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Protecting vulnerable workers in agriculture
21 June 2001 was an historic day for the world's agricultural workers,
with the signing of a new International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention and
Recommendation on safety and health in agriculture. Peter Hurst reports.
For the first time waged agricultural workers - whether
permanent, temporary or seasonal - have been guaranteed in international law
the same rights and levels of protection as other categories of workers. There
are an estimated 450 million waged agricultural workers worldwide, and their
numbers are growing in all regions of the world. Waged workers account for 40%
of the global agricultural workforce of over 1.1 billion. Of these 20 to 30% are
women, and child workers also form part of the labour force.
Governments, employers and trade unions participating in the
89th International Conference of Labour (ILC) in Geneva adopted these new
instruments despite the fierce resistance of the employers' group at last
year's ILC. There were only two opposing votes (the employers' delegations
of Indonesia and Malaysia) and 41 abstentions (28 employers and 13 governments).
Once ratified, an ILO Convention has the force of international law.
Agricultural workers labour in an industry that is not
sustainable as measured by the loss of human life, injury and ill health. In
1997, the ILO estimated that 170,000 agricultural workers and farmers were
killed in producing the world's food and commodities, out of a total of
330,000 fatal workplace accidents in all occupations worldwide1. Agricultural
workers also suffer disproportionately among more than 250 million workers
injured each year2,3, and more than 160 million who fall ill due to workplace
hazards and exposures4,5. Agricultural workers and their families face extra
dangers such as exposure to pesticides. However, agricultural workers - who
continue to register among the highest levels of global poverty - are
generally excluded from effective forms of health, safety and social
protection6.
The Convention
The main provisions include:
- A broad definition of agriculture. For the purpose of
this Convention the term 'agriculture' covers agricultural and forestry
activities carried out in agricultural undertakings including crop
production, forestry activities, animal husbandry and insect raising, the
primary processing of agricultural and animal products by or on behalf of
the operator of the undertaking, as well as the use and maintenance of
machinery, equipment, appliances, tools, agricultural installations,
including any process, storage, operation or transportation in an
agricultural undertaking which are directly related to agricultural
production. (Article 1)
- Governments have to develop a national policy on
agricultural safety and health based on consultations with the
representative organisations of employers and workers concerned (Article
4).
- Employers - that is, farmers/growers - have to carry
out workplace risk assessments on the farm, plantation, agricultural
undertaking before exposing workers to the hazards/risks covered by the
Convention, including exposure to chemicals (Article 7(a)).
- Workers have the right to remove themselves from danger
resulting from their work activity when they have reasonable justification
to believe there is an imminent and serious risk to their safety and health
and so inform their supervisor immediately. They shall not be placed at any
disadvantage as a result of these actions.
- Articles 12 and 13 cover sound management of chemicals.
Although the Convention deals primarily with occupational, that is,
workplace, safety and health, Article 12 (c) also refers to the need to
protect the general environment in respect of disposal of empty containers
and wastes see also the Recommendation, paragraph 7.
- Article 18 on women workers states that, Measures shall
be taken to ensure the special needs of women agricultural workers are taken
into account in relation to pregnancy, breastfeeding and reproductive
health.
- With regard to young workers and hazardous work, Article 16
sets the minimum age for such work at 18 years. National authorities may
however permit persons as young as 16 years of age to carry out hazardous
work on condition that appropriate prior training is given and the safety
and health of the young workers are fully protected. Currently, some
countries allow children as young as 11-13 years old to carry out many types
of agricultural work.
- Article 21 states that, According to national law and
practice, workers in agriculture shall be covered by an insurance or social
security scheme against fatal and non-fatal occupational injuries and
diseases, as well as against invalidity and other work-related health risks,
providing coverage at least equivalent to that enjoyed by workers in other
sectors. Currently, many workers are not covered by this form of social
protection.
The Convention only covers waged workers who work for an
employer. At the insistence of the employers and many governments, all
references to various categories of self-employed farmers and workers were moved
to paragraphs 12-15 of the non-binding Recommendation. This means that
categories of self-employed farmers/workers like small-tenants, share croppers
and subsistence farmers are not covered by the Convention. However, Article 3 of
the Convention provides that these workers may be included in the future.
The Recommendation
This non-binding Recommendation provides additional guidance on the provisions
of the Convention. Paragraph 7 deals with sound management of chemicals,
complementing Articles 12 and 13. In this paragraph, clear reference is also
made to the ILO Convention on the Use of Chemicals No 170, the main ILO
instrument dealing with chemicals management.
The next steps
Lobbying and campaigning to ensure speedy ratification
and comprehensive implementation will be needed from trade unions working with
public interest groups such as the Pesticides Action Network, including raising
awareness of the new standard in farming communities everywhere.
In conclusion, IUF views adoption, ratification and
implementation of the Convention and Recommendation as one of the key elements
and measures of sustainable agriculture. Agriculture cannot be sustainable if it
continues to kill, maim, and make ill huge numbers of workers and farmers
producing the world's food and commodities, nor if it continues to harm the
environment. A safe and healthy agricultural workforce organised in strong trade
unions is also a key element in helping ensure world food security and promoting
food safety. For example, giving workers both the right and the means to wash
their hands not only protects them, it also protects the quality of the food.
Food should not only be ecologically labelled but socially labelled to say that
those producing it did so in safe and healthy working conditions.
1. Safety and health in agriculture, ILO, International
Labour Conference, 88th Session 2000, Geneva, Report VI (1), p 3.
2. Safe Work - security and productivity through safety, ILO Social
Protection Sector, 04.08.99, p 2.
3. R Helmer and C Corvalán, Occupational health for all - from evidence to
action, World Health Organization, Geneva, undated.
4. Op cit 3.
5. Ibid.
6. P Hurst, Health, safety and environment in agriculture, ILO, Labour
Education 2000/1-2, no 118/119, Top on the agenda: Health and safety in
agriculture, p 17-25.
Peter Hurst, Health, Safety and Environment Coordinator,
IUF, peter.hurst@iuf.org, www.iuf.org
[This article first appeared in
Pesticides News No. 53, September 2001, page 16] |