‘Uphold workers’ dignity’

Tafadzwa Ndlovu Herald Reporter
Kenyan ambassador and acting chairperson of the African Regional Labour Administration Centre (ARLAC) Ms Josephine Awour yesterday said there is a need for organisations to address better living and working conditions for employees.Speaking at the official opening of ARLAC workshop in Harare yesterday, Ms Awour urged employers and workers to engage in collective bargaining to secure better welfare packages.

“This workshop focuses on the social dialogue pillar of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) decent work agenda,” she said. “We need to start by confronting the global decent work deficit which is characterised by absence of sufficient employment opportunities, inadequate social protection and the denial of rights at work.

“Decent work is about securing human dignity. It is about your job and future prospects, about your working conditions, about balancing work and family life, putting your kids through school or getting them out of child labour as well as gender equality, equal recognition and enabling women to make choices, taking control of their own life.”

The five-day workshop is running under the theme: “Social dialogue: Key to achieving decent work country programmes”.
“We are strongly committed to strengthening the capacity of workers’ and employers’ organisations to support their members effectively, influence socio-economic policies, assist labour administrations with capacity development and promote sound industrial relations through effective social dialogue,” said Awuor.

Ms Awour said that ARLAC objectives concur with those of ILO in that the social members of both organisations were in the real economy and know what is necessary and what is achievable.