Fundamental principles and rights at work can play a vital role in building effective, consensus-based responses that support recovery from the Covid-19 crisis and help build back a better, more just world of work, a new International Labour Organisation report says.

The paper warns that the crisis has placed these same freedoms and rights at work at greater risk, as countries face increases in poverty, inequality and vulnerability.

The document, published by the Fundamentals branch of the ILO, addresses forced labour, child labour, discrimination, freedom of association and collective bargaining and highlights the importance of mainstreaming them into Covid-19 responses.

ILO’s paper also cautioned that the urgent need for an integrated response to the pandemic has not yet been met.

The paper finds that limits on freedom of movement and public gatherings, brought in as part of some national pandemic responses, is making “the realisation of rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining more difficult, both in law and practice, which in turn hampers the development of responses to the crisis rooted in social consensus”.

In particular, the paper says, this affects the two billion people working in the informal economy who often lack a collective and representative voice.

Recent initiatives to identify and address child labour and forced labour in global supply chains are also now in jeopardy, “as businesses at all levels struggle to cope with the crisis and the severe demand shocks associated with it”.

Furthermore, the paper says the pandemic has also exposed discrimination against different groups of workers and the entrenched gender inequalities in labour markets and unpaid care work.

The paper proposes a four-pillar policy framework for the response to Covid-19, based on international labour standards. These cover stimulating the economy and employment; supporting enterprises, jobs and incomes; protecting workers in the workplace, and relying on social dialogue for solutions.

“Protecting people’s lives must be our priority,” said Francesco d’Ovidio, Officer in Charge, Fundamentals branch. “Protecting livelihoods helps us do this. The particular strength of these fundamental principles is their inter-related and mutually-reinforcing nature. Basing our policies around them paves the way for a recovery that is socially and economically inclusive, and ensures that the needs of the most vulnerable are taken into account.”