ERMU NOTES – ILO READING

Decent work – framework developed by ILO which is the global, overarching body that
set global labour standards for UN member countries based on country specific context.
In 1999, they came with decent work framework, why? They felt that existing framework
was not working, things have gotten worse. We should go beyond that, beyond periphery
of premise of profitability and revenue into the ambit of decent work practices, decent
work is far more inclusive in that sense. There is more elements of societal needs,
whatever you provide as an employer to workers, this tends to get invested in larger
community. It impacts the economy

During the UN General Assembly in September 2015, decent work and the
four pillars of the Decent Work Agenda – employment creation, social
protection, rights at work, and social dialogue – became integral
elements  of the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Goal 8 of
the 2030 Agenda  calls for the promotion of sustained, inclusive and
sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent
work, and will be a key area of engagement for the ILO and its constituents.
Furthermore, key aspects of decent work are widely embedded in the
targets of many of the other 16 goals of the UN’s new development vision.

The ILO Framework Work Indicators covers ten substantive elements corresponding to the
four strategic pillars of the Decent Work Agenda  (full and productive employment, rights at
work, social protection and the promotion of social dialogue), as following:

1. employment opportunities

2. adequate earnings and productive work

3. decent working time

4. combining work, family and personal life

5. work that should be abolished

6. stability and security of work

7. equal opportunity and treatment in employment

8. safe work environment

9. social security

10. social dialogue, employers’ and workers’ representation

Chapter 1 – Women dexterity better than men, employed in automobile.

Decent work definition by ILO - productive work for women and men in conditions of
freedom, equity, security and human dignity.

Interpretation – Decent work looks into particular cultural background, country

specific context. How value chains have reduced workers to cheap labour, hence decent
work is needed. Decent work might be a derivative of SDG that pertains to dignity of
labour. Should introduce transgender as well, also language plays an important role as
women written before men which is progressive.

Not a minimum income, but fair income. ILO says that fair wages should do
justice to cost of living. Your workplace has to be secure, not just protection at work
but social protection. More social integration and not segregation, beyond
periphery of premise. Betterment for them as well as their families. Better
prospects for well-being. Give people to form associations, participate in decisions
which affect their lives. “The performance of enterprises of all sizes, and hence their
ability to create decent jobs and incomes for women and men, is inextricably linked to
the performance of the value chain they operate in.”

Africa full of minerals to be used in Iphone hence China needs it – close garden secrets.
Outcomes of value chain development – “To date, VCD has been used to improve
outcomes across all pillars of the Decent Work Agenda (Box 1), including areas such as
gender equality, productivity, skills and employability, youth employment, working
conditions and health and safety.”

4 PRINCIPLES

“There are four pillars of ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, with gender equality as a cross-
cutting theme

1 Job Creation: Generating opportunities for investment, entrepreneurship, skills

development, job creation, and sustainable livelihoods

2 Rights at Work: Recognizing and respecting the rights of all workers, particularly
disadvantaged or poor workers who need representation and laws that work for their
interests.

3 Social Protection: Promoting both inclusion and productivity by ensuring that women
and men enjoy working conditions that are safe, allow adequate free time and rest, take
into account family and social values, provide for adequate compensation in case of lost
or reduced income, and permit access to adequate health care.

4 Social Dialogue: Involving strong and independent workers’ and employers’

organizations is central to increasing productivity, avoiding disputes at work, and
building cohesive societies.” – Democratic practices, come with charter of demand,
situation of agreement. Tripartite dialogue.

ILO’s Approach to Global Value Chain

“Creating more equal opportunities for productive work for women and men

Increasing incomes

Providing greater income security

Enhancing social integration (e.g. through social dialogue and cooperatives)

Providing better prospects for professional development (e.g. learning new skills)

Improving occupational safety and health (OSH)

Providing ‘pull’ incentives in the form of new livelihood opportunities to

complement ‘push’ interventions aimed at ending forms of labour that should be
abolished, such as child, forced and bonded labour”

Pull incentives – incentives to stay here, provide opportunities

Push incentives – where you find work practices are dismal, you levy fees

Modern Slavery – Domestic worker for 24 hours – classified as bonded labour or urban
modern slavery. Work at meager salary. Emile Durkheim the anomie – irregular
behavior, even in IT companies where they have to stay with the company and bond (not
a contract)

SOLUTION FOR GLOBAL POVERTY – Productivity increase. We are so anchored

in our struggles. Where is stress free environment to innovate, do something for society?
Contrary – There is integration

Pg 14 – Diversity should be everywhere, some organisations only doing it to

look good/ tokenism. Uber where rapes happening, they go rainbow during pride
month. Ironic. We should clear the cloud. Things not very hunky dory outside. “Value
chain development aims for ‘win-win’ outcomes: improved enterprise performance and
growth at the same time as positive impacts for the poor and vulnerable groups. This is
critical, as without better enterprise performance and growth, jobs will not be sustained.
Value chain analysis and the design and implementation of interventions must take
proactive steps to address constraints to more inclusive growth i.e. growth that is
distributed fairly across society and creates opportunities for all” Clear link between
gender and economic development.
“Parallel to economic upgrading, the concept of social upgrading is important.” – You
may be given fair wages, may be economically well-off but social up gradation is needed,
perception needs to be changed like in the caste system. “Gender relations are a primary
component of both social and economic upgrading, and shape how the value chain
functions at each level. This includes factors ranging from the types of jobs that are
available to men and women, to differences in remuneration.” In pandemic, mental
health of women up for toss, they work but also take care of household.

Environmental climate change – These issues also labour issues, floods submerged
houses

MARKET SYSTEM – “Simply put, a market system is all the actors and factors that
interact to shape the outcomes of an exchange” – forces of demand and supply,
economic system

Value Chain Development Cycle Pg 18

“Strategy. Select sectors and the decent work focus, based on criteria of relevance,
feasibility and opportunity.

Analysis. Understand which aspects of the system are not working, moving from
visible ‘symptoms’ to the ‘causes’ which can often be found in underlying behaviours,
attitudes and enabling conditions.

Action. Facilitate change by building both the incentive and capacity of partners; which
involves a trial-and-error process to test new ways of working.”

PUSH AND PULL INCENTIVES, PRECARIOUS WORK

MEASURING DEFICITS

GLOSSARY TOWARDS THE END – IMPORTANT

VALUE CHAIN DEVELOPMENT

‘Value Chain Development’ (VCD), in turn, refers to an approach which takes a product,
service or commodity as the basis for analysis.83 Understanding value chains helps
development practitioners identify those chains which are able to generate growth, job
creation and poverty reduction. It also aims to identify constraints to and opportunities
for increasing value chain performance, so that interventions can be designed and
implemented to address constraints and improve outcomes

Value chain development (VCD) looks at market dynamics and relationships between
different actors in the chain with the objective of strengthening the whole system:
Enterprises, business networks, supporting services and rules and regulations.
INCLUSIVE VALUE CHAIN - i.e. growth that is distributed fairly across society and
creates opportunities for all. If these constraints are not proactively addressed, the
outcomes for target groups could be negative rather than positive.

1. Parallel to economic upgrading, the concept of social upgrading is important. It

has been described as the process of “improvement in the rights and entitlements
of workers (and other disadvantaged groups) as social actors by enhancing the
quality of their employment”.214 From a value chain perspective, social
upgrading can be understood as the portion of the gains from economic
upgrading captured by the target groups in a given firm or sector.
2. Gender relations are a primary component of both social and economic
upgrading, and shape how the value chain functions at each level. This includes
factors ranging from the types of jobs that are available to men and women, to
differences in remuneration.
3. Finally, environmental upgrading occurs when companies improve their
environmental performance, such as through reducing consumption of energy
and water, and eliminating waste in production processes.

Upgrading strategies are typically characterized as Functional - Increasing the range of

functions or changing the mix of activities to higher-value tasks; for example, moving
beyond direct production-related activities to logistics and distribution, product
development, design, and branding

Supply chain Establishing backward linkages within the supply chain closer to raw
material source Channel Diversifying to new buyers or new geographic or product
markets

Product Shifting to more sophisticated products with higher unit prices Process
Reorganizing the production system or introducing new technologies to gain efficiency

CONCLUSION –

1. Start with a clear strategy that prioritises a limited set of impacts First, it is
important to have a clear target group focus.
2. Look below the surface to find the reasons for the decent work deficits Second,
during market systems analysis, the underlying reasons driving decent work
deficits may not be immediately obvious. The key is to spend time investigating
‘why’ before rushing in with a ‘solution’. For decent work, the challenge is often
not one of unemployment but underemployment. Analysis needs to focus not
only on the drivers of labour market exclusion, but to understand and address the
reasons why people are being adversely included.
 3. Be adaptive and measure the meaningful Third, the reality of facilitating change
in market systems is more complex than simply implementing ‘blueprint’
interventions. Projects need to maintain a laser-sharp focus - only measuring
improvements in the decent work deficits they intend to address, while ensuring
that this does not come at the detriment of other aspects of decent work

4. ROLE OF INDUSTRY, WORKFORCE AND STATE

Large-scale wage employment, primarily between two parties – employer and
management – is a fundamental feature of all industrial civilizations. The term
"relations" refers to interactions between persons and groups that are based on
the views of those involved. As a result, industrial relations can be defined as the
sum of management's attitude toward labour and labor's attitude toward
management's policies and practises, as well as the positions that the two adopt
on many issues that affect their interests. These concepts of employer—employee
relations, labour-management relations, labour relations or industrial relations
denote that the relations are collective at least on the side of employees. It is
labour union that deals with the employers/management in matters of all issues
that are of interest to its constituents- Hence, the relations between the two
groups are organized.

. The term relations means interaction between people and groups based on attitudes of
the interacting people and groups. So the term industrial relations may be defined as the
sum total of management's attitude to labour and of the labour to management's
policies and practices and the positions the two take on different issues that affect their
interests.

1. Achievement of higher efficiency and productivity of the enterprise

2. To identify areas of common interest of both the sides
3. Equitable distribution of the benefits derived from industry among the
employees, the management, the shareholders, the consumers,
4. To establish and improve the working/employment relationships with different
groups

Industrial relations vary on a scale of degree of organization At one extreme relations

may be personal and informal, while at the other they may be highly, institutionalized,
perhaps embodied in legally prescribed structures and procedures.

Industrial relations are intextual and influenced by the environment - technological,

economic and business.* the social, political and legal.
The technological environment refers to the production system or the manufacturing
process- It differs from one industry to another and one enterprise/ plant to another.
The technology of the plant determines the labour force to be hired. The economic and
business environment varies according to the changes in the national and global
economy. These changes have a significant influence on industrial relations in an
enterprise that depends on world market for its business. The Social environment
consists of the profiles of the workers, the social attitudes, work norms and the society.
Thus an educated and better trained labour force with positive attitudes to work and
belief in norms socialized in a society. The Political environment refers to political
ideologies and systems prevailing at a given point of time and the political affiliations
particularly of labour. Industrial relations in a democratic political system mrm
different from those in a socialist/communist system. The legal environment not rily
refers to labour legislations but also the judge-made laws- In a tripartite industrial
relations system the State enacts laws on every aspect of labour and industrial relation©
on the pretext of protecting the interest of the weaker party in industry

dustrial relations in India do not fall into any known pure pattern — bipartit ism,
voluntarism, or tripartitism. They exhibit the characteristics of all the systems. Yet none
can emphatically say that they are progressive and conducive to achieve the objectives of
the industry and the economy.

TRADE UNIONS AS BUSINESS PARTNERS

Think of how the relationship between management of an organisation and the union of
employees undergoes changes. All industrial relations managers would have
experienced the ‘Form, Storm, Norm, Perform’ stages of building relations.

The union leadership realised that with establishments closing down like they
experienced in Akurdi

factory of Bajaj [you will recall that it was abruptly closed down] or downsizing
substantially, it was necessary to ensure that the workers’ families had a second source
of income. This led to VKKS actively training women family members to be self-
employed. Beginning was made with training a batch of 25 women and it was followed
by more batches. Reportedly many women so trained are earning a decent income
today. Their vision included among other things:

1. Improve Union’s image in the minds of people in general

2. Empower women

PLATFORM ECONOMY AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Platforms are changing the nature of work. They are building a labour market
characterised by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to
traditional, full-time employment. Such freelance jobs are popularly known as gigs and
they tend to last a limited period of time, often the duration of a project or as long as the
company has a specific need. As of December last year, India had around 15 million gig
workers engaged in sectors like IT, HR, and designing. With the rise of the platform
economy and the subsequent emergence of various gigs, a large number of workers have
started to prefer freelancing with online platforms over working permanent jobs.

Technological innovations open up new opportunities to work remotely and online.

“Gig economy” jobs, where workers have multiple short-term jobs or contracts
with multiple employers online, rather than the traditional, more permanent single
employer-employee relationship, provide opportunities for workers to earn income
and for enterprises to organize work in new ways.

Gig work, unlike traditional employment, allows workers to have more control over their
place of work, the kind of work they do, the hours they work, their role, their workload,
and their pay. It is particularly attractive to young people who seek more independence
and flexibility in their jobs, while also wanting to acquire new skills and access new
opportunities. A gig worker tends to have a more dynamic work profile.

SOME CHALLENGES WITH PLATFORM ECONOMY

1. As the report pointed out in an earlier section, precarity—in the sense of labour
and income insecurity, and the lack of work-based identity—has long featured
in the lives of a large proportion of Indian workers. It is not new, nor unique, to
platform work in India. The “gig” or “flexible” labels that are associated with
platform work may suggest that platform workers take on this work part time or
in addition to other work they undertake. However, workers were
overwhelmingly working full time on these platforms (with Dunzo, Housejoy, and
some occupations on Urban Company the exceptions) and were mainly
dependent on the platforms for their livelihood. Incentive amounts and offers
also change weekly, monthly and seasonally, and at short notice: food delivery
workers are offered incentives during festival seasons and cricket matches, but
they also vary for less predictable reasons such as the platform’s expansion into
new areas or investor pressure to stop cash burn.57 At any given time, incentive
offers also vary based on the worker’s registered geographical location within the
city.
2. Labour Insecurity and Precarity in Working Conditions
The platform economy as it is currently structured offers workers no job security
in the longer term and this presents a fundamental precarity in their work
(conditions). But conversations with workers revealed that they were not assured
 of a job even in the shorter term, with workers on some platforms, including
Zomato, Ola and Uber complaining that they had experienced temporary ID
blocks and permanent suspensions without the means to appeal these decisions.
The growing automation and opacity of worker management systems further
complicates the process of redressal appeal. One of the benefits that is often
associated with working on platforms is the “flexibility.” It supposedly offers
workers the ability to choose when and how many hours they work for and when.
While some of the workers did mention this as an advantage, the interviews also
drive home the point that workers work unpredictable and long hours to achieve
an income that can sustain them. Most workers interviewed worked much longer
than the legally permissible 48 hourweek (without overtime wages). Moreover,
these hours were not always predictable and could also involve long periods of
waiting between orders
3. Lack of work-identity and precarity through contracting
In addition to the ambiguity of worker classification brought up earlier, there is a
further issue around contracts that emerges for platform workers. Increasingly,
components of the platform supply chain are being contracted out to entities
outside of the platform company. Furthermore, these subcontracting models are
still evolving (and rapidly so)

 How can the fundamental rights of platform economy workers be

guaranteed?
 What is needed to ensure these rights are respected?
 How can platform economy workers have their interests
collectively represented so that they can bargain for better pay
and working conditions?
 How can minimum conditions of employment (such as the
minimum wage) be regulated?
 How can platform economy workers have access to adequate
social protection?
 How does the growth o

GLOBAL SUPPLY CHAIN

The production and distribution of goods and services have become ever more
complex. In the past, companies concentrated their output in specific countries
or regions. These days, it is spread across transnational global networks that aim
to maximize profit and minimize waste.
 
Global supply chains have transformed the world economy in the last three
decades. They have been an engine of growth and job creation, especially in the
developing world.