BUENOS AIRES, 1. September 2008 (ILO News): Argentine government, representatives from employers’ and workers’ organizations, and the ILO have signed a memorandum of understanding to launch a Decent Work Country Programme in Argentina for the period 2008-2011.
“Decent Work will stop being just a slogan and become an idea adopted by the whole of society,” said the Labour minister of Argentina, Carlos Tomada, during the signing ceremony.
Mr Tomada was joined by Daniel Funes de Rioja, from the Industrial Union of Argentina, Gerardo Martínez, head of the International Relations Department of the General Confederation of Labour, ILO Regional Director for the Americas, Jean Maninat, and the director of the ILO office in Argentina, Javier González Olaechea.
The 2008-2011 programme stems from a series of tripartite workshops and meetings. It aims to complement the results achieved during the previous Decent Work Country Programme (2004 – 2007).
“This new programme is the result of a joint learning process on how to evaluate problems, set out priorities and propose solutions to those problems”, said Mr González Olaechea.
The Director of the ILO office in Argentina thanked the tripartite constituents who worked on the agreement for their participation and good disposition, and called them the “true architects of this great effort”.
The Decent Work Country Programme will have the following priorities:
• To relate national labour policies with policies that have an impact on the quantity and quality of employment generation.
• To improve the conditions of employment and employability, with an emphasis on the promotion of decent work for young people and local economic development.
• To contribute to the prevention and eradication of child labour.
• To expand social protection coverage.
• To strengthen social dialogue in order to help constituents promote the dimensions of decent work through labour and social policies.
• To contribute to the elimination of the informal economy and informal employment.
The ILO Regional Director for the Americas, Jean Maninat, said “the signing of this Programme confirms once again Argentina’s commitment to Decent Work”.
He recalled that “the first Decent Work Country Programme in Latin America was implemented in Argentina between 2004 and 2007 as a response to the economic crisis, which the country has successfully left behind due to the efforts carried out by the government and the social partners”.
The workers’ representative, Gerardo Martínez, stressed the importance of creating employment and employment policies which have decent work as a priority. He also highlighted the high level of compromise shown by the workers’ sector and its technical teams, which worked together with the employers, the Labour ministry and the ILO to achieve a comprehensive decent work programme in Argentina.
