Labor Inspection and International Relations

Requesting countryProviding country
El SalvadorArgentina
Topics: 
LABOR
Enforcement and awareness of labor legislation
Labor inspection
Activity: 
On-site
Date: 
12/15/2008 to 12/19/2008
Description: 

This activity complements the cooperation that El Salvador received from Dominican Republic in July of 2008. In it, two Salvadoran officials from the international relations area and two from the labor inspection area participated. Regarding the international relations area, the Salvadoran participants were introduced to the structure of the Department of International Affairs of the Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security of Argentina, the elaboration of memoirs for the ILO, the cases presented before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the MERCOSUR process; they also shared their experience on the labor component of the DR-CAFTA. In the area of inspection, the Argentinean experience was fully analyzed, including aspects such as the tools and policies for inspection and social security, the unique record of inspections and sanctions and the National Plan of Employment Regularization.  
 
The Salvadoran officials of the area of international relations highlighted that these were the main lessons obtained from the exchange with Argentina that can be applied in their Ministry: carry out exercises of strategic planning of the annual operational plans of the International Relations Direction; go over the calling process of employers’ and employees’ organizations to participate in international forums such as those of ILO, which must be done through a unique and representative organism; examine the experience of the social and labor dimension of MERCOSUR which is very valuable to the actual process of the DR-CAFTA; and review the submission process of ILO international mechanisms to the Congress as well as the drafting of reports regarding ILO Conventions.
 
Regarding the labor inspection, the Salvadoran officials highlighted that the acquired Argentinean concepts, in addition to those from the Dominican Republic experience, are very valuable and they are being incorporated in the modernization process and in the legislation reform of Labor Inspection in El Salvador, particularly in issues such as: civil service and labor stability of labor inspection, organization, training, inspection policies, integration with other areas, among others. The following lessons stand out: the importance of strengthening the usage of informatic tools to improve, make more effective and give more coverage to inspection; the importance of planning the inspective work throughout the formulation of Inspection Policies from a Direction of Planning because it allows to carryout and evaluate in an affective way the work being done; the need of a better training for the inspectors; the benefits of integrating the inspection systems of labor and social security, meaning that a single State dependency has under its commission the surveillance of labor and social security norms, allowing a greater efficacy in the protection of workers’ rights. 

Relevant documents: 
Status: 
Realized
Announcement number: 
2