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Harnessing the Power of Peak Level Social Dialogue (PLSD) for Economic Development and Social Progress: Overcoming Challenges and Seizing Opportunities
Chair(s): Damian Grimshaw (Kings College London)
This 90-minute session will consist of four sections: a brief introduction (5 minutes), a concise summary of the Social Dialogue Report 2024 and its key findings/messages (15 min), a panel discussion of the challenges and opportunities for peak-level social dialogue (PLSD) around the world (50-minutes, 4x speakers), and an audience Q&A with the panellists (20 minutes). Damian Grimshaw will chair the session and deliver a brief introduction. Lieve Verboven will present the Social Dialogue Report 2024.
The presentation will focus on the barriers to effective and inclusive PLSD around the world, such as short-term and non-inclusive approaches to economic development, neglect of the fundamental principles and rights at work, low trade union density and patchy collective bargaining coverage, inadequate representation of the informal economy, and poorly resourced labour administration systems and social partner organisations. The globally diverse panellists will then speak to these issues, outlining the opportunities and challenges for PLSD from the perspectives of different regions. While panellists will note good practices of PLSD when appropriate, discussion will largely highlight the present limitations to PLSD in order to ensure we address the session’s most pressing question – what must be done to strengthen peak-level social dialogue in national policy-making and sector collective bargaining and how to ensure its relevance for the most disadvantaged workers?
Presentations of the Special Session
Social Dialogue Report 2024: Peak-Level Social Dialogue for Economic Development and Social Progress
Andrea Marinucci1, Konstantinos Papadakis1, Tvisha Shroff1, Damian Grimshaw2, Youcef Ghellab1 1ILO, 2Kings College London
The Social Dialogue Report 2024 explores the critical role of peak-level social dialogue (PLSD) in advancing economic and social development, driving the green and digital transitions, and accelerating progress towards the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Drawing on global data, case studies, original surveys, and reviews of PLSD processes and outcomes, this report calls for stronger action to enhance the inclusiveness and effectiveness of PLSD institutions, processes and actors. This requires, above all:
1. Respecting, promoting and realizing the fundamental principles and rights at work, particularly freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining.
2. Enhancing the capacity of PLSD institutions and actors for meaningful engagement. This includes establishing an enabling legal and regulatory framework (including dispute prevention and resolution mechanisms), adequality resourcing labour administration systems, ensuring that the social partners have the capacity to participate in social and economic policy discussions, and mainstreaming social dialogue across relevant policy areas through a “whole-of-government” approach.
3. Expanding the membership base of the social partners and extending their outreach to under-represented groups, particularly workers and economic units in the informal economy, workers in emerging work arrangements, migrants, youth, and micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.
4. Encouraging regular evidence-based evaluations of the role, influence, and outcomes of PLSD institutions in socio-economic decision-making. This includes assessments and diagnostics of NSDIs with ILO support and exploring the possible establishment of a global indicator to measure PLSD effectiveness and inclusiveness.
Discussant 1
Kamala Sankaran National Law School of India University
Discussant 1
Discussant 2
Ruth Castel-Branco Wits University
Discussant 2
Discussant 3
Oscar Molina Romo Autonomous University of Barcelona
