On 24 November 2023, presidents and chief executives of the member federations of BusinessEurope met in Brussels to present their priorities for the next Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union.
On 8 December 2023, the Council presidency and the European Parliament's negotiators reached a provisional agreement on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Act.
The Act aims to ensure that AI systems in the EU respect fundamental rights and values, while stimulating innovation and investment in AI in Europe.
Both Parliament and Council must formally adopt the agreed text for it to become EU law.
The AI Act should apply two years after it enters into force.
A technical meeting on decent and sustainable work in the inland waterways sector was held in Geneva from 20 to 24 November 2023 to discuss opportunities, challenges, and future actions.
Representatives from governments, workers, and employers adopted a set of conclusions and recommendations to guide ILO and its Member States, encouraging a strict collaboration with river and regional economic commissions.
The Charter stresses the value of social dialogue and collective bargaining and promotes and guarantees freedom of association for all employees in the workplace.
As we reported last May, British Colombia adopted the Pay Transparency Act, which addresses systemic discrimination in the workplace and aims to reduce pay gaps affecting women, people of colour, people with disabilities, and non-binary people.
According to the Act, employers can no longer ask job applicants about what they were paid in previous positions.
From 1 November 2023, all employers in British Columbia must include pay ranges in job postings, prepare reports identifying systemic pay discrimination, and disclose pay information to employees and applicants upon request.
The Pay Transparency Regulation (BC Reg 225/2023) was released on 23 October 2023 and is now in force. It provides details on the mandatory contents of the remuneration transparency reports.
The 21st International Conference of Labour Statisticians (ICLS) took place in Geneva from 11 to 20 October 2023, marking the centenary of the first Conference.
Workers, employers, and governments from ILO member state delegates from around 140 countries addressed critical issues related to labour market statistics and ILO statistical activities.
Topics covered ranged from informality, Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators, violence and harassment at work, international labour migration, International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO), child and forced labour, and cooperatives.
It aims to help employers comply with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (DPA 2018) and provides practical advice.