ICA attends the 108th session of the International Labour Organization

13 Jun 2019

Held between the 10thand 21stof June 2019, the 108thsession of the International Labour Conference (ILC) welcomed the participation and speeches of International Cooperative Alliance’s (ICA) Director General Bruno Roelants Mr. Roelants and ICA’s policy coordinator Georgia Papoutsi.

On the occasion of its 100 years of existence, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will take this as an opportunity to adopt a  the ILO Declaration for the Future of Work, 2019 after discussions between governments, trade unions and employers’ organizations.

About the document, during the 108thsession of the ILC, Mr. Roelants noted on his speech that a mention to the cooperatives’ contribution to the future of work should figure in the Declaration.

Mr. Roelants further mentioned the ILO and the ICA joint conference on Cooperatives and the Future of Work taking place just after the International Labour Conference (ILC) and celebrating a century of common work. 

As a reminder on how cooperatives are bound to constitute a significant part of the future of work, and how they will promote decent work as defined by the ILO, the ICA’s director stressed the importance of being mentioned in the ILO Declaration for the Future of Work, 2019.

Also present at the ILC, ICA’s policy coordinator Georgia Papoutsi took the floor during the session and called for a new ILO convention and recommendation on “Ending violence and harassment at work!”. 

Ms. Papoutsi emphasized that comparing to men, women were particularly at risk of violence and harassment and reminded that according to the 2018 World Bank report, 59 countries do not have legal remedies against sexual harassment at work. 

The call for a new convention and recommendation comes as the ICA had approved last year a Declaration on Decent Work and Against Harassmentat its general assembly in Buenos Aires as Ms. Papoutsi recalled the audience. 

The International Labour Conference gathers the member States of the ILO every year in Geneva, Switzerland, in the month of June. 

Their objective is to craft and adopt international labour standards and supervise the application of Conventions and Recommendations at the national level. Social and labour questions of importance to the entire world are also discussed on this occasion and resolutions and guidelines are likewise passed.

Holding an observer status at the ILO, the ICA was present in the discussions of the ILC. 

More information about the Declaration on Decent Work and Against Harassmenthere ->http://bit.ly/2WBM19Y

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