Decent Work in Australia

Essay by Rachel CheungUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, October 2008

download word file, 7 pages 5.0

Decent work is best achieved with the creation of a strong economy that generates employment opportunities for the people whilst protecting their rights as workers. This adheres to its very concept of providing opportunities for men and women to achieve a decent and productive work.

The International Labor Organization (ILO) defined decent work as a productive work carried out in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity (‘International Labor Organization’, 2000). Over the years, ILO has been promoting decent work not only through the creation of jobs but those with acceptable quality. This notion of decent work comprise of four components: employment, social protection, workers’ rights and social dialogue.

Employment covers all kinds of works with both quantitative and qualitative dimensions. Hence, decent work can be applied not only to the workers in the economy but also to those unregulated workers, self employed and home workers. It also refers to the sufficient job opportunities, fair remuneration, safety at work and healthy working conditions.

Social and income security is also an important element which is identifiable based on the capacity of the society and the degree of its development. The two other elements stressed the social relations of workers. This involve their basic rights and social dialogue where in they expressed their views, uphold their interests and negotiate work related issues with employers and authorities (Ghai, 2003).

There are three elements necessary for the achievement of decent work: the need for jobs, honoring core labor standards and the pursuit of improvement in the quality of work. The need of more jobs is central in the decent work paradigm. Jobs are what people want and to have a decent one, they must have a job first. The second essential element is the respect for labor standards. These standards include...