Author Archives: e.bechis@itcilo.org

Arranging meetings with other ministries

Ms. Gloria Beatriz Gaviria Ramos, Chief, Oficina de Cooperación y Relaciones Internacionales, Ministerio del Trabajo, Colombia describes practices of meetings with other ministries.

 

“Our Ministry holds meetings with other Ministries to discuss the observations (the observations made by the Committee of Experts) and examine ways to overcome them and respond to them in the respective reports.”

Establish and maintain an open ILS library

In Chad, an ILS library is open for consultation.

In Chad, it is reported that the service responsible for international labour standards has established and maintains a library with documents relevant to ILS, including government reports. The library can be consulted by labour inspectors who take note of ILS provisions in the questions they deal with in their work.

Establish training plan

In Bahrain, yearly individual training plans are established.

In Bahrain, it is reported that every year a training plan for each person is made and a training budget allocated for each employee. Line managers may be keen to send staff on training requested, and managers responsible for human resources may need to rationalize requests – the possibility for training is nevertheless seen as beneficial.

The planning aspect of this example is noteworthy. Even though it might not be possible to meet all requests, a starting allocation and individualized plan makes it possible for all concerned to constructively consider possibilities as they become available.

Work in groups

In Bahrain, ILS reporting work is handled as group work.

In Bahrain, ILS reporting tasks are handled in groups. This makes it possible for group members to share tasks and follow-up when other group members are not able to on account of other work assignments.

Working with challenges

Ms. Celeste M. Valderrama, Director, International Labor Affairs Bureau, Department of Labor and Employment, Philippines, discusses how challenges are worked with and overcome (December, 2011).

“Keeping my people who are skilled already in this area of concern is a major challenge, but we do appreciate the support of the ILO in this area because they provide us with training opportunities, but it’s quite limited, so even the number of people who are really trained to do the job is… We have to do it just one person at a time, right? … I don’t know, maybe it’s the commitment. Maybe they realize that the motivation is really knowing that there is no one else who can do this type of job. [laugh], and also knowing that we cannot afford to put a Government in an embarrassing position. The high level mission that came out after the finding has impressed on us more than ever the importance of paying details… of paying attention to the details of the report, so that we can ensure that , hmmmm… the evaluation by the Committee of Experts is based on a more complete, more comprehensive data. That is why our management, our leaders, put a lot of premium on this area of concern. But it’s not only the reportorial obligation, it’s not only commitment to the standards, compliance to the standards, it recognizes the value of international labour standards, because we have a lot of people everywhere overseas so we can’t do it just by ourselves. We should be able to do it together with the rest of the world.”

Special thanks got to the Honorable Secretary of Labor and Employment of the Philippines, and the Director and staff of the International Labor Affairs Bureau of the Department of Labor of the Philippines for their generous cooperation in the production of this video.

Work in groups

In Bahrain, ILS reporting work is handled as group work.
In Bahrain, ILS reporting tasks are handled in groups. This makes it possible for group members to share tasks and follow-up when other group members are not able to on account of other work assignments.

Use specialists’ visit

In Tajikistan, the social partners are briefed when the ILS specialist from DWT/CO Office visits.

In Tajikistan, it is reported that when the ILO specialist on ILS visits the country, meetings are arranged for briefing tripartite partners on improving the quality of reports on ILS application.

In addition to briefing government officials, ILS specialists can brief and train the social partners in reporting processes. This may improve their responsiveness as well as the quality of their involvement in ILS reporting.

Use employee performance commitments

Ms. Catherine Abayao, Labor and Employment Officer, International Relations and Cooperation Division, Department of Labor and Employment, Philippines, describes the use of employee performance commitments (December, 2011).

“Here in the Department also, we have an annual, how do you call this, employee performance commitment where we are being rated by our supervisors on how we are delivering our work or how are we performing, so like for example here in 2000 I’m holding a document from 2009 wherein I committed to… It is stated here that I commit to achieve the following targets: submission of compliance reports to the ILO so it mentions specifically here ratifying conventions, and ratified conventions ILO questionnaires if there are any ILO cases. So it’s included here in my commitment that I am going to perform these tasks. So failure to comply with these or failure to meet these targets, there would be a corresponding, huh, what do you call that, huh deduction on your performance rating. This maybe one of our motivation on improving our work.”

Special thanks go to the Honorable Secretary of Labor and Employment of the Philippines, and the Director and staff of the International Labor Affairs Bureau of the Department of Labor of the Philippines for their generous cooperation in the production of this video.