Govt delegation to ILO meeting in Geneva is not 65

Accra, June 1, GNA - The official government delegation to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) conference in Geneva is five and not 65 as previously put out, a statement issued on Wednesday said. It said the government had never and would never send a 65-member delegation to an international conference, "this has never happened and will never happen."

The statement said the Trades Union Congress (TUC), representing Labour, Employers and Parliament are attending the session and are funding their delegates.

The TUC is attending the conference with 29 delegates, the private sector is there with 20 people and Parliament is attending with five delegates. The statement said the 100th ILO session, with 185 countries attending, is an important meeting where employers, workers and governments would agree on rules and regulations that guide employment issues. Workers will report to the UN body about the behaviour of their employers and employers must answer to the satisfaction of ILO or face severe sanctions. The total number of delegates attending the conference is over 5,000.

"The delegations from member states are large because to get your voice heard, you must be at committee meetings. Employers from all over the world meet to take decisions. Labour groups meet and take decisions and Government representatives also meet and take decisions," the statement said. The three groups thereafter meet, state their positions and trade concessions to arrive at a position that they can all support. This year the big issues are Domestic Workers (2) Social Protection --Pensions (3) Labour administration and Labour Inspection. A resolution will be passed which will be binding on all members at the end of the session, so Ghana needs to get its views across. "Also Ghana needs to report to the UN body what it is doing to meet previous resolutions on Decent Work, Child labour or face sanctions and humiliation before the other countries," the statement said.