The Brief focuses on tripartite and bipartite social dialogue initiatives between governments and employers' and workers' organisations at national or sectoral level, which have been instrumental in shaping countries' responses to the crisis from 1 February 2020 to 31 January 2021.
It follows an earlier ILO Research Brief which provided an initial mapping and structured analysis of national social dialogue instances and outcomes aimed to address the impacts of the covid-19 pandemic and to boost the resilience of the world of work, during the first three months of the crisis – the “emergency period” from 15 March to 10 June 2020.
What does the future of work hold and what transformations await us? It is with the aim of answering this question that the Adecco Group in 2020 has carried out the study "Resetting Normal: Defining the New Era of Work".
The survey aims to determine changes in the expectations and attitudes of managers and workers on the future of work.
On 2 September 2021, the Adecco Group released the second edition of the global study, "Resetting Normal: Defining the New Era of Work 2021."
The Council of Ministers agreed to refer to Parliament the approval of two International Labour Organisation (ILO) conventions: Convention n. 177, on home work, and Convention 190, on the elimination of violence and harassment in the world of work.
Accession to both conventions means further protection of the labour rights of workers, regardless of where they carry out their professional activity, and respect for fundamental rights in the workplace.
There will be 11.9 million new jobs created from 2020 to 2030 with an overall growth rate of 7.7%, According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
Renewable energy and healthcare are the sectors with the fastest growing jobs, while the declining jobs are mainly in office and administrative support.
The Australian Federal government introduced broad changes to laws relating to casual employment, which included a requirement for employers to offer permanent employment to eligible employees.
As part of these new provisions, by 27 September 2021, employers had to identify all casual employees who have been employed since before 27 March 2021 and assess whether they were eligible for casual conversion.
The New Zealand Employment Relations Authority has recently ruled that the Customs Service acted reasonably in dismissing an employee who refused to be vaccinated against covid-19.
On 1 October 2021, the Employment Relations Authority declined to grant interim reinstatement to four employees dismissed because employer considered their roles were covered by the Public Health Response (Vaccinations) Order 2021, but they refused to be vaccinated.
On 9 September 2021, the Labour Appeal Court of South Africa, Johannesburg, rules over fairness of dismissal of employees embarking on an unprotected strike.
The decision is based on the serious and dangerous circumstances of the strike.
The Court of Appeal reformed the decision of the Labour Court (Lagrange J) delivered on 17 September 2019, which had found the dismissal of the respondent employees to be substantively unfair and ordered their reinstatement.
Instead, the sanction of dismissal, according to the Court of Appeal, was fair, given the circumstances of the case and considering their decision to embark on an unprotected strike action at a critical business period and their persistent refusal, without bona fide reason provided, to comply with the ultimatum.
International News
Social Dialogue
Labour Laws and Regulations
Court Decisions
Policy Responses and Strategies
Private Sector Contribution