ILO summit set to thrash out global pact to beat job crisis

As the world grapples with the worst economic meltdown it has ever witnessed, and the specter of increased unemployment looms large, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) is holding a Global Jobs Crisis Summit in Geneva.

The three-day summit, which begins today, will be attended by heads of states, vice-presidents, labour ministers and leaders from employers' and workers' organisations. This summit, will provide a first-of-its-kind opportunity to discuss policies that are being implemented at the national and international levels to address the global jobs crisis.

The summit will include four high-level panels on the following topics: global and regional co-ordination, development co-operation, fundamental principles and rights at work, and industry enterprise-level strategies.

The French President Nicolas Sarkozy, President of Poland Lech Kaczyski, President of Finland Tarja Halonen, President of Mozambique Armando Guebuza, President of Brazil Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and President of Argentina Cristina Fernández de Kirchner are some of the keynote speakers at the summit.

Recently, Juan Somavia, the ILO Director-General, called for swift and bold action to prevent a lingering jobs crisis from plaguing the world and called for a global employment pact to address the problem.

Somavia said: "We are seeing an unprecedented increase in unemployment and the number of workers at risk of falling into poverty around the world this year. To avoid a global social recession we need a global jobs pact to address this crisis."

According to the ILO, the pact would be a cohesive strategy to deal with labour-market issues globally, putting job creation and protection at the heart of economic stimulus packages. If this was not done, the recovery of the job market could lag behind an economic rebound by four or five years.

Emirates Business spoke to some industry executives to find out what they think of the idea, if it is feasible and what they think should the pact include.

Reacting to the idea of a global jobs pact Bharti Jatti, General Manager, Careertunity, a job portal, said: "The implementation of the global jobs pact would surely be a step in the right direction to help improve the employment situations and define social protection measures that in turn would help create opportunities."

Mona Al Munajjed, former ILO special advisor for women workers and gender questions, said: "I think that the job pact, whenever it happens, is an excellent idea and if the world succeeds, then it will mitigate the sufferings of millions of men and women worldwide."

Balakumar, Director, Dulsco HR Solutions, said: "There is no denying the growing impact of the economic and financial crisis on the job market around the world. It is a good idea that the ILO has called on its 183 members to attend a summit in Geneva. This will give influential people such as heads of states senior government officials and ministers and labour union leaders an opportunity to discuss ways and means to protect workers and enterprises from the effects of the crisis."

Going into how effective the pact might be, Balakumar said: "Since so many decision makers are going to find solutions together, I think the global job pact should be quite effective, but it will also depend on a very large extent on what the terms of the pact are and how they are put to use globally."

Jatti added: "In the recent months the global markets have seen a lot of fluctuations and the unemployment rates have risen significantly. The pact, which will be agreed upon by global leaders, with an objective to tackle the crisis through investment and by putting well planned and agreed strategies in place, should definitely indicate a positive direction to help the employment situation at a global level."

However, Mona Al Munajjed added a word of caution: "Even though it will be a very positive development, the governments will have to keep in mind the cultural, economic and social differences. These differences are important and they cannot be ignored. For example, something that might be suitable in the United States might not be suitable in the Arab World or in Asia Pacific. However, if they can form the pact keeping all these differences in mind, it will be very beneficial. And I really hope they succed."

Balakumar said: "The unemployment problem around the world is a very serious one. The ILO has said that the average global unemployment rate could reach 6.8 to 7.4 per cent by the end of this year. Implementing a global job pact will hopefully mitigate the impact of the crisis on working families and help generate a 'sustainable' recovery that would encourage decent working conditions.

"The fact that high-level panels involving ministers, senior policy-makers, representatives of business and labour, representatives of international and regional organisations and other global opinion leaders are talking at the summit on the ways to do that is very encouraging.

"They will also be discussing the role of enterprises, employment policies, social protection, labour rights, international labour standards and social dialogue in shaping a people-centred decent work approach to recovery and growth. So this is a right move."

Jatti added: "Currently the global market has high unemployment levels. The rising unrest demands a global/regional plan to tackle the situation. According to the ILO, the job agreement will be based on a series of tried and tested policies which, if adopted in a comprehensive fashion, could help reduce social tensions, protect people in the downturn and, most importantly, plan for the future growth."

Offering their opinion on how the ILO should deal with the situation, the industry executives said they would like to see more focus on women as they constitute a very important part of society, protection of workers rights and inclusion of the job pact in the legislation of countries.

Balakumar said: "It all depends on how each country would want to make use of the ILO job pact in the most effective manner. Executing the terms of the pact should be a government initiative and made part of legislation to make it really effective. I think that is the way to address the problem of unemployment in this region and globally."

Jatti said: "Configuring plans aimed at protecting workers from the impacts of the crisis must be a priority. Taking care of the social and developmental aspects. Create opportunities to promote innovative plans for growth."

Mona Al Munajjed said: "The job pact should focus more on women as they play a vital role in the economy and progress of every country. If you empower them then you empower the future generations."

Talking about the clauses to be included in the pact, Jatti said: "I want the pact to consider the dynamics of the region and take into account to safeguard the interests of the locals and the multi-cultural, diversified population of expatriates."

Discussing the problems plaguing the job market in the region, Balakumar said: "All companies in the region have made some corrections in their employee retention as well as recruitment to keep their costs low. Companies are retaining the staff needed to run their businesses. Many people are losing their jobs. And due to a freeze on recruitment in several companies, people are not able to find jobs of similar descriptions. So one major problem, currently, is the rise in the number of job seekers in this market."

Jatti said: "Due to global recession and subsequent job cuts, especially in the real estate, construction and banking sector, there has been lot of instability and loss of confidence among the workforce in the Middle East."

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