The International Labour Conference (ILC) organised by the International Labour Office gathers every year governments and social partners for discussions on issues related to employment. This year’s ILC took place from 30 May to 12 June in Geneva.
Two issues on the agenda were of particular interest and relevance for co-operatives: the promotion of decent work in global supply chains and employment and decent work for the transition to peace.
The International Co-operative Alliance was represented in the discussions by its French board member Mr Jean-Louis Bancel and its Director of Policy Mr Rodrigo Gouveia. This was an opportunity for co-operatives to reconnect with social partners and advocate for the inclusion of co-operatives in the conclusions.
As a result, in the discussion on global supply chains, participants to the conference agree that governments should target specific measures at small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), including co-operatives and other entities of the social economy, “to increase their productivity and promote decent work, including opportunities to formalize, further develop, upgrade and advance to higher segments of the supply chain”.
On the employment and decent work for the transition to Peace front, the conclusions recommend “that member states should, in consultation with the most representative workers’ and employers’ organisations, adopt inclusive measures for ensuring decent employment and income-generation opportunities through co-operatives and other social economy initiatives.”
A positive result for the co-operative movement that the Alliance will continue to follow in the future.
In an interview for the ILO’s Co-operative Unit, Mr Gouveia said that the issue of decent work in global supply chains was a very important one for co-operatives. He explained how co-operatives provided scale to small and marginalised groups enabling them to access markets, information, technology and finance. Read the interview here.
Mr Bancel also took part in the discussions of ILO’s Committee on Employment and decent work for the transition to peace. In an interview with the ILO, he said the topic was one the Alliance itself had been looking at, examining the ways in which co-operatives could contribute to the transition to peace by providing decent work. His interview is available on ILO's Co-operative Unit website.
