Making

Making effective
effective Labour
Labour
Legislation: the process

Fernando Fonseca
Senior Programme Officer
Social Dialogue, Labour Law and Labour Administration Programme
International Training Centre of the ILO (Turin, Italy)
Tirana, Albania, 21-22 June 2012
 ILO working definition
of Social Dialogue

Social dialogue is understood to include all

types of negotiation, consultation or simply
exchange of information between or among
representatives of governments, employers
and workers, on issues of common interest
relating to economic and social policy.

©2005/ILO/DIALOGUE/VE
 Involving the social partners (1)

Involvement of supplementary governmental and legislative

stakeholders in the drafting process of social legislation, and
labour legislation in particular
Decisions taken from above without consultation versus
Decisions taken in consultation with stakeholders

*The term “stakeholder” refers to all the people and institutions concerned. It can
also include representatives of non-governmental organisations, education,
civil society representatives, consumer groups etc.

©2005/ILO/DIALOGUE/VE
Involving the social partners (2)

Consultations to be established before beginning

the drafting of the labour provisions:
Ad hoc
Institutional

Bipartite
Tripartite
Tripartite (+)
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 Setting up a Task Force (1)

The task force should include, as a minimum:

Representatives from the Ministry of Labour, including
A high level representative
Labour law specialists
Ad hoc participation of specialists on particular questions
Equal representation of the key workers' and employers'
organizations
The task force could include, as a minimum:
Representatives from the Attorney-General's Office
Representative from an existing independent judicial body, such as
a Law Reform Commission or an Ombudsperson's office
Representatives from other concerned Ministries, such as those
dealing with finance, the economy and women's affairs
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Setting up a Task Force (2)

Representatives from civil society organizations that play an

important role in labour matters (with due attention to the
willingness of the traditional social partners to foster this
participation), such as:
Associations or religious organizations representing marginalized
workers, such as children, domestic workers, home workers,
women's groups
Consumer groups
Chambers of Commerce, export manufacturers' associations
Respected members of a Law Society specializing in labour law
Representatives from the academic community specializing in
labour law or in complementary areas (e.g. business law), which is
particularly useful if the expertise is complementary to that of the
national experts.

©2005/ILO/DIALOGUE/VE
 Labour law Reform
Examples of consultations

A B C D

Tripartite Ad Hoc task Existing tripartite

International consultants Ministry of labour
force bodies

- Specially appointed - Standing composition - Hired by

- Tripartite + - Timetables subject to MINLAB - Prepares their own draft;
- Gazzetted TOR schedules meeting - Timetable set in where required to report to
- Timetables for progress support - Secretariats from Minlab with contract national labour advisory
- Secretariat from ministry reporting experience - No secretariat board
responsible for labour - National experts regularly - Usually visit - Consultations might feed
- National experts hired as needed hired regularly and in, to finalize texts
- Link with ministries of justice/ - Link with ministry of holds several
Parliamentary drafters Justice/parliamentary drafters seminars

National tripartite bodies to finalize the texts

ILO Given the possibility to verify texts vis-à-vis 1998 Declaration/ratified Conventions/ existing comments by CEACR
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Advantages and Disadvantages of various options

Excellence of Ownership Participatory Time Frames Respect for Involvement Budgetary

content for the consultations ILO of tripartite implications
country of social Fundamntal bodies
conditions partners Conventons
Ratified
international
law
A

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