LABOUR INSPECTION IN THE PATH OF CHANGE – FOCUSING ITS MISSION TOWARDS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND SOCIAL PEACE IN TIME OF CRISIS

An international congress was organised on 16 and 17 April by the Portuguese Authority for Working Conditions (ACT) and the International Association of Labour Inspection (IALI), with the support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), on the subject “Labour inspection in the path of change: focusing its mission towards economic development and social peace in time of crisis”.

The congress was attended by:

- representatives of 25 countries and regions (Germany, Angola, Algeria, Australia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Chile, China, Spain, Russian Federation, France, Hessen, Indre-et-Loire, Ireland, Mozambique, Niger, Poland, Portugal, United Kingdom, Rússia, Singapore, Tunisia and Vietnam);
- international organisations (the IALI, as joint organiser, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Employment, the United Nations Organisation, the International Labour Organisation, the World Trade Organisation, the World Bank Group, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions – Dublin and the EU Senior Labour Inspectors’ Committee (SLIC)
- Portuguese social partners (Intersindical Nacional - CGTP, União Geral de Trabalhadores – UGT (both trade union organisations), Confederação da Indústria Portuguesa – CIP (Confederation of Portuguese Industry) and Confederação do Comércio e Serviços de Portugal – CCP (Confederation of Portuguese Trade and Services).

The current world economic, social and cultural crisis is conducive to debate, a search for means and alternatives for forging new relations between peoples, new ways of organising businesses and reorganising companies and establishing fair labour relationships, with particular focus on an increase in social dialogue.

The effects of the crisis include higher unemployment, growing stress for those who have jobs and for migrant workers, negative effects on working conditions, the appearance of new atypical forms of work organisation, greater social segmentation and public expenditure cuts by the state.

The challenges to labour inspection are therefore an increase in irregular work phenomena, which is often associated with the informal economy, human trafficking and forced labour, the protection of migrant workers’ rights and defence against the worst forms of child labour, management of labour disputes and the deregulation and fragmentation of the economic framework.

The challenges faced by labour inspection are well-known, they exist on a global scale and can be characterised as follows:

- the adoption of constantly changing work patterns, greater flexibility in types of traditional contract and the creation of new atypical forms of work
- exponential growth in new technologies, which has led to changes in the characteristics of the workforce and the business world and the type of risks to which workers are exposed
- new governance policies by which management is more transparent to all stakeholders and the general public, which also results in new, added expectations and demands not only from the usual labour inspection partners
- demographic changes and more migration
- the loss of jobs, which in many countries has resulted from companies’ relocating to countries where production costs are lower
- the need to qualify inspectors to apply complicated and often piecemeal regulatory tools of a highly specialised nature.

The crisis should be regarded as a challenge and not a threat. Labour inspection should play a proactive role and help in the implementation and consolidation of a culture of prevention that will make companies more competitive and, in turn, lead to higher employability.

Some innovative experiences were highlighted during the congress:

- integrated approaches to health and safety and working conditions;
- investment in prevention
- sectoral occupational risk prevention campaigns
- participative methods for settling social conflicts
- specialised teams for identifying and dealing with very serious phenomena (e.g. slavery)
- evaluation of performance indicators for more useful, effective inspections  multidisciplinary and inter-institutional training
- internships at similar organisations in other countries during initial training
- concentration of converging competences in the same organisation
- data-sharing using new information technologies

The following growing trends in labour inspections were identified:
- use of integrated inspection systems
- a need to disseminate good practices and examples (e.g. IALI Global Code of Integrity for Labour Inspection, manuals of procedures, information campaigns and checklists)
- networking with social partners and other players
- regional, transnational and international labour inspection alliances

A possible strategy suggested for meeting the challenges is step up international cooperation, since networks and alliances are indispensable tools not only for maintaining an internal balance of working conditions but also for ensuring that this balance is engendered at the international level by making it possible to recognise problems, share experiences and solutions and learn from previous success and mistakes.

International cooperation networks allow to offer a common response to problems caused by globalisation and the growing interdependence between companies and economies and show social players that labour inspection organisations are proactive bodies that seek answers, develop joint work strategies and can analyse problems and offer solutions at global level.

The future of labour inspection entails the creation of broad alliances, which can be developed at several levels. These include regional levels, for example, or levels based on common cultural characteristics, like those of the Ibero-American countries.

Other labour inspection strategies include helping to ensure that the institution has a place on the political agenda, working together for modern, appropriate legislation, strengthening initial and ongoing training for labour inspectors, reinforcing the organisation’s human and technical resources and implementing extensive networks and partnerships.

There must be capacity building for labour inspection and it must be recognised by the political powers and social players. This can be furthered by the development of a recognisable framework of ethical standards for labour inspectors, which we feel is part of IALI’s goals, in accordance with the Global Code of Integrity.

We would like to affirm the role of labour inspection as an effective agent for the regulation of working conditions in terms of health and safety and of labour relations.

In conclusion, the congress’s proposal is to focus labour inspection’s mission and strategies on:

- labour governance
- fair globalization
- sustainable development
- promotion of decent work
- innovative action aimed at ensuring good working conditions
- consolidation of networking and partnerships

This is therefore the path that we expect to follow under the auspices of the ILO and with the support of institutions like the International Association of Labour Inspection, the former because it continues to play an indispensable role in the structuring of minimum references for inspections and the latter because of its contribution towards uniting labour inspection systems to face their common problems.