• The Confederation of Indian Textile Industry (CITI) has partnered with the International Labor Organisation (ILO) to promote Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW) among the cotton growing community. 

• It seeks to ensure the effective recognition of key labour rights within the cotton-growing sector.

• The project’s inaugural phase will focus on the major cotton-producing districts of Madhya Pradesh.

ILO’s Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (FPRW) Project

• The ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, adopted in 1998 and amended in 2022, is an expression of commitment by governments, employers’ and workers’ organisations to uphold basic human values — that are vital to our social and economic lives. 

• The ILO Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation (the Social Justice Declaration), establish FPRW as core labour principles and rights and enabling conditions for the realisation of all the ILO’s strategic objectives.

• Drawing on these aspects, the international community has recognised that FPRW should play a specific role in the wider debate on fairness in globalisation. 

Five Categories of FPRW Project and Related Conventions:

1) Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining

• Freedom of association implies a profound respect for the inherent right of both employers and workers to autonomously establish and participate in groups aimed at advancing and safeguarding their occupational interests. 

• It is the prerogative of workers and employers alike to form and manage their own organisations, free from external interference, be it from the government or any other entity.

• Voluntary collective bargaining is a process through which employers and workers discuss and negotiate their relations, in particular terms and conditions of work. Participants include employers themselves or their organisations, and trade unions or, in their absence, representatives freely designated by the workers.

2) The Elimination of All forms of Forced or Compulsory Labour

• Forced or compulsory labour is any work or service that is extracted from any person under the menace of any penalty, and for which that person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. 

• Providing wages or other compensation to a worker does not necessarily indicate that the labour is not forced or compulsory. 

• By right, labour should be freely given, and employees should be free to leave, subject to previous notice of reasonable length.

3) The Effective Abolition of Child Labour

• ILO conventions (Minimum Age Convention No. 138 and the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention No. 182) provide the framework for national law to prescribe a minimum age for admission to employment or work that must not be less than the age for completing compulsory schooling, and in any case not less than 15 years.

• Child labour is a form of exploitation that is a violation of human rights.

Whilst child labour takes many different forms, a priority is to eliminate without delay the worst forms of child labour as defined by Article 3 of ILO Convention No. 182:

i) All forms of slavery or practices similar to slavery, such as the sale and trafficking of children, debt bondage and serfdom and forced or compulsory labour, including forced or compulsory recruitment of children for use in armed conflict.

ii) The use, procuring or offering of a child for prostitution, for the production of pornography or for pornographic performances.

iii) The use, procuring or offering of a child for illicit activities, in particular for the production and trafficking of drugs as defined in the relevant international treaties.

iv) Work which, by its nature or the circumstances in which it is carried out, is likely to harm the health, safety or morals of children.

4) Discrimination in Respect of Employment and Occupation

Discrimination:

For the purpose of this Convention the term discrimination includes;

• Any distinction, exclusion or preference made on the basis of race, colour, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction or social origin, which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation.

• Such other distinction, exclusion or preference which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation as may be determined by the Member concerned after consultation with representative employers’ and workers’ organisations, where such exist, and with other appropriate bodies

• Any distinction, exclusion or preference in respect of a particular job based on the inherent requirements thereof shall not be deemed to be discrimination.

Equal Remuneration:

For the purpose of this Convention, the term remuneration includes:

• The ordinary, basic or minimum wage or salary and any additional emoluments whatsoever payable directly or indirectly, whether in cash or in kind, by the employer to the worker and arising out of the worker's employment.

• The term equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value refers to rates of remuneration established without discrimination based on sex.

5) A Safe and Healthy Working Environment

• The occupational safety and health fundamental conventions contain provisions of a general scope covering all branches of economic activity. 

• No. 155 and No. 187 conventions are fully complementary and together they constitute a progressive and sustained improvements towards provision of safe and healthy working environments. 

• Both No. 155 and 187 conventions serve as the basis of additional occupational safety and health measures.

(The author is a trainer for Civil Services aspirants.)