Labour Ministers agreed on the text on July 25-26 in Brazil G20 meet, which was only the ‘best possible declaration for the G20 Summit in November’ as Brazil’s Minister of Labour and Employment Luiz Marinho hoped in the beginning of the final technical meeting of the Employment Working Group (WG) and the Labour 20 Summit (20), and nothing more. The declaration was big on words, but left decisive action on the mercy of the governments of the biggest economies of the world.

Even though the DG of ILO has said the declaration on which the countries agreed as “a comprehensive set of measures” committing to creating quality jobs, fostering social inclusion, and eliminating hunger and poverty through coordinated social, economic, and environmental policies. He said to ministers, “In a world that is constantly grappling with new challenges and crises, it is becoming clearer every day that we need to accelerate our efforts towards making social justice a reality for all. This requires a set of well-coordinated social policies, including social protection and other policies to ensure social inclusion.”

Deployment of Technology, especially AI, figured in key discussions. ILO Deputy Director-General, Celeste Drake referred it as a means of improving everyone’s quality of life, and announced the launch of an ILO Observatory on AI and work in the Digital Economy in September and a forthcoming standard-setting discussion in 2025 on decent work in the platform economy.

Just Transition Leadership Forum was also held where DG of ILO highlighted the importance of building just transition pathways to achieve decent work and social justice. The Forum emphasized the urgent need for G20 leaders, governments, employees, and workers’ organisations to take joint action in addressing the social impacts of climate change on labour markets.

The ministers in attendance reaffirmed their commitment to reducing the gender gap in labour market participation in line with the Brisbane Target – reducing the gender gap in labour market participation rates by 25 per cent by 2025 and accelerate progress on gender equality. Declaration was obviously not satisfactory in the light of Ms Drake’s remark that underlined the need for increased focus on improving women’s income security, addressing gender pay gaps, and enhancing conditions for paid care work.

Though not enough, in their closing declaration, the ministers recognized the critical role of fair wage policies and robust labour market institutions in addressing global employment challenges. They reaffirmed their commitment to the ILO’s Decent Work Agenda, which encompasses job creation, fair wages, labour rights, and social protection.

In 17-page declaration document, it was said in introduction that the ministers “recognize that creating formal jobs and promoting decent work are amongst the most effective social tools for achieving a fairer and more equitable income distribution.”

On creating quality employment and promoting decent work to ensure social inclusion, eliminate poverty and combat hunger, the declaration read, “We stress the importance of strategies to create and promote decent work and deliver effective labour market policies, such as skills development, access to training and lifelong learning and job matching, aligned with the skills needs and demands of the economy and in consultation with social partners.”

In the backdrop of systematically sabotaging Trade Unionism, the declaration has a welcome text “Collective bargaining allows for employers or employers’ organizations and workers’ organizations to negotiate terms and conditions of employment and contributes to the equitable distribution of resources and the reduction of disparities in the world of work. We agree that effective social dialogue, collective bargaining, and respect for freedom of association have an important role to play in promoting the Decent Work Agenda.”

On climate change and the challenges of a just transition in the world of work the declaration noted the current energy transition to be beneficial for the labour market participation but also it can affect workers’ rights, cause structural changes in the labour market, lead to disruptions in multiple industries and may exacerbate many existing inequalities and negatively impact women, girls and people in vulnerable situations.

The declaration has recognized that the concept of a just transition has become more critical. This includes enabling workers to participate in shaping and benefiting from a just transition to this new world of work. Drawing on the ILO guidelines for a just transition, we will focus our efforts and policies on guaranteeing a just transition in all sectors the declaration read.

“We understand that to overcome the challenges, the future of work must be human-centred and should consider aspects such as sustainable development, social and solidarity economy, care for people and the planet, equality and equity, transparency, income security and social services and the achievement of decent work and dignified livelihoods,” says the declaration.

In fact, the entire declaration is full of such big words, that have found repetitions, year after year in all such declaration. What we actually need is concrete follow of actions, which are generally not enough to arrest the evils that pervade the labour market. Let us take example of G20 Delhi Declaration of 2023, which was not followed with enough actions but G20 Brazil declaration has reaffirmed and shared commitments, accelerating progress, especially on gender equality and women led development.

Even though as way forward, the declaration says, “We affirm the commitments made and goals agreed to under the previous presidencies.” ILO DG has perhaps rightly urged the countries for the “need of decisive actions”. Mere big words, affirmations, and commitments without decisive actions are hollow, which can’t address the global labour market challenges. It should be noted that despite big words many countries have undergone a long-term decline in the labour income share. Even in2022 and 2023, wages lagged behind inflation in many G20 countries, leading hardships for workers and their families, and average real wages remain below pre-COVID-19 levels in 2024 too. (IPA Service)