10 April 2019: The UN General Assembly (UNGA) celebrated the centesimal anniversary of the founding of the International Labour Organization (ILO) by discussing policies to make sure decent paintings and social safety in the course of growing international inequality and the danger of process loss to automation by way of hundreds of thousands. High-level representatives of governments, the UN device, the non-public zone, civil society, academia, and global groups also addressed the benefits of greening the economy and digitization.
UNGA venerated ILO’s 100th anniversary on 10 April 2019 at UN Headquarters in New York, US.
Opening the assembly, UNGA President Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces stated that, notwithstanding the one hundred eighty ILO conventions, ranging from gender equality to compelled exertions, “injustice is still a reality for hundreds of thousands.” She supplied several examples, inclusive of that: over 40 million people these days are victims of modern slavery, which is extra than twice the range worried within the transatlantic slave trade; one hundred ninety million people are unemployed globally, a 3rd of whom are younger; three hundred million people make up the working poor, half of-of who are younger, and a couple of billion people are engaged in casual paintings, often without social protection. She is careworn that troubles of social justice will become “even greater crucial” as the arena of work adjustments, adding that “ILO is the same old bearer for SDG 8” (respectable paintings and economic increase).
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said ILO has been “a relied-on voice” to increase opportunities for young human beings, “open doors and wreck glass ceilings” for ladies, besides make sure social justice “in each nook of the world.” Noting that improvements such as artificial intelligence (AI) will help strengthen economies and progress on the SGDs, the Secretary-General cited that the arena will face “wonderful” disruption in the exertions market, with an “enormous amount” of jobs created and jobs destroyed, in addition to modifications to the very meaning of the concept of “work” and the relationship between work, leisure, and different occupations. To cope with these changes, Guterres burdened the want for a “huge” investment in schooling and a specific kind that isn’t always just about getting to know things but “gaining knowledge of how to examine.” Besides, he emphasized the necessity for a new generation of help and social protection policies for the people.
Guy Ryder, ILO Director-General, described ILO’s beginning as the first step in constructing the multilateral machine and a forebearer of the UN. He stated ILO’s Global Commission on the Future of Work posted a ‘Centenary at the Future of Work’ report, which presents the ten most important tips on a human‑targeted timetable for growth and improvement, even calling for investments in people’s capacities and within the sustainable and first-rate jobs of the destiny.
Inga Rhonda King, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), highlighted that these days’ employees need a “completely new” set of capabilities and a new system of knowledge to adjust to the converting labor market. She referred to redoubling efforts to preserve momentum around the upcoming 2019 High-stage Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), with a view to, amongst other Goals, assessment of SDG eight and round imposing the 2030 Agenda in popular.
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), noted that the arena has visibly eroded a social contract promising first-rate work and safety from exploitation since the Eighties. Inequality is currently “overwhelming,” she stated, with wealth awareness continuing to be fueled through agencies. Noting that 60% of the global group of workers is in informal paintings, she cautioned that operating humans “have lost agree with” institutions, globalization, and democracy. She pressured the need for a device that promotes honest competition and respect for rights. Erol Kiresepi, President of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE), stated employers want to be a part of the solution. The IOE seeks to contribute to a “sturdy” ILO that guarantees first-rate paintings for all.
Jolly Amatya, UN Major Group for Children and Youth Secretariat, noted that USD 1.7 trillion is spent every yr on army prices because monetary fashions can’t inform the differences between gadgets of warfare and those of well-being, at the same time as wages stagnate despite “extensive” economic increase. Underscoring that “unchecked boom is an existential chance,” she is known for a move beyond gross domestic product (GDP) to signs that degree the well-being of anybody and the planet. Via video message, Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, stated the EU acknowledges its responsibility to conform to destiny realities “with multilateralism at its center.”
During a panel on ‘Addressing Unfinished Commitments to Achieve Decent Work for All,’ Steven Greenhouse, Author, Former Labor and Workplace Reporter, New York Times, located that, over the direction of his journalism career, the media regularly moved their recognition from the world of work to the era area. He lamented that panels on painting problems frequently feature a couple of billionaires simultaneously as there may be nearly no dialogue of folks earning much less than USD 1. Ninety consistent daily.
Reema Nanavaty, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), India, said organizing is the most efficient way to address the “double troubles” of poverty and labor destiny. To achieve a holistic technique to work that places employees in the middle and restores stability in the environment, she is diagnosed as crucial to the decentralization of production and an increasing number of localized distribution of products and offerings and guidelines that enable collective bargaining. Mthunzi Mdwaba, CEO, Zoro IBC, said countrywide improvement plans must help small- and medium‑sized enterprises (SMEs) and join them with capital.
Cautioning that low‑skill and occasional‑education jobs “will soon be gone,” Jeffrey Sachs, Director of the Center for Sustainable Development, Columbia University, noted they want to improve training systems, particularly in Africa. Providing examples of “infinite” jobs that are rising in renewable electricity, the retrofitting of homes, the installation of solar panels, and the improvement of an electricity‑based delivery gadget, he underscored that “there’s no alternate‑off among climate sanity and jobs.”