Latest news with #InternationalLabourOrganisation
The Sun
18 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Mediation saves RM60 million in workplace disputes, says HR minister
GEORGE TOWN: Mediation has proven to be a cost-effective and efficient method for resolving workplace disputes, saving employers and employees millions while fostering industrial harmony. Human Resource Minister Steven Sim Chee Keong highlighted that 65 per cent of cases referred to the Department of Industrial Relations were successfully resolved through mediation in 2024, preventing unnecessary legal battles. Speaking at the inaugural Industrial Mediation Symposium 2025, Sim noted that mediation handled over 3,000 cases this year, reducing the burden on the Industrial Court. 'If each court case costs RM20,000 for both parties, mediation has saved more than RM60 million in 2024 alone,' he said. Before disputes escalate to court, the Department of Industrial Relations employs alternative dispute resolution (ADR) methods, primarily conciliation meetings, to settle conflicts amicably. Currently, 122 industrial relations officers (IROs) trained in professional mediation assist workers and employers in reaching swift resolutions. Sim emphasised the ministry's commitment to enhancing mediation expertise through partnerships with international bodies like the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and local institutions such as the Kuala Lumpur Mediation Centre and the Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF). Since 2024, collaboration with the US Department of Labour has further strengthened officers' mediation skills. The symposium, organised by the Society of JP Community Mediators Penang (SJPCMP) alongside the JP Mediation Bureau Penang and the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), aimed to promote mediation as a key tool for workplace conflict resolution.
IOL News
a day ago
- Business
- IOL News
G20 faces a generational test amid geopolitical challenges
Delegates to the U20 African Mayors Assembly at the Union Buildings, Pretoria on June 17, 2025. Image: DIRCO Alvin Botes Since December 1 last year until the Leaders' Summit in November 2025, South Africa chairs the world's most influential economic forum, that is the G20, under the theme: 'Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability'. The theme signals our determination to put people — not profits — at the centre of global decision-making. Our high-level priorities are clear and interlinked. Firstly, inclusive economic growth, industrialisation, employment and the reduction of inequality. Secondly, food security in an era of climate disruption. Thirdly, harnessing artificial intelligence and broader technological innovation for sustainable development. Complementing these three priorities is our drive for disaster-risk resilience and fair debt-relief architecture so that climate-vulnerable and heavily indebted countries are not forced to choose between servicing loans and saving lives. The stakes could not be higher. The International Labour Organisation (ILO) reports that global unemployment is hovering near a historic low of five per cent, yet globally the average for young people remains stubbornly high — about 13 per cent worldwide, and more than double that in many developing economies. Here at home, 4.8 million South Africans aged 15–34 are unemployed; 58 per cent of them have never had a single day of paid work, and our youth unemployment rate climbed to 46.1 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Beyond the headline numbers lurk deeper structural hazards: one in five young Africans is classified as NEET—'not in employment, education or training'—and those already in work face a future in which artificial intelligence-driven automation could render up to 40 per cent of entry-level jobs obsolete by 2035, according to the World Economic Forum's Global Risks Report. Compounding that uncertainty are intersecting crises of mental-health fragility, climate anxiety, escalating conflict-driven displacement, and the rising cost of living that now consumes, on average, 38 per cent of a young person's monthly income across the G20. Add to that what the economist Adam Tooze calls a global 'poly-crisis' which includes, amongst others, geopolitical polarisation, climate-related disasters, food-price shocks and widening digital divides. And it becomes clear why the South African presidency has framed 2025 as a make-or-break moment for multilateral cooperation. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Geopolitically, the world is also experiencing what some economists such as Mark Blyth, Mohamed El-Erian and Michael Spence call a 'perma-crisis': the United States and China are locked in an uneasy dance of de-risking, Russia-Ukraine war continues to reshape energy and grain markets, and simmering conflicts from the Red Sea to the Sahel threaten already fragile supply chains. At the same time, global public debt has surpassed US $100 trillion, forcing developing nations to divert scarce resources away from youth programmes toward interest payments. In the Employment Working Group of the Sherpa Track, we are negotiating a compact on youth employment and skills, building on the Antalya Goals (which were agreed to during Türkiye's presidency of the G20) but adding targets for digital-economy apprenticeships, recognition of micro-credentials and mutual portability of qualifications across G20 members. If endorsed by leaders, the compact will potentially translate into an estimated 10 million paid internship placements over five years, with a gender-parity clause and an annual public scorecard so you can hold the G20 accountable. In the Finance Track, we are advancing an 'Innovation & Inclusion Facility' financed through blended public-private instruments to support start-ups led by women and young people in frontier technologies and green manufacturing. Its first-phase endowment of US $3 billion will be disbursed via challenge funds that prioritise township and rural enterprises, with a target of 150,000 sustainable jobs by 2027. In the Agriculture Working Group and the Environment and Climate Sustainability Working Group, we are championing a Just Agri-Transition Facility that links smallholder farmers, including youth, to climate-smart finance and regional value chains. Beyond financing climate-resilient seed and drip-irrigation systems, the facility will underwrite a Pan-African farmers marketplace app that is targeted at youth and guarantees offtake agreements with regional supermarket chains. Finally, our AI priority aims to deliver a 'Pan-G20 Youth Digital Corps,' a volunteer-to-employment pipeline that pairs South African coders with continental and global partners to solve public-sector data challenges. The G20 was born out of the 1997 Asian financial meltdown and re-energised amid the 2008 crash. It now faces a generation-defining test: can it propel the global economy so that young people inherit not debts and droughts but opportunity and hope? South Africa believes it can—if the world finally listens to its largest demographic - the youth. * Alvin Botes is Deputy Minister of International Relations and Cooperation. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL, Independent Media or The African.
Time of India
a day ago
- Politics
- Time of India
State govt revives plan to eliminate child labour by '30
1 2 Ranchi: The state department of labour, employment, training, and skill development and the child protection society, with the technical support of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Bal Kalyan Sangh, on Thursday revived a draft state Action Plan for Elimination of Child Labour by 2030. The draft, which integrates learnings from the 2012–16 plan and responds to the present legal and socio-economic contexts, aims to serve as a roadmap for the next five years. The plan is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8.7, which targets to end child labour in all its forms by 2030. Department secretary Jitendra Kumar Singh said, "The state saw a 78% decline in child labour between 2001 and 2011, surpassing national average. Our task now is to build a coordinated, multi-stakeholder response. The draft will undergo consultations before submission to the state cabinet for approval. The labour department will be the nodal agency for its implementation." The national project coordinator with the ILO, Narasimhan Gadiraju, said, "While the framework remains similar to earlier plans, this draft reflects upon legal advancements, including the ratification of ILO Conventions 138 and 182, post 2016. It provides a clearer definition of a child and places the responsibility squarely on the state govt for execution and periodic review. Jharkhand had over 91,000 child labourers as per the 2011 Census." The chief technical advisor with the ILO, Giovanni Soledad, said, "The reduction in child labour from 160 million in 2020 to 138 million in 2024 in Asia and the Pacific region is a positive trend. There is, however, a need to accelerate efforts with greater investment in education and social protection to meet the target by 2030." Joint labour commissioner Pradip Lakra said, "The labour department cannot shoulder this responsibility alone. We are now strengthening our presence at the block level and increasing the number of field staff to boost identification, rescue, and rehabilitation mechanisms."
Irish Times
20-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Women are lagging behind on AI but they can catch up
Women are more likely than men to be in jobs at risk of being automated, but they are also 25 per cent less likely than men to have basic digital skills, separate studies show. The findings, from the International Labour Organisation and the UN respectively, highlight an urgent challenge for women across the world. The artificial intelligence -driven industrial revolution ought to offer a unique opportunity for everyone to shape the future of work, but many women are already behind. A 2024 Danish study of 100,000 workers found 'a staggering gender gap in the adoption of ChatGPT: women are 20 percentage points less likely to use ChatGPT than men in the same occupation'. The researchers found the gap persisted when people in the same workplaces were compared. So how can women keep up with AI developments – especially those who might feel too busy to take time off for training within a part-time schedule, or who may be in denial about AI's all-consuming importance? The challenges are understandable: it is hard to know where to start. READ MORE A useful resource is research company Charter's Guide to AI in the Workplace. Instead of focusing on ideas and AI's 'maybe' impacts, this report has case studies on how some prominent companies are working with staff to share AI best practice. But small employers don't have anything like these resources and, as the UK's Pissarides Review into the future of work and wellbeing points out, 'good impacts – including upskilling and the substitution of routine tasks – cannot be assumed and must be proactively shaped'. So how can you use AI yourself, even when there is no corporate, or even team-level, push for change? The best advice I have seen is from Slack , the workplace collaboration platform, which recommends setting aside time for experimentation and learning. It is also good to be curious about AI, more generally. My recent reading includes 'AI will change what it is to be human. Are we ready?' by economist Tyler Cowen and Avital Balwit of AI software developer Anthropic. [ Are fears of an AI slash and burn of white-collar roles well founded? Opens in new window ] I am also experimenting. I asked the FT's ChatGPT Enterprise to tell me what is holding women back in adopting AI. It pointed to a 2024 study on women and generative AI by Deloitte, the consultancy. The researchers expected 'the proportion of women experimenting with and using gen AI for projects and tasks will match or surpass that of men in the United States by the end of 2025'. So it is not all doom and gloom. Caution is still good. As noted last month, generative AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude may sometimes demonstrate how 'the potential biases of those working at AI companies can seep into their models'. An FT reporter ran a series of questions about AI bosses through different chatbots, and each model was far more favourable about its own leader. Women make up just a third of the AI workforce, according to world Economic Forum figures. But that should give us all the more reason to learn more about large language models and AI-powered agents – and start to influence how to build knowledge in our own organisations. You will know the saying that 'AI is not going to take your job – someone using AI will'. That sounds reassuring for anyone who has mastered AI and validates those who are experimenting. Unfortunately, like many things in the AI spin cycle, even this idea may be outdated. Sangeet Paul Choudary, a tech author and adviser, says this idea is 'true, but utterly useless'. In his Substack newsletter, he says the statement 'directs your attention to the individual task level – automation vs augmentation of the tasks you perform – when the real shift is happening at the level of the entire system of work'. That difference takes some processing but is a useful way to see the bigger picture. If you have yet to use generative AI, don't panic. Time is on your side. Consultancy McKinsey has found that, despite the hype, only 1 per cent of leaders say their companies are 'mature' on AI deployment. The other 99 per cent? That's where the rest of us work. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
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Business Standard
19-06-2025
- Health
- Business Standard
India flags concerns on ILO's biological hazard pact for informal sector
India has cautioned the International Labour Organisation (ILO) that the 'universal' coverage envisaged under the recently adopted convention on protecting workers from the devastating impact of uncontrolled biological hazards in the workplace may be challenging—particularly for the informal sector and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). India also expressed concern about the applicability of the convention beyond the workplace setting. "We understand the importance of labour safety, but it is also important to ensure that the definitions of the proposed instrument are not so broad that they apply beyond the workplace setting. The [Convention's] universal coverage approach may be challenging, particularly for informal sectors and MSMEs," said Labour Minister Mansukh Mandaviya in his address at the International Labour Conference (ILC). Virat Jaiswal, general secretary of the National Front of Indian Trade Unions (NFITU), said the government is concerned that the definitions used in the instrument are too broad, potentially resulting in its application outside the workplace and leading to over-regulation. Last week, during the annual ILC in Geneva, the United Nations body adopted the Biological Hazards in the Working Environment Convention—the first-ever international instrument specifically addressing biological hazards in the workplace at a global level. The convention aims to safeguard workers who may come into contact with microbes, DNA material, bodily fluids, parasites, toxins, allergens and other biological agents during the course of their work. It applies to all workers in all branches of economic activity but requires countries to take specific measures in high-risk sectors and occupations. B Surendran, organising secretary of the Bhartiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS), said the need for such a convention was reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic, which killed millions globally, disrupted economies and crippled health systems. 'A lot of people contracted COVID-19 at the workplace. Hence, the convention sets out mechanisms and frameworks to deal with such eventualities. It has always been important to address biological hazards in workplaces, but now it's becoming even more critical,' he added. The ILO's 187 member states—equally represented by governments, employers and trade unions in the ILC—are now required to ratify the convention.
