Presentation

This Practical Guide to Trade Union Action at the International Labour Organization is a fundamental tool for the exercise of trade union work in the international arena. It is not an academic piece of work, yet it contains all the required elements thereto including quality, accurate, and detailed information. Rather, this guide has been conceived with the aim of bringing practical information to the leaders of trade union organizations affiliated to Public Services International in Inter-America in order to deepen their trade union work in the different spaces of supervision, complaints, and political action of the International Labour Organization (ILO). As detailed by Professor Carlos Ledesma in this guide, the ILO is the only multilateral organization in the United Nations system that operates with a tripartite structure, where the constituents – Governments, Employers, and Workers – make decisions on the basis of ‘social dialogue’, a dynamic that is fed by the generation of inputs – including complaints and proposals – that are discussed at every level, jointly by all three social actors. Public Services International has a global and regional strategy in relation to the ILO that is hinged on supporting its affiliates, strengthening their actions, and amplifying their voice in the highest international arenas, with the strength of trade union solidarity and the power of representation wielded by an organization representing more than 20 million workers in over 200 countries worldwide. This guide is an instrument for affiliates to make the most of the work PSI has been carrying out at the International Labour Organization. This work is a fundamental cornerstone of our Global Union Federation struggle, and of the entire trade union movement, in our permanent pursuit of social justice and equality.

PSI’s work at the ILO

It is important that our affiliates fully understand the work that PSI carries out in the different spaces, forums, areas, and departments of the International Labour Organization. This Guide outlines the objectives, structure, and functioning of the ILO so that the unions that are part of PSI can join the work that our international team has been doing for years in the region and at the central office. This ongoing work includes claiming institutional and representation space for unions, developing experience and technical capacity, and building a solid track record of

activities that has garnered respect within the union movement and from the other social partners. Strategic management of the two dimensions – knowledge of the ILO structure and knowledge of the tools of action that PSI leverages at the ILO – are key to carrying out the Programme of Action adopted at the World Congress in Geneva 2018, supplemented and adapted to meet the region’s priorities at the Regional Conference, IAMRECON 2019 in Buenos Aires. Next, we detail some major lines of action pursued by Public Services International in coordination with the ILO.

Complaints and reparations at ILO supervisory bodies

PSI Inter-America keeps track of complaints of violations of International

Labor Standards filed by affiliates leveraging the multiple resources afforded by the ILO's standards control mechanisms, so that governments are forced to take concrete actions to stop violation of trade union rights.

Similarly, in Geneva, where the ILO is headquartered, the PSI head office supports our affiliates in filing complaints, ensuring they are considered and that all documentation requirements are met.

PSI participates in the Inter-American Technical-Political Committee of the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA), which defines our region’s priority complaints for a given year to be submitted to the ILO Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS). We bring our proposals to this committee and strongly influence the regional proposal that is subsequently submitted to the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC).

PSI, through its main office, participates in the activities of the International Trade Union Confederation, which defines the “long list” of countries which will join the employers at the negotiating table to decide on the “short list of 25 countries” to be addressed by the Committee on the Application of Standards at the ILO’s annual International Labour Conference (ILC) is eventually defined.

Together with the TUCA and the ITUC, PSI actively participates in the preparation of cases that are submitted to the Committee on the Application of Standards (CAS). PSI has the right to speak at the CAS, and actively exercises this right in all cases involving its affiliates, and on many occasions creates the conditions for affiliates from the country being analyzed in the Committee to take the floor in this very important forum and directly argue their cases.

Proposals for new International Labor Standards

PSI participates in all of the ILO's regional and global meetings through every step of the consultation process for the adoption of International Labor Standards. PSI participates directly in ILO bodies while simultaneously maintaining participation in the strategy of the entire trade union movement with the International Trade Union Confederation through the Global Union Committee. Likewise, at the regional level, PSI Inter-America participates directly in activities with the International Labour Organization, in coordination with the TUCA.

PSI follows up on the deliberations of the ILO Governing Body, strengthening the work of the Workers’ group. An example of this permanent work of our Global Union Federation can be seen in the leading role PSI played in recent years in the process of analysis, drafting, debate, and negotiation of Convention No. 190 on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work, and in the discussions on the future of work that culminated in the Centennial Declaration.

Sectoral activity has distinct spaces within the structure of the ILO, and one of them is the Sectoral Policies Department (SECTOR), which reports on the problems and needs of different sectors, including those in the public sector and in education, where PSI is the most important representative organization. PSI has led the voice of workers’ organizations in these and many other debates within the ILO, while the leaders of our affiliates have played the leading roles in these debates. In recent years, we can report, just to cite a few examples, PSI’s engagement in the Global Dialogue Forums on Collective Bargaining in the Public Sector, Employment in Tertiary Education, in debates on Water and Sanitation, Local (municipal) Governments, and its ongoing effort to establish mechanisms to protect “whistleblower workers”.

Course of action at the ‘International Parliament of Labour’

Every year, Public Services International exercises its right to speak at the plenary session of the International Labour Conference, the highest global stage of the debate on social and labor issues, where it presents a report on the global situation in the public sector, highlighting cases of violations of fundamental rights.

In addition to the abovementioned participation in the Committee on the Application of Standards, the International Labour Conference (ILC) is an extremely important space for trade union strategy at the global level. Once a year, many Presidents, Ministers of Labor, and top business and trade union leaders meet in Geneva for the ILC. PSI coordinates the activities of its affiliates, proposes thematic meetings and negotiation meetings in high-level national cases, brings its voice to each of the spaces, commissions, bilateral and associated meetings, engaging in intense trade union representation work together with its affiliates.

Development cooperation and trade union training

The specific areas of joint work that the ILO maintains with social actors, including with the Bureau for Workers' Activities (ACTRAV), with which PSI collaborates directly and frequently, are clear in this Guide. PSI, ACTRAV, and other cooperating organizations develop actions and activities related to training, trade union development, bipartite dialogue with governments, and technical assistance, while the current agenda of activities extends to all the subregions of the Americas.

Together with ILO and TUCA, PSI conducts a permanent campaign for the ratification of Convention No. 151 concerning Labour Relations in the Public Service and Convention No. 154 concerning Collective Bargaining, advocating before governments, legislatures, and civil society for the adoption of these key standards for our sector and policy that will make the rights enshrined therein genuinely enforceable.

PSI is directly involved in the work of the ILO Office for the Americas and its subregional offices. PSI is actively engaged in tripartite social dialogue forums in each priority area and, of course, exercising its representative functions in the Americas Regional Meetings.

To conclude this introduction, it is worth pointing out that the Guide PSI Inter-America is presenting is a practical instrument that will allow our affiliates to make the most of the different ILO bodies for the submission of complaints and trade union engagement, where PSI has put in place a sound support structure, a true platform designed to bolster the efforts of PSI affiliates by linking them around its global policy objectives and strategy. Public Services International gets its strength from its rank and file, from its affiliates, and it is through that strength that it can fulfil its Global Programme of Action on the basis of a democratic practice of global trade union representation, an example of participatory action. That is why this magnificent Practical Guide to Trade Union Action at the International Labour Organization, prepared by Dr. Carlos Ledesma, who combines technical knowledge with a deep commitment to the trade union movement, is a key piece of our regional strategy and in line with the global agenda of Public Services International.

Marcelo Di Stefano

PSI INTER-AMERICA REGIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER