general discussion of the Director General’s Report

(A selection of excerpts prepared by Erika Viklund, August 2001)

"Decent work is an inspired concept and vision. Those who criticise its vagueness miss the point that it is a goal to which we should all aspire"
(Worker, New Zealand)

"Indeed, decent work is a subjective idea, and we will try to contribute to its understanding. We consider it to be ‘decent’ in terms of treatment, clean and safe in its environment, stimulating and satisfactory in terms of remuneration, productive, freely chosen and with facilities for collective bargaining, but also favouring the development of enterprises"
(Employer, Mexico)

"It will not be proper for the ILO to make value judgments in what is ‘decent’ or otherwise. With due respect to those who advocate minimum floor levels, I will submit that, unlike fiscal and criminal laws, labour laws encourage social development. It is therefore up to the respective societies to determine the levels from which to commence and then move forward"
(Employer, Pakistan)

"Decent work is indeed a means of creating access to adequate health care, quality education and decent standards of living. The absence of decent work breeds poverty and misery, and the scourge of child labour and slavery in its different guises"
(Government, Ghana)

"..decent working conditions are essential for greater professionalism on the part of teachers and consequently for high-quality education for all, which in the knowledge-based economy is the passport to social, cultural and professional inclusion"
(Representative, World Confederation of Teachers)

"The debate over decent work is like preaching to starving people about diversified meals; it is a stage that many countries have not yet reached"
(Employer, Kuwait)

"[the ILO] must not itself create barriers by devising standards that have the paradoxical effect of safeguarding and enhancing jobs for some, while excluding others from even starting work"
(Employer, New Zealand)

Jobs first [top]

"How far are we from having decent work, when many Arab countries and developing countries have no work at all, and certainly no decent work?"
(Worker, Arab Labour Organisation)

"We think the emphasis of the Report is wrong when it puts decent work and standards before jobs. As the Director-General stated, there is nothing to protect if there are no jobs"
(Employer, USA)

"A first and major step towards the provision of a decent standard of living for the large numbers of unemployed people in Africa would be to find them some kind of income-generating employment, even if at the outset such employment would seem indecent"
(Employer, Ghana)

"..in order to promote decent work we need to make sure there are jobs available in the first place"
(Employer, United Kingdom)

"As far as the issues related to achieving decent work in Japan are concerned, our foremost priority is employment creation"
(Employer, Japan)

"All the different aspects of decent work are inextricably linked, but we believe that the issue of the enjoyment of fundamental rights has to be seen in terms of jobs, and must take into account the informal sector"
(Government, Madagascar)

Not just any jobs [top]

"..we must demand policies giving us access to decent work, not just any type of work"
(Worker, Argentina)

"The ILO constituents cannot, and must not, believe that [achieving decent work] can be divided into two separate steps, work first, conditions for decency later"
(Worker, Italy)

"We cannot allow for separation of the issues of access to work and quality and decency in work"
(Government, Argentina)

Strategies [top]

"Decent work cannot be ensured in Ukraine without eliminating the enormous gap between the minimum subsistence levels set by the trade unions and real social guarantees"
(Worker, Ukraine)

"The truth is that economic growth must have a social dimension, but it is the economic growth that must be the priority. We cannot talk in terms of decent work if we cannot provide proper conditions for investment"
(Employer, Guatemala)

"Decent work means that enterprises must be viable. Without the creation of enterprises and a conductive atmosphere, there will be no work"
(Employer, Argentina)

"We believe that decent work should entail job creation by encouraging an entrepreneurial spirit, providing training and developing human resources"
(Employer, Poland)

"To overcome the decent work deficit, one must first stimulate a climate which is conducive to investment and the creation of enterprises, and which increases flexibility"
(Employer, Italy)

"..the ILO needs to promote even more employment creation through human resource development as this will, in our view, constitute the basis for decent work"
(Government, Japan)

"Even if it would be possible to make a distinction between decent jobs and those which are not, we cannot ignore the danger which lies in ignoring the fact that non-decent work does provide possibilities of subsistence for a great many people (…) Several examples show us that the number and quality of jobs increase in a country when the country reaches a satisfactory level of growth. This is why we should first of all intensify our efforts in order to achieve good economic growth"
(Employer, Turkey)

"The choice of decent work has been a rewarding approach for the Czech Republic. Formerly in transition, the country is now sharing the fruits of progress with its partners in the OECD, NATO and, tomorrow, with the European Union"
(Government, Czech Republic)

"..we have sought to ensure decent work for our citizens through a number of programmes and projects, the most recent being the national programme for the employment and training of citizens"
(Government, Bahrain)

"We are witness to a situation where, after efforts made over the last ten years and dedicated work in favour of social dialogue, some organisations of employers contest the principles of collective bargaining and, along with the State, try to ignore unions"
(Worker, Bulgaria)

Globalisation [top]

"We workers are fighting for decent work, in the conviction that what is required is a change in the economic model, with its neo-liberal facets, and the practices of world trade, which prevent the poorer countries from participating in the international market and which limit their social and economic development"
(Worker, Colombia)

"..to fill the gap and alleviate the negative impact of globalisation on the developing countries is not only the task of the developing world but also the prerequisite and basis for the realisation of decent work throughout the world"
(Worker, China)

"..workers tend to be laid off under the guise of streamlining operations within organisations, as well as in the interest of increasing efficiency, especially in the light of the new global environment. More often than not, these workers are not covered by any social protection regime, and this has created problems for themselves, their families, and indeed the State"
(Government, Barbados)

"The economy has to serve the people. Globalisation, therefore, is only going to be legitimate, ethically and socially, if it is able to incorporate social and economic aims, in order to promote decent work as the cornerstone of a cohesive and competitive social paradigm"
(Government, Portugal)

"..decent work in a global economy means the developed and wealthy nations siding with the downtrodden and the poor nations. It demands some sort of equitable sharing of global wealth"
(Government, Sierra Leone)

"..the decent work deficit is inextricably linked to the democratic deficit which exists in the present international economic and financial institutional framework"
(Government, Pakistan)

"We are unable to integrate effectively with the emerging global trade and labour market on account of our inherent weaknesses of decent work"
(Government, Bangladesh)

Flexibility [top]

"Flexibility should no longer be viewed uniquely as a means to harm workers and unions. There is a worker-oriented element in flexibility, and both workers and unions must make efforts to combine the flexibility needs of management with workers’ rights and protection"
(Worker, Israel)

"The labour flexibility that is an element of governments’ economic, trade and employment policies does not meet the standards of decent work. It meets the needs of some sectors while destroying every fabric of fundamental labour rights"
(Worker, Islamic Republic of Iran)

"Labour flexibility in governments’ economic, trade and employment policies does not meet the standard. It suits the ‘wants’ of some sectors while destroying every fabric of fundamental labour rights"
(Worker, Philippines)

"To counter-balance the flexibility required for the operation of a globalised economy, people must be entitled to some measure of job security. It is not enough to offer them just any job, what they need is secure jobs, with working conditions that are guaranteed by law, social security and a decent living wage"
(Government, Austria)