XIII INTER-AMERICAN CONFERENCE OF
MINISTERS OF LABOUR (IACML) OF THE ORGANIZATION OF AMERICAN STATES
AGENDA /2004 WORKING GROUP MEETINGS OF THE XIII IACML
Washington, D.C. · May 11-14, 2004
DAY 1
Tuesday, May 11
Workshop on Impacts of Integration and Trade on Labour
9:00 – 9:15 Welcome Remarks
Sofialeticia Morales, Director of the Unit for Social Development and Education of the OAS and Technical Secretary of the Inter-American Conference of Ministers of Labour.
Julio Rosales, Coordinator of International Affairs, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Argentina
Jorge Perez-Lopez, Director International Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Labour
9:15 – 9:30 Opening
Report on IACML Troika Presentation to FTAA Ministerial, November 2003
Presentation by Representatives of the Ministries of Labour of Brazil, Canada, and Mexico
Carlos Alberto Ramos, Ministry Consultant, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Brazil
Kevin Banks, Director, Office of Inter-American Labour Cooperation, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
Maria del Socorro Gomez, Director OAS Affairs, Secretariat of Labour and Social Protection, Mexico
9:30 – 10:30 Framing the Issue
15-minute presentation by each panelist, followed by discussion.
Moderator: Julio Rosales, Coordinator of International Relations, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Argentina
Presenters:
Jose Manuel Salazar, Director, Trade Unit, Organization of American States (OAS)
Virgilio Levaggi, Regional Specialist, International Labour Organization (ILO) Regional Office, Lima
Pablo Lazo, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Chile
10:30 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 12:30 Treatment of Labour in Free Trade Agreements
10-minute presentations to discuss labour commitments, the negotiation process, and the role of capacity building in support of labour provisions.
Moderator: Jorge Perez-Lopez, Director International Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Labour
Presenters: (Questions & Answers after each)
US-Chile FTA: Yerko Ljubetic Godoy, Deputy Secretary of the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Chile
Canada-Costa Rica FTA: Bernardo Benavides, Former Min. of Labour, Costa Rica
CAFTA: Cesar Guillermo Castillo, Vice-Minister of Labour and Social Protection, Guatemala
NAFTA/NAALC: Eduardo Velasquillo, Director NAALC Affairs,
Secretariat of Labour and Social Protection, Mexico
MERCOSUR: Gerardo Corres, Sub-coordinator for International Affairs, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina
12:30 – 2:00 Lunch
2:00 – 2:45 Private Sector Perspectives and Responses
10-minute presentations by each panelist, followed by a 15-minute discussion
Moderator: Jorge Perez-Lopez, Director International Economic Affairs, U.S. Department of Labour
Presenters:
Ericson Crivelli, President of the Trade Union Technical Advisory Committee (COSATE)
Adam Greene, Business Technical Advisory Committee on Labour Matters (CEATAL)
Homero Fuentes, Representative of the Commission for the Verification of Corporate Codes of Conduct (COVERCO)
2:45 – 3:30 Implications of Globalization and Integration for the Informal Sector
10-minute presentations by each panelist, followed by a 15-minute discussion
Moderator: Daniel Kostzer, Consultant of the Sub-secretariat for Technical Planning and Labour Studies, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Argentina
Presenters:
William F. Maloney, Office of the Chief Economist for Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank
Gustavo Marquez, Principal Labour Advisor, Inter-American Development Bank
Victor Tokman, Presidential Advisor, Presidency of the Republic of Chile
3:30 – 4:00 Break
4:00 – 5:15 Assessing the Labour Market Impacts of Integration
15-minute presentation by each, followed by discussion.
Moderator: Daniel Kostzer, Consultant of the Sub-secretariat for Technical Planning and Labour Studies, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Argentina
Presenters:
Michael Abbott, Labour Economist, North American Commission for Labour Cooperation
Gregory Schoepfle, Research Director, US Department of Labour
Raquel Artecona, Regional Trade Advisor, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean
5:15 – 5:30 Closing Remarks
Ambassador Ross Wilson, Senior Negotiator for the Free Trade Area of the Americas, Office of the US Trade Representative
(adjournment of Workshop)
DAY 2
Wednesday, May 12
Meeting of Working Group 1 – Labour Dimensions of the Summit of the Americas Process
9:00 – 9:30 Introduction
Julio Rosales, Coordinator of International Relations, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security, Argentina as Chair of Working Group 1.
Framing the Discussion
9:30 – 10:15 Recent OAS Activities relating to Labour by Sofialeticia Morales, Director, Unit for Social Development and Education
· Review of Special Summit of the Americas, Declaration of Nuevo Leon, Monterrey, Mexico, January 2004.
· Report on the OAS Inter-American Committee for Social Development
Discussion (15 mins)
10:15 – 10:45 Presentation on the Inter-American Commission of Women (CIM), OAS 2nd Meeting of Ministers or Highest Ranking Authorities Responsible for the Advancement of Women in the Member States, April 2004. Presented by Carmen Lomellin, Executive Secretary, CIM
10:45 – 11:00 Break
11:00 – 11:45 Presentation on ILO World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization Study by Virgilio Levaggi, Regional Specialist, ILO Regional Office, Lima
Discussion (15 mins)
11:45 – 12:30 Discussion of Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Report “Good Jobs Wanted” by Gustavo Marquez, Principal Labour Advisor, IDB
Discussion (15 mins)
12:30 – 2:00 Lunch
Hemispheric Labour Activities
2:00 – 3:30 Presentation on ILO Studies of Labour Provisions of Sub-Regional Integration Agreements by Maria Luz Vega, Specialist on the Declaration of Principles and Rights, ILO Geneva
Presentations by countries examined in the individual studies:
NAFTA: Lewis Karesh , Director National Administrative Office, US
Andean Community: Elmer Guillermo Arce, Advisor to the Office of the Vice-Minister of Labour, Peru
SICA: Sandra Chacon, Legal Advisor, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Costa Rica
MERCOSUR: Gerardo Corres Sub-coordinator for International Affairs, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina
CARICOM: Alvin McIntosh, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Jamaica
· Discussion of Synthesis Report
· Discussion of Possible Next Steps
3:30 – 3:45 Break
3:45 – 4:30 Presentation on April 2004 MERCOSUR Regional Conference on Employment by Gerardo Corres, Sub-coordinator for International Affairs, Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security of Argentina
Discussion (15 mins)
4:30 – 5:00 Presentation of the Analysis of ILO-MERCOSUR Study on Decent Work by Virgilio Levaggi, Regional Specialist, ILO Regional Office, Lima
Discussion (15 mins)
DAY 3
Thursday, May 13
9:00 – 9:30 Summary of Workshop on Impacts of Integration and Trade on Labour by Argentina or USA
· Report
· Discussion of possible next steps
XIII IACML Proposal
9:30 – 10:00 Presentation of Brazil’s Proposal on a Mechanism to Promote Decent Work and Recommendations by Nilton Freitas, Special Advisor, Ministry of Labour and Employment Brazil
· Discussion of Suggested Next Steps
Presentations by Advisory Bodies
10:00 – 10:30 Presentation by Ericson Crivelli, President of COSATE
Presentation by Andres Yuren, Representative of CEATAL
10:30 – 10:45 Break
Working Group 1 Conclusions
10:45 – 11:15 Discussion of Common Themes in Impacts of Integration and Trade on Labour, and Promotion of Decent Work in the Hemisphere and possible contributions of the Working Group to advance this work. By Argentina or USA
(adjournment of WG1 Meeting)
Joint Meeting of Working Group 1 and 2
11:15 – 12:00 Advancements on the Feasibility Study for an Inter-American Cooperation Mechanism for Professional Labour Administration by experts from Brazil (Carlos Alberto Ramos), Canada (Roger Lecourt), and Mexico (Bernardo Ardavin)
12:00 – 1:30 Lunch. Participants should meet over lunch to discuss the options presented by the experts.
1:30 – 2:30 Discussion and reactions to the options presented by the experts. Guidance given to the experts on the next steps for the feasibility study.
(adjournment of joint WG Meeting)
Meeting of Working Group 2 – Building the Capacity of Labour Ministries
2:30 – 2:45 Summary of activities of Working Group 2 undertaken during the XII IACML by Kevin Banks, Director, Office of Inter-American Labour Cooperation, Canada as Vice-Chair of Working Group 2
2:45 – 3:15 Presentation of two-year work plan by Jorge Nieto, Minister of Labour, El Salvador as Chair of Working Group 2
3:15 – 4:00 Discussion
4:00 – 4:15 Break
Horizontal Cooperation to Support Modernization of Labour Ministries
4:15 – 4:30 Report from the OAS by Sofialeticia Morales, Director, Unit for Social Development and Education on the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS) Workshop in El Salvador
4:30 – 5:00 Participants from the El Salvador OHS meeting will share their perspectives of the meeting and horizontal cooperation. How can horizontal cooperation be made sustainable? What are the outcomes the countries want to achieve?
DAY 4
Friday, May 14
Mechanisms for Resource Optimization in the Administration of Labour Ministries
9:00 – 9:20 Challenges, lessons learned and advances on the conditions to achieve sustainable capacity building, by Leonardo Neves, Principal Technical Coordination of the ILO-IACML Project
9:20 – 10:20 Progress report by countries on their follow-up activities to labour administration diagnostics:
Maria Fernanda Salazar, Technical Director of Legal Affairs, Ministry of Labour and Human Resources, Ecuador
Elmer Guillermo Arce, Advisor to the Office of the Vice-Minister of Labour, Ministry of Labour and Employment Promotion, Peru
Selby Brathwaite, Director of Labour Administration, Ministry of Labour and Small and Micro Enterprise Development, Trinidad and Tobago
10:20 – 10:30 Break
Workshop on Effective Employment Services
10:30 – 11:00 Discussion of thematic agenda of workshop on Effective Employment Services scheduled for September 29-30, 2004 by Anthony Giles, Executive Director of Commission for Labour Cooperation, NAALC
Alternative Dispute Resolution
11:00 – 11:15 Overview of institutional and alternative mediation and conciliation mechanisms in conflict resolution by Maria Luz Vega, Specialist on the Declaration of Principles and Rights, ILO Geneva
11:15 – 12:30 Presentations by various countries on their dispute resolution mechanisms.
Jorge Nieto, Minister of Labour, El Salvador
Victor Felix, Assistant Chief Labour Officer, Ministry of Labour and Social Security, Barbados
Pablo Veloso, International Relations Advisor, Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Chile
Arnold Powers, Regional Director, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Services, Human Resources and Skills Development Canada
12:30 – 2:00 Lunch
Presentations by Advisory Bodies
2:00 – 3:00 Overview of next steps:
Andrés Yuren, on behalf of CEATAL
Ericson Crivelli on behalf of COSATE
3:00 – 3:15 Break
3:15 – 4:00 Proposal by SISMEL on its linkages to other initiatives on labour market information, by Juan Bosch, Pro-tempore Secretary of SISMEL
4:00 – 4:45 Discussion of timetable and activities for future work
(adjournment of WG2 meeting)
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