Minister Marinho receives ILO director Laura Thompson

The Minister of Labor and Employment, Luiz Marinho, received this Tuesday (19), on an institutional visit, the Assistant Director General for External and Corporate Relations at the International Labour Organization (ILO), Laura Thompson, and the director of the Office of ILO in Brazil, Vinicius Pinheiro. Thompson spoke about preparations for holding the Global Coalition for Social Justice at the next Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, in the first half of June this year. The Coalition's debut Forum will focus on debating successful initiatives in each country to promote social justice and on possible announcements of government initiatives, individually or jointly with other countries.

“Brazil has a series of important actions that can be presented to member countries”, assessed Laura. She cited as an example of combined efforts between countries the partnership to promote “decent work”, signed by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and US President, Joe Biden, signed in September, in New York (USA).

The 2nd Employment Working Group Technical Meeting of the G20 Brazil, in Brasília (DF), on March 27th and 28th, was another topic of conversation. The ILO should participate in the meeting and should contribute to the preparation of reports by the groups “Women in the Labor Market” and “Young People in the Labor Market”.

Minister Luiz Marinho spoke about the importance of ILO's presence in discussions involving the universe of work and in the pursuit of employees' rights at this complex moment in the world of work. “The support of ILO in the actions we are developing in Brazil is a valuable guide for fulfilling our historic commitment in the strict upholding of the rights of Brazilian workers”, highlighted the minister.

Laura praised the new Brazilian legislation that establishes mandatory equal pay between women and men. Brazil, through the Ministry of Labor and Employment, joined the Equal Pay International Coalition (EPIC) in February 2023, with equal pay for work of equal value. It is a joint effort of ILO, UN-Women and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Brazil also participates in Alliance 8.7, a global partnership that unites all actors interested in eradicating forced labor, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labor worldwide by 2030, target 8.7, which makes part of the Sustainable Development Goals SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth. The alliance is basically a platform for sharing information, good practices and lessons learned, as well as collaboration in the pursuit of goal 8.7.

Brazil has already presented and shared its extensive list of actions to combat child labor, modern slavery and human trafficking – Radar SIT; IPÊ System; Conaeti (National Commission for the Eradication of Child Labor); national plan for the prevention and

eradication of child labor; PETI (Child Labor Eradication Program); special mobile inspection group; Regional initiative for Latin America and the Caribbean free from Child Labor.

ILO democratization – Laura said that ILO is going through a changing process and that it aims to be a more democratic and plural organization. We are looking for an agreement so that the Board of Directors becomes rotating, with a complete change of members every two years. The possible changes in the governance of ILO, based on the proposal to ratify the 1986 Amendment to the ILO Constitution, affect three main points: the composition of the Council; the appointment of the director general and the rules of procedure for amending the ILO Constitution. The Council meets three times each year and makes decisions on ILO policies, as well as establishing the program and budget which are submitted to the Conference for adoption.