Health data are of a sensitive nature. Inappropriate or inaccurate collection of health information can have serious and long-lasting consequences for individual workers. Some kinds of health assessments, tests and investigations may not be justified from an occupational health point of view, and may represent an unwarranted intrusion into the private life of the individual worker. They may also introduce discrimination based on health findings into the workplace. Thus it is of great importance that health-related information is collected, processed and used in a well-controlled system that will protect the privacy of workers, or used in any manner prejudicial to their interests.
To address these issues, a tripartite ILO Committee of Experts developed and adopted guidelines at a meeting in Geneva in September 1997, and the resulting "Technical and ethical guidelines for workers' health surveillance" was published in January 1999. The book covers the practical aspects of organizing workers' health surveillance and the collection, processing and communication of health-related data. Equally, guidance is provided on both the use of such data and the responsibilities, rights and duties of the different parties involved. By placing workers' health surveillance firmly within the discipline of occupational safety and health, the guidelines serve the purpose of primary prevention of work-related diseases and injuries, and should be linked to other measures such as the monitoring of the work environment.
Although the competent authorities are free to adopt higher standards, the provisions of these guidelines constitute basic requirements that can be used in the development of legislation, regulations, collective agreements, work rules, policies and practical measures at the workplace.
Decent work for women and men everywhere
This year's report of the Director-General to the International Labour Conference proposes "decent work for women and men everywhere" as a primary goal of the ILO. The report, entitled "Decent Work", aims to focus the energies of the ILO on this major problem in a period of global transition, and is also the second step in the process of reform and modernization in the ILO.
As outlined in the previous ILO-CIS Bulletin, the first reform began with a move from 39 major programmes to 4 strategic objectives: the promotion of rights at work; employment; social protection; and social dialogue. Decent work is the converging focus of all these strategic objectives.
Where does occupational safety and health fit in the goal for decent work? According to the Director-General's report, "SafeWork: Security and productivity through safety and health at work" has prominence as one of the eight "InFocus" programmes developed to support the strategic objectives. SafeWork will promote the goal of basic protection for all workers, and enhance the capacity of member States to design and implement effective preventive and protective policies and programmes. The primary focus will be on hazardous occupations. The programme will aim to create alliances and partnerships by launching activities that ILO constituents, non-governmental organizations and human rights groups can use in advocacy campaigns and to press for action by governments. It will also provide direct technical assistance to support national action.
"Decent Work" can be obtained directly from the ILO or through ILO local offices in many countries, or it may be consulted on the ILO Internet site at http://www.ilo.org/public/english/10ilc/ilc87/reports.htm
New Director-General pledges stronger push by ILO on gender issues; promises to quicken pace and strengthen organization's institutional commitment to promoting equality of women
Mr. Juan Somavia, the Director-General of the International Labour Office, pledged to step up the commitment to gender issues of the ILO, both within its own walls as well as through its global activities. Mr. Somavia made the statement in a speech to ILO staff and members of the Governing Body marking International Women's Day.(8 May).
This was the first time that a Director-General of the ILO called a special session to celebrate Women's Day.
"While I recognize and laud the many serious efforts that have been made in recent years to move forward in mainstreaming gender in the Organization, I must share with you my intention to quicken the pace and strengthen the institutional commitment to this policy," Mr. Juan Somavia said. "The ILO has lagged behind other international organizations in a number of indicators of gender equality. As an organization dedicated to social justice and well-being of workers, we must be in the forefront of this UN effort."
"Promoting gender equality is not only the right thing to do. It is also the smart thing to do," Mr. Somavia said. "I therefore intend to give high priority to ensuring that ILO is counted among the most progressive organizations in the field of gender equality. We must be leaders and not laggards."
Noting that the ILO had played a major role in the past eight decades in setting standards promoting equality for women workers, Mr. Somavia cited data indicating the ILO was lagging behind in its pursuit of gender parity within its own Secretariat.
Mr. Somavia also pledged to take a number of other actions to augment ILO efforts on gender issues including:
Place gender at the "heart of the ILO agenda," including mainstreaming of gender and development in the strategic objectives of the ILO in the proposals for the 2000-2001 budget;
Integrating gender into technical work of the ILO by promoting gender sensitivity in research, advisory and operational work and integrating gender aspects into programmes focused on the informal sector, small and medium enterprises, data collection, social security, promoting organizations of workers, training, employment creation schemes and proposing and evaluating standards, as well as in ILO branches, and regional and area offices;
Urging member States, employers' and workers' organizations making up the ILO's tripartite structure to make a "systematic effort to ensure a greater representation of qualified and experienced women" in their delegations to the International Labour Conference, the Governing Body and tripartite committees, seminars and training courses;
Supporting establishment a day-care facility within ILO headquarters in Geneva to "ensure that both women and men can be committed to their work without sacrificing efficiency, upward mobility or family contact."
"Renewing the commitment of human and financial resources to the goal of achieving gender equality constitutes a virtuous circle for the ILO," Mr. Somavia said, adding that the case for promoting gender equality was "self-evident and compelling". He noted that gender equality had been written into the declarations and programmes adopted by the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993, the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, and the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen and the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, both held in 1995.
Women Workers' Rights in India: Issues and Strategies
- A reference guide
edited by Aanchal Kapur, National Coordinator
Project on Training and Information Dissemination on Women Workers' Rights, International Labour Organization, New Delhi
A vital component of the comprehensive information package produced under the Project on Training and Information Dissemination on Women Workers' Rights (the WWR Project) is a reference guide which explores the world of women's work through a corpus of studies on related subject areas. While putting together relevant information in one body of work, this guide is also exceptional in that the contributions to it encompass a variety of organizational perspectives. The quide thus articulates the salient needs and interests of each of the tripartite constituents of the ILO - government, employer organizations and worker organizations. As such, the reference guide is useful not only in enhancing interactions between these constituents, but also in linking up with other organizations working on related issues, especially NGOs, women's groups, research institutes, other centres of information dissemination and, most importantly, women workers themselves.
The predominant conceptual link binding the nine chapters in the guide is that between labour and gender. To accomplish this purpose the guide examines all manifestations of the labour-gender linkage - ideological, social, political, legal etc. While the guide consciously places itself in the viewpoint of the woman worker, there is an attempt to define this position in relation to that of the male worker. Women workers' rights are defined in a way extending beyond those prescribed by law, in order to include women's social, economic and political rights in society as well.
The framework of issues discussed in this guide shows five focal points for analysing women workers' rights in India. The analysis begins with locating the structures or the institutions which define, propagate and formalize the inequalities in the world of work. It looks further into the rendering of women's work as subordinate to that of men, including lack of recognition for women's work, owing to processes of socialization and cultural norms that define gender inequality. The process of inequality is particularly highlighted in terms of the exploitative working conditions that women are subjected to, especially in relation to their occupational health issues and sexual harassment at the workplace. The gender biases embedded in attitudes and in structures and processes of organizing and managing work - and even occuring at the level of policy - are especially as concerns the review of trade unions and employers. This discussion shows how these biases inhibit the organization of strong collectives and forums of women workers, through which their issues could gain recognition and protection, either outside mainstream structures or within them. The entire review, however, is not bleak, as it identifies solutions and strategies that can be made, and have been made, to work to alleviate the problems of women workers.
It is difficult to do justice to the entire content of a reference guide such as this. The authors hope to have chosen their perspectives regarding women's work in an accurate and comprehensive manner. A constant challenge during course of compiling this guide has been to ground the problems of women in real conditions of discrimination and its practical materialization, while at the same time avoiding the rhetoric which usually surrounds such issues. The authors have strived to help women approach their problems in a more informed and objective manner. This collection is useful as a reference in training for researchers, organisers, management and policy-makers.
Aanchal Kapur
10 May, 1999
New Delhi
This information package is available from FEMMES from the ILO headquarters and at the ILO office in New Delhi.
5th Asia Pacific Environmental and Occupational Dermatology Symposium (APEODS)
3-5 December 1999
Hotel TAJ Mahal, Mumbai (Bombay)
India
Organisers: Contact and Occupational Forum of India (CODFI)
Organizing Secretary: Dr HR Jerajani
Secretariat: Dept of Dermatology
L.T.M. General Hospital
Sion, Mumbai-400 022, India
Tel:+91-22-4082505 extn 315 or +91-22-6206591
Fax: +91-22-6206591/4076100
E-mail: HR Jerajani: jerajani@vsnl.com
Asian-Pacific Newsletter 2/1999 p.50-51