Labour Minister Membathisi Mdladlana is set to contribute immensely with his vast knowledge and experience of labour issues when he attends the first African Symposium on Decent Work in Burkina Faso, 1 to 2 December 2009.
The symposium to be held in Ouagadougou is aimed at implementing the global jobs pact which was adopted by the International Labour Organisation conference in June 2009.
The global jobs pact was adopted as a framework for a comprehensive tripartite response to the global economic crisis with the objective of maintaining and creating employment, strengthening social protection, promoting labour standards, reducing inequality, strengthening collective bargaining and maintaining wage levels.
The pact specifically sets out a range of practical policies for the multilateral system, governments, workers and employers. It ensures linkages between social progress and economic development whilst emphasising, in addition to the fundamental conventions, the relevance of a number of international labour standards for a comprehensive crisis response. These include instruments concerning employment policy, wages, social security, the employment relationship, the termination of employment, labour administration and inspection, migrant workers, labour conditions on public contracts, occupational safety and social dialogue mechanisms.
The symposium will also allow African labour ministers to measure the progress made following the Extraordinary Summit of Heads of State of the African Union on Employment and Poverty Alleviation in Africa which was held in Burkina Faso in September 2004, and develop the necessary strategies to intensify the monitoring and evaluation of the pact. The theme of the symposium is ‘Overcoming the Crisis: the Implementation of the Global Jobs Pact in Africa”.
Enquiries:
Mzobanzi Jikazana
Cell: 083 641 2355
Issued by: Department of Labour
23 November 2009
Source: Department of Labour (http://www.labour.gov.za/)
