The Secretary General of the Organization of African Trade Union Unity (OATUU) Mr. Arezki MEZHOUD addressed the 108th International Labor Conference on June 14, 2019.
The ongoing International Labor Conference(ILC) of The International Labor Organization(ILO) started Monday 10 June 2019 and set to close its works on Friday 21 June 2019 gathered representatives of governments, employers and workers in line with the ILO tripartite structure.
As representative of workers, in his address, Mr. Arezki congratulated the members of the Bureau on their election and I acknowledged all the delegates present at this 108th Conference .
In his speech, he painted the current context of the world of work as a “context that raises many concerns about the dominant development model in the world and its trends towards authoritarianism and human exclusion”.
Concerned about the workers situation in this current context of the world of work, the Secretary General said that “the ubiquitous nature of the world of work and the excessive use of artificial intelligence continue to explode human relations by marginalizing human beings”.
He added that unfortunately, “the technology is evolving, but the exploitation is still the same. Productivity is increasing and wages are stagnating”.
With regards to this, Mr Arezki hailed the initiative of Mr Guy Ryder, Director-General of the ILO, and the members of the World Commission on the Future of Work. He marked that “our knowledge and intelligence is to have the ability to foresee this future rather than to suffer it. We will experience tomorrow what we are changing today”.
He ended his speech exhorting African Trade Unions to “support and promote the implementation of the recommendations of the report of the Global Commission on the Future of Work by adopting the ILO’s proposed Centenary Declaration, the application of which should be fully ensured”.
A delegation composed of the Deputies Secretary General Mr. Emmanuel Nzunda and Mr Valentine Udeh; the Treasurer General Mr. Ibrahim Abrar laid by the Secretary General Mr Arezki Mezhoud represented OATUU at the 108th ILC.
