ILO Governing Body, 350th session - Update on the Better Work programme - EU Statement

ILO Governing Body, 350^th session: 4 – 14 March 2024

Update on the Better Work programme

EU statement

Geneva, 7^th March 2024

Chair,

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union and its Member States.

The candidate countries North Macedonia*, Montenegro*, Serbia*, Albania*, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova and Georgia, the EFTA countries Iceland and Norway, members of the European Economic Area, as well as Armenia align themselves with this statement.

1. We thank the Office for the update on the Better Work programme. The EU and its Member States as some of the largest donors welcome its achievements and the presentation of future challenges.
2. We welcome the positive results and impressive expansion of the programme since 2014, which has benefitted and supported an increasing number of factories and workers worldwide. This flagship programme is a blueprint of the great potential of the public-private cooperation and the close engagement with tripartite constituents. We are happy to learn about the improved compliance and working conditions resulting from the implementation of the Better Work programme at factory-level in the garment industry. This is crucial particularly given the demonstrated positive impact of better working conditions on productivity and competitiveness, and in supply chains.
3. We also commend Better Work for its achievements in addressing women’s, economic empowerment, skills development and representation in social dialogue, key priorities for the EU. Moreover, the contribution of the programme to eliminating violence and harassment at work aligns with the objectives of the Violence and Harassment Convention (No.190).
4. The EU is committed to the Better Work programme’s contribution in establishing a foundation for social dialogue. Social dialogue, a cornerstone of the ILO’s mission, plays a pivotal role in ensuring compliance and improving of grievance-mechanisms. We commend the country-programmes efforts to facilitate this engagement at national, sectoral and factory level.
5. However, we are interested in learning about specific examples of the successes and the challenges encountered by the Better Work programme in its fieldwork. We would, therefore, like to ask whether the Office could provide any insights of the impact of the programme at enterprise-level.  If so, how are these experiences turned into sustained practices along global supply chains, as well as on country and sectoral level?
6. Improving transparency is vital in addressing rights abuses in the garment sector. Public data is crucial for holding companies accountable and empowering workers for evidence-based collective bargaining to enhance working conditions. To sustain progress in that area and avoid any backsliding, we call for increased participation of national union organizations in evaluating the Better Work program to ensure the data's relevance in generating national reports and accurately reflecting the situation in program-involved countries.
7. A better knowledge of the case-by-case challenges would contribute to better sustainable, positive outcomes. As pointed out in the report, addressing the underlying root causes of decent work deficit is of paramount importance. Therefore, it is essential that the Office develop a strategy to guide a responsible phasing out of Better Work from countries that achieved significant progress.
8. The EU appreciates the focus on cooperation not only with the ILO constituents and IFC, but also with the private sector at national and global levels. It is important to encourage better understanding of compliance, fundamental principles and rights at work and labour legislation especially from the buyers’ perspective.
9. It is fundamental to continue shaping the programme alongside partners and to strengthen synergies with additional ILO and UN strategies. Additionally, we welcome the alignment with other major priorities highlighted in the paper such as the environmentally just transition and the growing scope of mandatory human rights due diligence and the (to be adopted) outcomes of the tripartite expert meeting on wage policies, including living wages.
10. Promoting decent work in global supply chains through EU trade policy is one of the priority objectives of the EU external action. Therefore, given a significant Better Work programme expertise and set of tools, we encourage the Office to explore how the approach of Better Work can be relevant to other economic sectors and inspire responsible business practice in general.
11. We look forward to seeing the ongoing efforts and results from the programme, as it advances towards the 5^th phase, focused on “sustaining impact”. We support the continued involvement of employers, workers and their representatives in this stage.
12. We hope these comments can contribute to guiding the Office in its future work and we support the draft decision point.

Thank you, Chair.

* [North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania continue to be part of the Stabilisation and Association Process]