ILO's Special Action Programme on Social and Labour Issues
 in export processing zones

BACKGROUND

The ILO Special Action Programme on Social and Labour Issues in Export Processing Zones set out to establish -whether the EPZ strategy had achieved its goals

• what made EPZs achieve or under-achieve
• which factors contribute to successful outcomes in EPZs,
• and specifically to locate the role of social and labour issues in contributing to those achievements.

The ILO has conducted missions to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, China, Mauritius, Madagascar, Tunisia, Morocco, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Honduras, Mexico, the United States, Zimbabwe, and Ireland. Information was also collected on Southern Africa and the Caribbean. The enterprises studied were mainly in the textile, clothing and footware, electrical and electronics sectors, and ranged from local family-run SMEs to giant multinationals.

The approach taken by the ILO has been to interview key actors at national, zone and enterprise levels in order to understand their present situation and how they got there, and then to look at how they are responding to the challenge of globalisation. We identify the most effective and innovative practices on the part of government agencies, employers and workers and study those in order to develop conclusions and recommendations based on concrete experience.