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Quality jobs as panacea for organisational growth

By Collins Olayinka, Abuja
13 October 2015   |   2:38 am
TO a thirsty person, any water is water. So also, to a jobless person, any job is job so long it guarantees some sort of pay at the end of the month.
Workers PHOTO:www.businessinsider.com

Workers PHOTO:www.businessinsider.com

TO a thirsty person, any water is water. So also, to a jobless person, any job is job so long it guarantees some sort of pay at the end of the month.

But to the global job watch body – International Labour Organization (ILO) – just as work is central to people’s wellbeing in addition to providing income, work can pave the way for broader social and economic advancement, strengthening individuals, their families and communities. Such progress, however, hinges on work that is decent. Therefore, decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives.

ILO insists that putting the Decent Work Agenda into practice is achieved through the implementation of the ILO’s four strategic objectives, with gender equality as a crosscutting objective: promoting jobs – an economy that generates opportunities for investment, entrepreneurship, skills development, job creation and sustainable livelihoods.
Guaranteeing rights at work – to obtain recognition and respect for the rights of workers. All workers, and in particular disadvantaged or poor workers, need representation, participation, and laws that work for their interests.

Extending social protection – to promote both inclusion and productivity by ensuring that women and men enjoy working conditions that are safe, allow adequate free time and rest, take into account family and social values, provide for adequate compensation in case of lost or reduced income and permit access to adequate healthcare.

Promoting social dialogue – involving strong and independent workers’ and employers’ organizations is central to increasing productivity, avoiding disputes at work, and building cohesive societies.

Indeed, the Decent Work concept was formulated by the ILO’s constituents – governments and employers and workers – as a means to identify the Organization’s major priorities. It is based on the understanding that work is a source of personal dignity, family stability, peace in the community, democracies that deliver for people, and economic growth that expands opportunities for productive jobs and enterprise development.

Decent Work reflects priorities on the social, economic and political agenda of countries and the international system. In a relatively short time this concept has forged an international consensus among governments, employers, workers and civil society that productive employment and Decent Work are key elements to achieving a fair globalization, reducing poverty and achieving equitable, inclusive, and sustainable development.

The overall goal of Decent Work is to effect positive change in people’s lives at the national and local levels. The ILO provides support through integrated Decent Work Country Programmes developed in coordination with ILO constituents. They define the priorities and the targets within national development frameworks and aim to tackle major Decent Work deficits through efficient programmes that embrace each of the strategic objectives.

The ILO operates with other partners within and beyond the UN family to provide in-depth expertise and key policy instruments for the design and implementation of these programmes. It also provides support for building the institutions needed to carry them forward and for measuring progress. The balance within these programmes differs from country to country, reflecting their needs, resources and priorities.

Progress also requires action at the global level. The Decent Work agenda offers a basis for a more just and sustainable framework for global development. The ILO works to develop “decent work”- oriented approaches to economic and social policy in partnership with the principal institutions and actors of the multilateral system and the global economy.

Marking the Decent Work Day, President of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Ayuba Wabba, who went memory lane to trace the evolution of the ILO since inception, said although the desire for jobs in freedom, dignity security and equity had been part of ILO from the beginning, it was not until 1999, that Decent Work was launched while it took almost another decade, precisely 2008, for Decent Work to be perfected.

Wabba mentioned the underlying reasons for the introduction of Decent Work agenda to include globalization and its discontents or aftermath, typified by the global financial and economic crisis of 2008.

Underlying the interactions within the world of work, Ayuba submitted that even with oligopolies as hard-hit as workers, one distinct lesson that was evident from the 2008 crisis was that neither workers nor monopoly capitalists could be said to be insulated from any major crisis.

He added: “The other lesson was that massive loss of jobs and degradation of social conditions could lead to other unpleasant consequences. The third, and perhaps, the most important was that an empowered and equitably conditioned workforce could be instrumental to recovery as well as minimize the eruption of social discontents on the street.”

He then hinted that the 2008 situation created the needed impetus and urgency for policy makers around the world to contemplate delivering jobs along with social protection and respect for rights at work to achieve sustainable inclusive growth and eliminate poverty.

Quoting ILO, Ayuba stated that Decent Work is simply work that is productive and delivers a fair income, security in the work place and and social protection for families, better prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for people to express their concerns, organise and participate in the decisions that affect their lives, and equality of opportunity and treatment for all women and men.

The NLC chief maintained that the Decent Work Agenda was formulated on the understanding that work goes beyond a meal ticket.
It is a source of personal dignity, family stability, peace in the community, democracies that deliver for people and economic growth that expands opportunities for productive jobs and entrepreneurship.

Decent Work Agenda seeks to forge a common understanding among nations that work is at the root of wealth creation, peace and development. From the above, it is obvious that Decent Work is not an abstraction but a practical reality, which we need to observe as its negation holds some potential dangers to workers, social partners, the community and society as a whole.

With some resemblance of perfection, Ayuba was quick to point out that despite numerous technical assistance to countries, the implementation of the Decent Work Agenda has been in deficit and this reflects in incidents of avoidable industrial accidents, fires, deaths etc.

He also noted that unions have high level of dissatisfaction with the rising incidence of casualization by employers, especially in the private sector where there are no rules in most of the companies, adding that workers are treated worse than slaves that have gone un-redressed.

“One other major violation is the denial of workers the right to form or belong to unions of their choice. Wages are another issue. It is only in a few organisations that salaries could take the workers home. Basically, workers live from hand to mouth without access to any form of social benefit such as housing or medicare. The mortality rate at workplace is unacceptably high. Daily, due to no fault of theirs, workers lose their jobs, often times without any terminal benefits, let alone, unemployment benefits,” he explained.

He hinted that labour indeed have issues to resolve with their social partners who were part of the making of the Decent Work Agenda but has been reluctant in ensuring the realization of the objectives.

He added: “We will try the path of dialogue. However, in the circumstance where this fails, we will resort to other means. Accordingly, we would want this to be a notice to governments and employers to take seriously the provisions of the Decent Work Agenda.”
With all its imperfections, the NLC helmsman submitted that Decent Work could not be wished away as workers celebrated the day last Wednesday, October 7th.

He said: “At the UN General Assembly in September this year, Decent Work and Decent Work Agenda were made integral elements of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Goal 8 of the 2030 Agenda calls for the promotion of sustainable inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work. Decent Work was considered a key area for engaging ILO and its constituents.
Similarly, important aspects of Decent Work are included in the targets of some of the 16 goals of the UN’s development vision.”

In the light of the rising importance of Decent Work agenda within the overall global development process, Ayuba stated that Congress believes that this year’s World Day for Decent Work is an opportunity to reinvigorate its commitment to the implementation of Decent Work Agenda.
The day was also marked by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) in most cities of the world under, ‘End Corporate Greed’ as the general theme.

The General Secretary of ITUC, Sharan Burrow said: “Once again the voice of working people will be heard around the globe on the World Day for Decent Work. The global focus this year is on ending corporate greed, eliminating precarious work and formalising informal jobs, as well as living minimum wages. We need to transform the exploitative supply chain model, which robs workers while filling the coffers of multinational companies, many of which are culpable of the most egregious exploitation including the use of modern slavery. The trade union movement stands with the most exploited and vulnerable in the global economy, and on this day, the World Day for Decent Work, we will show our determination to build a better world for working families and for the generations to come.”

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