Protecting Workers Rights In Construction

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Protecting Workers RightsIn Construction

• IFBWW Conference
• Johannesburg 27th October 2004

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working life in construction

• Construction provides much needed employment for
  many of the worlds poorest and most vulnerable
  people.
• 111 million workers
• 75in developing countries

 
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• Construction provides work for low skilled or
  entry level workers
• Of special importance for the landless poor
• Large numbers of rural - urban migrants look for
  work in construction
• The industry is dominated by micro enterprises
• 90 of firms have less than ten workers
• Workers are recruited through intermediary
  agents, labour only subcontractors or directly at
  pick up points for day labouring

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Decent Work

• This is the main policy agenda of the
  International Labour Organisation. Decent Work
  applies to all workers, including those on daily
  wages and in very temporary, informal employment.
  
• Decent Work is work that is carried out in a
  safe physical environment with conditions which
  respect the rights of workers as defined in
  national law and international conventions.

 
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Reality is far from decent

• Employment is almost completely informal. No
  social or legal protection.
• Exploitative, dangerous, dirty working
  conditions
• Inhumane living conditions, no amenities, water,
  shelter
• Hazardous Child labour in brick kilns and
  quarries, roads and infrastructure

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Reality is far from decent

• Bonded Labour through debts and advances,
  especially with migrant labour
• Discrimination in employment and Inequality in
  wages
• Exploitative wages and long working hours
• Active hostility towards workers who try to
  organise

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International Labour Standards

• The ILO Declaration of Fundamental Principles and
  Rights at Work (1998)
• Core Labour Standards cover four areas and are
  defined in eight ILO Conventions
• Freedom of association and the effective
  recognition of the right to collective
  bargaining,
• Elimination of forced or compulsory labour,
• Abolition of child labour
• Elimination of discrimination in respect of
  employment and occupation.

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Other Key ILS

• Health, Safety and welfare of the workforce to be
  protected
• Wages to be paid in full and on time, to meet
  legal minima and be sufficient for basic needs.
• Working hours to be limited overtime to be paid
• All relevant social security regimes to be
  applied to all workers without distinction.
• Rights to Workers Representation
• Convention 94 Labour Clauses in Public Procurement

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Working Conditions

• Every year over 100,000 construction workers are
  killed in site accidents
• Almost all of these deaths are foreseeable and
  preventable

 
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Invisible and ignored

• work related ill health accounts for many
  hundreds of thousands of premature deaths.
  Asbestos diseases alone kill about 100, 000
  people every year
• yet.
• Published data grossly underestimates the real
  number of accidents, and reporting of work
  related ill health is practically non existent.

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Building Ill Health

• Deafness
• Vibration syndromes
• Back injuries
• Musculo skeletal disorders
• Respiratory illness, asthma, cancer
• Central nervous system disorders
• Reproductive ill health
• Renal, hepatic,cardio-vascular problems
• Dermatitis
• Dengue, malaria
• HIV AIDS

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Costs at macro economic level

• Prevention of injuries and ill health is a
  development issue
• 4 GDP of any nation lost on workplace accidents
  and ill health
• A practical area for immediate improvements and
  tangible benefits to the poor

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Exploitative employment and labour practices

• Precarious contractual conditions, informal work,
  rural - urban migration
• Workers seen as a cost by employers
• Productivity and time pressure
• Low trade union density, low social status of
  construction workers, poverty, lack of respect
  for human and trade union rights
• Governments passive and permissive on workers
  rights and social protection

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The role of GovernmentsLegislation, policy and
tripartite structures

• Establish Tripartite National Legislative and
  Policy agenda on OHS and Welfare
• Sector- specific tripartite bodies, such as
  Advisory Committees,National Interest Groups,
  Construction Industry Development Boards and
  Training Boards

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Role of Governments

• Ratification, transposition and practical
  implementation nationally of relevant ILO
  Conventions, Recommendations, Codes of Practice
  and Guidelines.
• (Convention 167 and Recommendation 175 on Safety
  and Health in Construction, 1988. Code of
  Practice on Safety and Health in Construction
  1991. Abundant Guidance on making construction
  work safe).

 
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Legislation

• Promotion activities guidelines, information,
  training and qualifications, assistance,
  inspections. Targeted campaigns on specific
  hazards and prevention measures.
• Enforcement and real deterrents the fear factor
  costs of fines and compensation, social stigma
  and loss of license or liberty for negligent
  employers.

 
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Employers Organisations

• Institutional participation on legislation and
  policy
• Promotion of compliance and good practice in the
  industry
• Mandatory training and skills certification
• Compulsory employers liability insurance

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Employers OrganisationsCollective Bargaining

• Recognition of trade unions for collective
  bargaining and workers participation in
  prevention on site.
• Establishment of Health and Safety Policies,
  internal regulations, Health and Safety
  management Systems and Joint Health and Safety
  Committees.

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The Trade Union Effectrights -based focus

• Trade Union Structure
• Institutional participation
• Legislation and policy agenda
• Collective bargaining on OHS
• Recruitment and organising
• Safety Representatives and Committees
• Information and training
• Organising informal and migrant workers
• Campaigns on health, safety and welfare

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Informality and cut-throatcompetition undermine
rights

• There is an extremely high level of competition
  in the construction industry and contractors win
  bids by lowering their costs.
• Labour is a major component of these costs.

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Construction contract

• Thus the winning tender may well be the one
  which pays the lowest wages, does not provide
  safety equipment or have coverage for accidents,
  and which has the largest proportion of informal
  workers, for whom no tax or social security is
  paid, and who are not covered in practice by any
  legal or social protection.

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Construction contract

• In this situation, the construction contract
  becomes a potentially important mechanism for the
  implementation of labour laws and improving
  conditions
• There is a clear need for clauses that relate
  specifically to labour standards to be included
  in the contract documents.
• Standard bidding documents construction contract
  general conditions and particular conditions
  plans and specifications

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Health, safety and welfare costs should be
included as mandatory components in tender
documents

• Sanitation, water, food and shelter .
• First aid and health services.
• Planning, co-ordination and operation of health
  and safety management system including training
  and workers participation
• Collective and individual measures to protect
  workers safety and health.

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Evaluation of tenders on OHS

• Selection criteria for tenders should include
  past performance and current capacity on OHS and
  welfare
• Volume and type of past output, OHS policy,
  budget, resources, system and structure,
  reporting system including near misses, accident
  performance, worker training and consultation.

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OHS targets should be audited against each
contractor on site

• Demonstrated commitment to OHS through policy,
  management, skills levels.
• Ensure structures and and resources to implement
  policy and comply with law
• Ensure communication and co-ordination between
  contractors and the participation of workers,
  including induction training

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Conditions of tender on OHS

• Project specific health and safety proposals for
  addressing points in tender
• Create and maintain a Health and Safety Plan
  which includes health and safety policy, risk
  assessments and prevention measures
• Present detailed health and safety Plan before
  work starts.

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Construction contract

• This places formal responsibility on the
  contractor, but it is important to develop a
  process around the contract, which involves
  awareness raising, training and capacity building
  for the client, engineer, contractor and
  employer, as well as for the workforce, and which
  puts in place agreed mechanisms for monitoring
  compliance.

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Safety Representatives on site

• Low union density is a key factor in explaining
  the poor safety standards in our sectors
• Informal workers are widely dispersed in small
  companies and worksites. The use of casual and
  temporary labour, subcontracting chains and
  informal labour, creates an increasingly complex
  working environment where unions represent
  workers across multiple employers.

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Roving Safety Representatives

• Unions at branch or regional level should be able
  to provide an appropriate union representative to
  support all members of that union wherever and
  for whomever they work. But they need reasonable
  rights of access to workplace. And they need to
  be trained.

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Role of the Safety Representative

• Participate in Health and Safety Committee
• Inspections, health /symptom surveys, accident
  book, documentation, reports and recommendations
• Information, training and communication with
  workers on health hazards and the prevention
  measures to be taken.
• Represent workers interests, including the right
  to refuse dangerous work without victimisation

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Organising on workers rights

• All workers have rights, regardless of employment
  status, but how to achieve?
• Unorganised workers face exploitative working
  conditions and inhumane living conditions. Rural
  - urban migrants most vulnerable workers.
• Address immediate needs for shelter and
  protection water, fuel, food child care and
  education health and, above all, employment with
  fair conditions.

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IFBWW recommendations

• Construction safety legislation, properly
  enforced, including workers right to refuse to
  carry out dangerous tasks without fear of
  victimisation (ILO C.167).
• Recognition of trade unions and the participation
  of workers in prevention.
• Promotion of Health and Safety Management on site
  to ensure day to day application of prevention
  measures.