As the 2021 International Labour Conference gets underway, focusing on a first stage on the impact of Covid-19 on the world of work and the ILO’s response, social protection and the application of international Labour Standards, this newsletter focuses on the major new labour law initiatives and reforms substantially impacting employers and their employment frameworks.
In this edition, we again examine the new Mexican law on outsourcing, and explain how the legality of outsourced services has now been limited to "the provision of specialized services or the execution of specialized works that are not part of the beneficiary's scope or economic activity”. Any other form of outsourcing, even if recognised by international labour standards such as ILO Conventions, is prohibited.
While this law aims to improve the employment conditions of outsourced workers by making them employees; the reality is different. Current estimates are that up to 2 million workers will move into the informal sector in less than one year.
In Spain, the recently adopted “Riders Law” determines ex ante the employment status of individuals engaged “for the activities of distribution of any type of product or merchandise, when the employer exercises its faculty of organization, direction and control, directly, indirectly, or implicitly, through the algorithm management of the service or working conditions, via a digital platform”. Based on this definition, not all digital platforms are covered by the law.
In New Zealand, the government is pursuing a new Fair Pay Agreement System that lacks respect for social partners’ voluntary bargaining and the international commitments related to ratified ILO Convention No. 98. The government’s system requires that outcomes of collective negotiations become minimum legal employment standards. In the case of failure to reach an agreement, labour disputes are settled through an arbitration procedure and then become law. Unfortunately, there is no right to appeal against terms fixed by arbitration award.
This edition of the newsletter further examines mental wellbeing and migration during the pandemic, and spotlights numerous examples of private sector support to communities in Egypt.