Helen Kelly: Speech to International Labour Organisation, 11 June 2009

Speech to Plenary discussion of the Reports of the Chairperson of the Governing Body and the Director General, International Labour Organisation, 11 June 2009. 

Helen Kelly

I wish to thank and congratulate the Director General and Chairperson for their report and for supporting the initiative at this conference to amend the programme to enable a discussion about the economic crisis the world is now embroiled in,  and to discuss the role of the ILO in mitigating, to the extent it can, the damage this recession is doing and will inevitably continue to do to working people.

 I am also pleased that the discussion on Gender Equality at the Heart of Decent Work was not delayed  despite the shortened timeframe allocated.  Gender Equality continues to be a major issue for working people – women, men and their families.  It needed to be discussed and the issues that have been identified by that discussion, particularly those that disadvantage and marginalize women workers, will only  be exacerbated by the economic crisis.  So both topics were important and timely and holding them at the same time was also worthwhile.

I want to take this opportunity  however, while these two important topics are at the centre of this year’s agenda, to express my great sadness that only one month before the New Zealand Government representatives left New Zealand to participate in the Gender discussion at this conference,  the newly elected New Zealand government  dismantled the programme that the previous government was undertaking on gender equality issues.  New Zealand was in the middle of the most exciting piece of work of identifying and addressing the gender pay gap between men and women workers in the public sector.  This work not only focused on the ongoing issue of equal pay for work of equal value ( a very important issue for women workers in occupations that are dominated by women), but also on addressing a wide range of equal employment practice issues which contribute just as much to either excluding women from accessing decent work, or ensuring they have less opportunity and less pay when they are working.

The work that was being undertaken was sophisticated and original, and was entered into with a great deal of commitment which government, public sector employers and  the unions gave to it in good faith and with great hope.  To see it stopped overnight, including the refusal by the new government to address those issues that have already been identified  during the programme as  being discriminatory, is heart breaking for the working women of New Zealand and particularly those that got so close to what could have been real changes that would have made their working lives better and more equitable.  We are bemused to see that in its position paper on its approach to this conference, the NZ government uses the work done in this previous programme to try to highlight  its credentials on this topic, without once mentioning that it has now cancelled the work.  For me it is important to have this opportunity to put the record of the conference straight on this matter.

During this recession  all Governments need to make clear their priorities in terms of how much they will assist to mitigate the disadvantages of the recession on the workers in their countries.  Governments will be judged on how they respond and the sense of fairness about the decisions they make during this difficult time.  We have already seen the anger amongst working people at the damage  done to them and their families from the totally irresponsible actions of the banks, financiers and various other  investors.  Unions at this conference have shown a willingness to advocate for the strengthening of social dialogue to channel that anger into a constructive response.  The unions in New Zealand have made it clear to our Government that we also support this approach.  But this will require Governments including our Government to act in a way that recognizes the legitimate interest workers have in being treated fairly and with equality, having a voice, and having decent work including decent treatment and opportunity.   We are disappointed that since its election in November along with the damage the recession has already caused to working people in NZ including a rapid increase in the numbers of unemployed to over 100,000, the government has chosen to further disadvantage working people at this time by removing a number of work rights including the right to fair dismissal in the first 90 days of employment in smaller workplaces but also, and of particular relevance at this conference of the ILO – the cancelling of the work already underway to make the New Zealand workplace a place where womens skills and contributions can be maximized and recognized.  We hope that having fully participated in the work of this conference that all governments including the New Zealand government will act carefully and positively to protect the interests of all their citizens during these hard times including working people.

Thank you for allowing me to speak today.