Mr Gilles de Robien, Ambassador for Social Cohesion and former Cabinet Minister, is France's candidate for the position of Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). He is among nine candidates in the fray – from Benin, Britain, Colombia, the Netherlands, Malaysia, Niger, Senegal and Sweden – for which voting will be held on May 28.
India has three votes in the ILO governing body, which has 28 Government representatives and 14 each from the employers and workers side. Mr Robien, who was here last week to solicit India's support, spoke to Business Line about the challenges before the almost 100 year-old tripartite UN body. Excerpts:
What is the purpose of your visit?
The purpose is to ask India, its employers and employees to support my candidacy. There are 183 member countries, and India has an important role to play in the governing body. I met the Labour Minister, Mr Y.K Modi (employer) and Mr N.M Adyanthya (trade union) and presented my vision for ILO.
Given the rising economic crisis in Europe, what do you see as the biggest challenge for ILO?
There are many challenges. But one thing is clear. The countries that fared better in weathering the impact of the crisis were those where social protection systems were developed.
For example?
France, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands are some. There is a high level of social protection in these countries, although they follow different systems. The big challenge for ILO now is to support countries and help them to grow along with social protection. We feel that any worker who enjoys social protection and guaranteed pensions plays an important role in terms of quality of work.
But, what is the way out for businesses in this situation, as they say they are being forced to lay-off? How can new jobs be created?
Each country has its own system and its particular context. But there are many interesting experiences that could inspire us. There is need to focus on education, vocational education and skills training.
Regarding development of enterprises, I think small and medium enterprises as well as innovative ones can help in creating more jobs and should be encouraged. In France, we encourage people to create their own jobs and enterprises – self-enterprises – and that's been quite a success.
What is your view on gender disparity in pay, even in the corporate sector?
This is an important focus area within the ILO… Issues such as equal pay for equal work are of great concern, including in developed countries such as France. The progress is very slow on pay gap. Opportunities for women are not equal, including in the political system. Parliaments are male-dominated even in Europe…In fact, India has managed this better than France, at least in Parliament.
Technology is supposed to reduce work time, why then are working hours going up globally?
I don't think there is any link between technological progress and working time. In fact, technology has many advantages, such as you can work from home. It is giving rise to new forms of labour. But, on another note, I think working time is going up because of use of computers and phones 24X7…you never get rid of your work even when you are at home. But these things should be negotiable within an enterprise and with proper social dialogue.