Essay 1 - Decent Work Employment

Using the attached PDF as your reference, write an essay on The Impact of the Global Economic
Crisis on Non-Discrimination in Employment and Occupation. Some helpful guide questions
might be:

What were the effects of the Global Economic Crisis on discrimination in the workplace? Has it
worsened discriminatory practices? How were migrant workers affected by the crisis? What
about women workers?
Illustrate the interrelationship between poverty and discrimination.
What is the ILO's response? Summarize the measures taken by the ILO in different countries to
address this global problem.
Format: Google Docs
Font: Tahoma, size 12, 1.15 line spacing
Do not include the instructions or guide questions in your output, as these are unnecessary and
will only add to the word count.
Write
your name in the title of the document, or only in the Header portion
of the doc, so that it is not included in the word count either. (Refer
to the attached sample below)
Minimum word count requirement: 500 words
PDF: Equality at work, The continuing challenge

Module 1 – Decent Work Employment

1. When did the concept of Decent Work originate, and what were the factors that led to its
development?
Twenty years ago, the International Labour Organization (ILO) launched a new strategy,
the Decent Work Agenda, to ensure human-oriented development in the globalization of working life
and to provide an effective response to the challenges of globalization. The objectives of the ILO
DecentWork Agenda and the DecentWork targets in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in
view of occupational health. The ILO has developed an agenda for the community of work, looking at job
creation, rights at work, social protection, and social dialogue, with gender equality as a cross-cutting
objective. Productive employment and decent work are crucial to achieving fair globalization and poverty
reduction.

2. Briefly define the following terms — you may use the Internet to research these ideas:
a. Downsizing- is the permanent reduction of a company's labor force by removing
unproductive workers or divisions.
b. Outsourcing- is a practice usually undertaken by companies as a cost-cutting
measure.
c. Offshoring-  the practice of outsourcing operations overseas, usually by
companies from industrialized countries to less-developed countries, with the
intention of reducing the cost of doing business. 
 d. precarious work-  is a term that critics use to describe non-standard or
temporary employment that may be poorly paid, insecure, unprotected, and
unable to support a household.
e. zero-hour contracts- are a type of ‘atypical’ working, whereby employers engage
individuals on an ad hoc ‘as required’ basis with no guaranteed hours.
f. long and deviating working hours- defined as regularly working more than 48
hours per week.
g. agency work- works through an agency which finds them jobs. This work is often
called 'temporary work', 'temping' or 'agency work'.
3. What were some of the beneficial results of the Declaration on Fundamental Principles
and Rights at Work?
- Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work was to apply to all
working people in all 187 Member States of the ILO, regardless of the level of
economic development and whether the Member States had ratified the fundamental
conventions. The Declaration also covered groups with special needs, including the
unemployed and migrant workers. The declared universal fundamental rights and
principles were:
1. Freedom of association and right to collective bargaining;
2. Elimination of forced or compulsory labour;
3. Abolition of child labour;
4. Elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation.

4. Using the ILO's Definition of Decent Work, describe an employment situation of

someone you know that matches the kinds of working conditions that characterize Decent
Work. What features of his/her job make you think that it falls within the ILO's
Definition of Decent Work?
- My dad is an SB Member, the features of his job that fall within the ILO's Definition
of Decent Work are that he has human dignity.

5. In contrast, give an example of an employment situation that does not conform with the
ILO's criteria of Decent Work. What, specifically, about this job is/are against the
concept of Decent Work?
- The nurse's situation does not conform to ILO's criteria of Decent Work because of
their extra hours on duty or added shift hours, and sometimes they didn't get paid for
overtime.

6. What is the role of the International Labour Organization? What is its goal?
- The ILO's Decent Work Agenda promotes a development strategy that recognizes the
central role of work in everyone's life. The Organization provides support through
integrated Decent Work programmes developed at the country level with ILO's
constituents.
 These programmes set priorities and targets within national development frameworks
and aim to tackle significant Decent Work shortcomings through effective
programmes that also meet each of ILO's four strategic objectives:
a. to promote and implement the standards and fundamental principles and rights at
work
b. to enhance opportunities for men and women to obtain decent employment and
wages;
c. to expand the scope and heighten the effectiveness of social protection for all;
d. to strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.

7. Provide a brief background on Decent Work Country Programmes. When and where did
they begin, and for what purpose?
- The ILO launched the Decent Work concept in 1999, and the first DWCPs were
begun in 2000 in the Philippines and Ukraine. The DWCPs were intended to be well
coordinated at the national level with other ILO and UN programmes on developing
working life to use scarce resources as possible effectively. The DWCPs aimed at the
distinct ILO contribution to UN country programmes and constituting one main
instrument to integrate regular budget and extra-budgetary technical cooperation
better. Decent Work called for quality jobs, dignity, equality, a fair income, and safe
and healthy working conditions and environments; it strived to put people at the
center of development and create an inclusive and sustainable future.

8. Briefly describe the relationship between Decent Work and Occupational Health. How
does the ILO influence Occupational Safety and Health practices? How do DWCPs
contribute to achieving the goal of Occupational Health for All?
- One of the fundamental principles of the ILO Constitution is the “protection of the
worker against sickness, disease, and injury arising out of his employment.” In
adopting the Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalization, the ILO
institutionalized the Decent Work concept, which had been earlier adopted at the 87th
ILO Conference and reaffirmed the continuation of OSH as the basic principle of
Decent Work. It also established the InFocus Programme on SafeWork. It was further
reinforced by adopting the ILO Centenary Declaration, confirming OSH as a
fundamental element of Decent Work.
- In 2003, the 91st ILC adopted the Conclusions of the Global Strategy on
Occupational Safety and Health. These Conclusions confirmed OSH as the crucial
principle of Decent Work: “Decent Work must be safe work.” The Conclusions
pinpointed the need for tripartite national commitment and national action in fostering
a preventive approach and a safety culture, which are vital to achieving lasting
improvements in safety and health at work.
PDF: Decent Work, ILO’s Response to the Globalization of Working Life Basic Concepts
and Global Implementation with Special Reference to Occupational Health