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March 26th, 2013

Improving the quality of jobs to secure the right to decent work

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The Comité is proud to release its latest advisory opinion concerning the situation of the working poor and job insecurity.

This advisory opinion is part of a broader series of initiatives undertaken by the Comité. It is one of three dimensions concerning which the Comité intends to submit proposals for taking up the challenges related to its primary objective: promoting employment as a means of escaping poverty.

In the advisory opinion, the Comité proposes ways to

• Improve the situation of the working poor.
• Establish means to counteract job insecurity.

Employment is clearly an important way to escape poverty, but cannot be considered the only solution to the problems of those excluded from the labour market. Moreover, the reality is that even many people with a job remain in a precarious situation and the ranks of the working poor continue to swell.

For the Comité, employment is a right, like the right to health or education. The job must be decent and clearly regulated by labour laws ensuring the protection of workers; it must also offer social protection measures, such as group insurance, and guarantee the right to collective representation.

Three principles are at the root of the Comité’s reflections and recommendations:

• Recognition of the contribution of one and all.
  
• The importance of public policies.
• The necessity for all individuals and families to have a decent income.

The recommendations contained in this advisory opinion may be implemented on a gradual basis. What matters most is for all stakeholders, led by government, to establish measurable targets and objectives and to start working as quickly as possible so that employment can eventually cease being associated with poverty and become more associated with social and economic well being.

• Summary - Advisory Opinion Employment as a means of combating poverty: Taking up the challenges (PDF, 899 KB)

February 18th, 2013

An integrated income support system: A bare miminum - Online bulletin no.6 - February 2013

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Over the years, the Comité consultatif has promoted minimum financial support on several occasions. It made a formal recommendation in that regard in its 2009 advisory opinion on income improvement targets. In this online bulletin, the Comité wants to look again at the fundamentals of this essential proposal to make it possible for all to get out of poverty.