ILO chief says Asian crisis may cause job losses, unrest<\/p>\n
BANGKOK (AP): Asia's economic crisis will lead to a tidal wave
\nof job losses without safeguards for workers, especially women,
\nchildren and illegal migrants, officials of the International
\nLabor Organization said yesterday.<\/p>\n
The collapse of once-booming Asian currencies and stock
\nmarkets has sent jitters through the world economy in recent
\nmonths, but the head of the ILO said at the opening of a regional
\nmeeting that worse would come when unemployment rises.<\/p>\n
\"The problem is not just how many jobs are going to be lost,
\nbut how many are not going to be created,\" Michel Hansenne, the
\nILO director general, said.<\/p>\n
\"Globalization, which has brought so much to this part of the
\nworld, will not be politically viable if it leads to
\ndeterioration of social justice,\" Hansenne said.<\/p>\n
Hansenne urged governments preoccupied with their foreign
\nreserves or meeting international bail-out conditions to also
\nturn their attention to ways to deal with mass unemployment.<\/p>\n
The ILO deals with global labor issues at the behest of the
\nUnited Nations, organizing a dialog between governments, labor
\ngroups and employers. The three-day conference in Bangkok brings
\ntogether participants from 36 countries.<\/p>\n
In Thailand, where a currency devaluation in July triggered
\nthe regional economic meltdown, an estimated one million people
\ncould be thrown out of work, ILO officials said. They were more
\nreticent about citing figures for other countries.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, countries like Vietnam struggling to shift from
\ncommunism to a market-oriented economy are unlikely to see the
\nhigh growth rates that would create large numbers of new jobs.<\/p>\n
The boom that transformed parts of Asia over the past decade
\nfrom agrarian to newly industrialized societies greatly cut
\npoverty but also weakened the informal safety net in which family
\nmembers who lost city jobs could return to their villages and
\nexpect support.<\/p>\n
In most countries, no government social protection --
\nunemployment benefits, retraining or redeploying workers -- have
\nbeen created to replace the old safety net.<\/p>\n
A sharp increase in unemployment could be \"catastrophic,\"
\nHansenne said.<\/p>\n
\"Even a deceleration of growth would generate social
\ntensions.\"<\/p>\n
The workers likely to suffer most would be women, children and
\nmigrants, who were the most vulnerable people in any major
\neconomic crisis, Hansenne said.<\/p>\n
Roger Boehning, head of the ILO technical team for Southeast
\nAsia, said that the current crisis could lead to the dismissal of
\n\"large numbers\" of migrant workers in South Korea, Malaysia and
\nThailand.<\/p>\n
The ranks of child laborers were likely to rise, Boehning
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
If women who work at unskilled jobs in, say, the garment
\nindustry, lose their jobs, they probably will send their children
\nout to work to supplement income.<\/p>\n
Even before the downturn, about 60 percent of the world's
\nworking children lived in Asia and one Asian child in five was
\nestimated to be working. Forced labor to carry supplies for the
\narmy and build roads is common in Myanmar, the subject of an ILO
\ncommission of inquiry in Geneva.<\/p>\n
The Bangkok delegates will discuss a proposed declaration
\ndemanding that member states respect the rights of workers to
\nform unions, forbid forced labor and child labor and ensure that
\nwomen receive the same pay as men for the same job.<\/p>\n
Violators could not be expelled from the ILO, but would
\nprobably receive some form of public condemnation not now
\npossible.<\/p>\n
The ILO's board is to consider a draft declaration next March.
\nIt will be sent on for approval by the general assembly later in
\nthe year. Hansenne said that \"no Asian view\" would be decided at
\nthe current regional meeting.<\/p>",
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