Improvement in freedom of union association, collective bargaining agreements, and health and safety for the workers in Peru

Background

LO-Norway has been supporting Confederación General de Trabajadores of Peru since 2005. The project aimed at “strengthen the efforts of the trade union movement to achieve higher respect of labour rights”.

Purpose/objective

The basis of the evaluation was to assess the results, efficiency of implementation and sustainability of the project`s including its continued relevance. Further it was to assess the results support provided by LO-Norway in order to determine the results achieved so far in the Agro workers sector (FENTAGRO) Additionally the evaluation  also aimed at validating the feasibility of including actions in the Mining and Construction sectors on  OSH (Occupational, safety and health) issues.

Methodology

The Evaluation was conducted in a three-stage process, each with specific products; Interviews with key stakeholders from the key mentioned sectors, CGTP-IESI, government representatives and ILO. Event/workshop for reflection and participatory analysis with the participation of the different sectors and the CGTP. Workshop/meeting with leaders of CGTP-IESI, to discuss and validate the results of the evaluation.

Key findings

The key findings are the following:

CGTP is the most representative labour confederation in Colombia representing approximately 500,000 workers in important sectors such as construction, mining public, agriculture and domestic workers.

The project has been focusing on the strengthening of trade unions in the agro sector which is important being a growth sector with more than 25% informality. The informal sector in Peru has reached 72% and represents a tremendous social challenge. The rate of union membership in Peru is approximately 8%.

The evaluator has concluded that the project is well organized and has been implemented within the allocated budget. Regarding the management and administration of the project, the management of the budget has been highly efficient in the execution of the project in 2015 and 2016 and the same is expected for 2017.

The project has shown positive advances in all objectives despite the adverse political and employers environment that does not support dialogue and focus occupational, safety and health initiatives.

In the objectives: “increase in new affiliates” and “improvement in the contents of collective agreements with a gender focus in 9 unions”, the improvements constitute 67% and 78% respectively. In the “Increased the membership of FENTAGRO” indicator shows a 100% achievement, as well as an important advance in the indicator on gender participation at the leadership level.

In improved CGTP union participation in dialogue spaces for the promotion of health and safety at work, primarily in the mining, construction, agribusiness, industry, and public cleaning sectors the project achieved 100% of what was planned.

The women participation of new members is 30 % and women in in elected leadership positions  is 26% for federations that had election in 2016 which is up from 12% in 2011. CGTP /IESI has implemented Anticorruption , ethics  and procurement policies following consultations with LO –Norway , EY and their  own Board of directors.

Recommendations

The recommendations are grouped into three themes :

Project improvements It is recommended to continue to prioritize the agro business sector in 2018 through FENTAGRO focusing on training the leaders and gender participation. It is further recommended to establish a strategy for the future focusing on gender participation, youth and OSH conditions.

Recommendations for CGTP/IESI

• Initiate research and information gathering on studies on Decent Work.
• Promote a debate about the advantages and disadvantages of Peru's being part of the OECD, focusing in the Labour Rights.
• Optimize the  national Social Dialogue in spaces on labour market issues.
• Assistance from LO-Norway on exchanges on experiences with employers and employees of Norway which  could serve as input to input for the new labour  reforms that the Government of Peru is promoting.

Future topics between CGTP-IESI and LO-Norway

The project will in 2018 also focus on occupational, safety and health issues in the agro, mining and construction sectors to establish OSH procedures and  influence legislations protecting the workers.

It will be considered to design a strategy on OSH using the research data from the study in 2018 and to use OSH as a convener agenda item in a broader discussion on topics such as: OSH,  Pension Reform and Social Security.

The Evaluation report has been discussed with and accepted by CGTP-IESI.