Labour law reform underway in PNG

Transcript

It's hoped that improvements to labour legislation in Papua New Guinea will help reduce unpredictability in the market place.

The Director of the International Labour Organisation office for Pacific Island Countries, handed over the ILOs final report on Labour Law Reform to stakeholders in Port Moresby last week.

The work will help the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations prepare revisions of the Employment Act.

Bridget Tunnicliffe asked the ILO director David Lamotte about the current state of labour law in PNG.

DAVID LAMOTTE: The last Employment Relations Bill was 1978 and even then you know they'd inherited and imported a lot of regulations from the colonial days so it was just out of sync with modern practice and modern needs of the economy.

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: Is this issue common in a number of Pacific countries?

DL: It really is very common in many Pacific Island countries and that's why we have quite a big programme of work in the Pacific looking at their laws. Increasingly what drives this often is the realisation that their laws are not compliant with international labour standards and secondly what drives the recognition that they need to do something is that compliance is really low, they have laws but no ones actually following most of the laws, they're large informal economies. And the third reason that drives this sort of desire and need to improve their labour legislation and regulation is international trade agreements all require compliance with international labour standards, the fundamentals. So there are many sort of drivers encouraging countries to move forward. It's very common in the Pacific, we're a long way behind and we're trying to help the big island countries catch up.

BT: Is there some resistance by employers who see this as possibly costing them more money with increased benefits to employees as a result of revised labour law?

DL: It can be, I'll be very honest, yeah it can be. And on the other side there is some resistance from trade unions for some of the old regulations and some of the old benefits that they're interested in trying to protect. I think the point needs to be made is that a good labour law that's been developed with the involvement of workers, and employers and government, and that's the only way in which we work, is good for everybody. You know a business wants stability, a business wants to know what the rules are and that the rules will be applied. Stability and predictability in the market place is really important to everybody. I could take another example of Palau where we're doing similar work, the people really wanting that change are the employers because they're tired of the uncertainty that poor laws and poor enforcement creates. So yeah there is resistance on all sides. The ILOs a UN agency that only works with government, employers, and workers collectively and simultaneously. So we try to address those fears up front.

BT: How soon do you think Papua New Guinea will move on actually updating that employment act?

DL: I was incredibly encouraged by Minister Benjamin Poponawa's speech. He indicated to me that he was prepared to raise this at the most senior level, that means cabinet. And secondly he used the language 'a lockdown' that is senior legal officials from the government, the Department of Labour and Industrial Relations, the employers, and the workers, and the Attorney General's office. Lock us down, put us in a room and let's get the job finished. I'm hopeful we will have concrete steps by the end of this year.