ILO Convention on Homework
Take action!
NGH is campaigning for ratification of the ILO Convention on Homework to improve the rights of homeworkers in the UK. John Battle MP has put forward an Early Day Motion in support of our campaign and we are working to ensure as many MPs as possible give it their backing. Please write to your MP and urge them to sign EDM 1123 to support the ILO Convention on Homework.
http://www.homeworking.gn.apc.org/resource-files/ilo_edm_letter12 05761036.doc
The ILO
The International Labour Organisation is the UN agency for labour rights. The ILO sets international minimum standards for basic labour rights such as freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, and equality of opportunity and treatment. The ILO sets these standards through Conventions and Recommendations. A Convention is equivalent to an international treaty – it has to be ‘ratified’ by individual governments and then becomes legally binding in those countries.
The Convention
In 1996 the ILO adopted a Convention on Homeworking (No. 177) setting international minimum standards for employment rights for homeworkers. The Convention was accompanied by Recommendations which give practical advice on how these standards can be applied and what governments need to do in terms of policies and programmes to improve the lives of homeworkers.
The Convention specifies a range of steps governments must take including:
• Adopting a national policy on homework aimed at improving the situation of homeworkers
• Promoting equality of treatment between homeworkers and other wage earners
• Including information on home work in the gathering of labour statistics.
• Ensuring health and safety laws take homeworking issues into account.
Ratification of the Convention
Unfortunately ratification of this Convention has been disappointingly slow. Since 1996 only four countries, Albania, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands have ratified the Convention.
The UK situation
In 1997 the incoming Labour government stated its intention to ratify the Convention on Homeworking in a White Paper, but so far there has been little progress on this. Campaigning for the ratification of the Convention continues, alongside calls for the government to at least put in place specific policies and laws outlined in the Convention and Recommendations, short of full ratification. Even where the Convention is not ratified, then, it can still be used by campaign groups and trade unions to argue for specific steps to improve the lives of homeworkers.