economic and social objectives, and shall be pursued by methods that are appropriate to national conditions and practices.

12. General Comment 18 (2006) ofthe CESCR: The Right to Work • The ICESCR proclaims the right to work in a general sense in its article 6 and explicitly develops the individual dimension of the right to work through the recognition in article 7 of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work, in particular the right to safe working conditions. The collective dimension of the right to work is addressed in article 8, which enunciates the right of everyone to form trade unions and join the trade union of his/her choice as well as the right of trade unions to function freely.

13. Extractfrom CESCR General Comment 18 • The right to work is an individual right that belongs to each person and is at the same time a collective right. It encompasses all forms of work, whether independent work or dependent wage-paid work. The right to work should not be understood as an absolute and unconditional right to obtain employment.

14. Extractsfrom General Survey 2004 • The ambition of employment policy - and its difficulty - is precisely to reconcile the three requirements of full employment, productive employment and freely chosen employment which are interlinked, but between which there may be tensions. For example, the type of employment to be promoted has to be productive to make an effective contribution, not only to combating unemployment, but also to growth and economic development, as well as to raising living standards (Article 1, paragraph 1).

15. The promotion of productivity may in certain circumstances appear to have a negative effect on employment levels, but failing to take it into account would mean overlooking the quality of the jobs available and perpetuating a situation of underemployment based on low-skilled and low-paid jobs. The formulation of the employment policy, as required by the Convention, should be an opportunity for determining and re-examining the balance that is to be sought in the national context between these three dimensions.

16. Extract from The ILO and the Quest for Social Justice, 1919 – 2009: • Already in the early 1960s, the ILO was one of the first to question the conventional wisdom of the 1950s that economic growth, irrespective of the pattern pursued, would automatically lead to higher levels of employment and improved living standards for all.

17. In 1969, on the occasion of the ILO's 50th anniversary, the World Employment Programme (WEP) was created and offered as the ILO's contribution to the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade… In introducing a new employment-oriented approach to poverty alleviation and development, the WEP favoured a continuing interaction between research, policy analysis, and operational activities.

18. But the World Employment Programme was a flop. • Except in Latin America, no one was particularly interested in making employment a central pillar of development, for poverty reduction.

19. But the situation began to change in the late 1990s, with coordinated approaches across the UN system to poverty reduction – Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers: • The ILO's distinctive contribution to the PRSP process is its focus on the centrality of employment for poverty reduction. Although this might appear self-evident, it is given little emphasis in many PRSP exercises, with employment often being seen as a by-product of other economic and social policies which do not target it directly. Through its participation in PRSP processes, the ILO endeavours to ensure that employment for poverty reduction is explicitly placed at the centre of macroeconomic and social policies.

20. The Social Summit of 1995 cemented the change: • Among the ten commitments comprising the Declaration, in Commitment 3 the nations of the world proclaimed, "We commit ourselves to promoting the goal of full employment as a basic priority of our economic and social policies, and to enabling all men and women to attain secure and sustainable livelihoods through freely chosen productive employment and work.“

21. Under Commitment 3, the Summit agreed to "put the creation of employment ... at the centre of strategies and policies of governments, with full respect for workers' rights and with the participation of employers, workers and their respective organizations ...". The Summit also undertook to "pursue the goal of ensuring quality jobs, and safeguard the basic rights and interests of workers and to this end, freely promote respect for relevant International Labour Organization Conventions, including those on the prohibition of forced and child labour, freedom of association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, and the principle of non-discrimination".

22. Employmentpolicy in the economiccrisis • In 2009 the International Labour Conference held a Summit on the Global Jobs Crisis. Extracts from the Declaration adopted: • 1. The global economic crisis and its aftermath mean the world faces the prospect of a prolonged increase in unemployment, deepening poverty and inequality. Employment has usually only recovered several years after economic recovery. In some countries, the simple recovery of previous employment levels will not be enough to contribute effectively to strong economies, and to achieve decent work for women and men.

23. GLOBAL JOBS PACT: Principles for promoting recovery and development • Action must be guided by the Decent Work Agenda and commitments made by the ILO and its constituents in the 2008 Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization. We set out here a framework for the period ahead and a resource of practical policies for the multilateral system, governments, workers and employers. It ensures linkages between social progress and economic development and involves the following principles: • (1) devoting priority attention to protecting and growing employment through sustainable enterprises, quality public services and building adequate social protection for all as part of ongoing international and national action to aid recovery and development. The measures should be implemented quickly in a coordinated manner; • (2) enhancing support to vulnerable women and men hit hard by the crisis including youth at risk, low-wage, low-skilled, informal economy and migrant workers; • (3) focusing on measures to maintain employment and facilitate transitions from one job to another as well as to support access to the labour market for those without a job;

24. (4) establishing or strengthening effective public employment services and other labour market institutions; • (5) increasing equal access and opportunities for skills development, quality training and education to prepare for recovery; • (6) avoiding protectionist solutions as well as the damaging consequences of deflationary wage spirals and worsening working conditions; • (7) promoting core labour standards and other international labour standards that support the economic and jobs recovery and reduce gender inequality; • (8) engaging in social dialogue, such as tripartism and collective bargaining between employers and workers as constructive processes to maximize the impact of crisis responses to the needs of the real economy; • (9) ensuring that short-term actions are coherent with economic, social and environmental sustainability;

25. (10) ensuring synergies between the State and the market and effective and efficient regulation of market economies including a legal and regulatory environment which enables enterprise creation, sustainable enterprises and promotes employment generation across sectors; and • (11) the ILO, engaging with other international agencies, international financial institutions and developed countries to strengthen policy coherence and to deepen development assistance and support for least developed, developing and transition countries with restricted fiscal and policy space to respond to the crisis.

26. Aspects of the right to work • Women and the right to work • Young persons and the right to work • Child labour and the right to work • Persons with disabilities and the right to work • Migrant workers and the right to work • Employment agencies • Protection against unjust termination

27. Government obligations to provideaccess to work • Creation of an environment propitious to work - including reducing unnecessary regulation • But setting conditions in which work can be performed with dignity • Ensuring rule of law, including non-discrimination • Providing for employment services