Follow Us on Google
The World Economic Forum (WEF), International Labour Organisation (ILO) and other top world bodies have reeled out what the contributions of the organised private sector should be in creating sustainable enterprises and decent jobs.
Representatives of workers’ and employers’ organizations, as well as civil society at the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Geneva, Switzerland highlighted the crucial role the private sector has to play in shaping a human-centred future of work.
Richard Samans, managing director of the WEF and a member of the Global Commission on the Future of Work , said, “If you would ask me what is the private sector contribution beyond being a primary source of employment, how to leverage that further, I would say… invest more in your people… pay a living wage… ensure non-discrimination and safety and health… and, maybe, the last thing is dialogue.”
Other speakers at the forum for Business for decent work also examined the contribution of the private sector to full and productive employment and decent work, and looked at possible measures to encourage the development of sustainable enterprises.
Addressing participants, Moussa Oumarou, ILO Deputy Director-General for Field Operations and Partnerships, said, “The private sector contributes in a significant manner to the well-being of communities. Yet more can be done to shape business incentives in support of a human-centred growth model that places people and the work they do at the heart of business practices.”
Jacqueline Baroncini, of International Food, Farm and Hotel Workers Worldwide, agreed on the importance of dialogue, but pointed out that there are still countries where workers don’t have full access to freedom of association and collective bargaining rights. “We call on businesses to ensure that workers have access” to those rights, she said, adding, “We are making progress.”
Jacques van den Broek, Chief Executive Officer of Randstad said, “What we see is that the recipe for success is the public and private sector working together… There is policy to be made, and we would very much like to do that with the government. It’s about long-term planning.”
Gustavo de Hoyos Walther, President of the Mexican employers’ association COPARMEX, argued that it is not enough to focus on a human-centred agenda, but that “an agenda for the future also has to be centered on companies… we have to rethink what type of support is needed for companies to be in a position to generate jobs in the quantity and quality that the future will require.”
Laurent Freixe, Executive Vice-President of Nestle, said, “There is no doubt the private sector is the main provider of jobs… of formal jobs. A decent job is a basic condition to be a formal job. We should not forget that across the world… informality is unfortunately prevailing.”
Stephen Cotton, General Secretary of the International Transport Federation said that from the workers’ point of view, “we have to look at responsibilities. We understand that enterprises need to make a profit and need to have the opportunity to grow… But it’s critical that our institutions have the responsibility to regulate.”
Olajumoke Adekeye, the panel’s youth representative and Founder, the Young Business Agency, spoke of a ticking timebomb in sub-Saharan Africa, “where you have young people who are energetic, who are ambitious, who are hungry to make a living, to make sense out of their lives, to have access to the Internet, social media, and they can see how others in other parts of the world are living and are wondering why they won’t have equal access to these opportunities.”
