TUAC - TRADE UNION ADVISORY COMMITTEE TO THE OECD

29/04/2009

The aim was to examine how to support the employment and empowerment of women in the context of a global labour market in which work is increasingly feminised, informalised and precarious. It was attended by development and gender experts from the OECD and national governments, together with TUAC affiliates and representatives of the ITUC and the Global Union Federations.  

The first presentations focused on policy work being undertaken by the OECD on employment as a major route out of poverty and the informal economy, before turning to the reality of working conditions for women in Thailand and Ghana and the limitations of the decent work agenda. It then examined initiatives aimed at tackling decent work deficits with presentations on the Better Work Programme (ILO), union campaigns against precarious work presented by the International Metal Workers’ Federation (IMF) and the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The meeting closed with a panel discussion involving representatives of the OECD, donors and trade unions.

Trade unionists underlined the need for donors to take a rights-based approach to gender and development and to support partner countries’ ratification and enforcement of  ILO Conventions 87 and 98 (the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining). They further called on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC), the primary forum for bilateral donors, to take action to strengthen dialogue and coordinate action between those working on gender and development and gender and decent work.  The discussions also highlighted the need for trade unions to put their own house in order by, not only meeting the challenges of organising women in informal employment, but also increasing the representation of women in the trade union leadership.

The following presentations are available on the OECD web site:

Pro-poor Growth and the Employment and Empowerment of Women Peter Bieler, DAC Network on Poverty Reduction (POVNET), OECD

Is Informal Normal? Juan De Laiglesia, The Development Centre, OECD

A Gender Critique of Macro-economic Policy and Implications for Women in Manufacturing and International Migration, Rachel Kurian, Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Netherlands

Export Manufacturing: Clothing and Electronics. The Thailand Experience, Junya (Lek) Yimprasert, Founder of the Thai Labour Campaign, Thailand

Women at Work in the Global Agricultural Economy,  Adwoa Sakyi, International Union of Food, Agricultural, Hotel, Restaurant, Catering, Tobacco and Allied Workers' Associations (IUF), Regional Coordinator for Africa,  IUF Agricultural Workers Trade Group, Ghana

Tackling the Barriers to Decent Work for Women in Electronics, Jenny Holdcroft, International Metal Workers Federation (IMF)

Better Work, Amy Luinstra, International Labour Organisation (ILO)