12 things we learned at the International Labour Conference

Martin Murphy, Director of Communications and Public Information

Martin Murphy, ILO Director of Communications and Public Information (a.i). @martinmurphyilo

As part of our coverage of the 105th Session of the International Labour Conference, we sat down with experts on a whole range of topics to look at some of the biggest issues facing the world of work. These talks were broadcast live to an audience of thousands of people worldwide, who shared their thoughts and questions with our experts. Here’s a short list of some of the things that we learned.

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“What I learned from spending a day at the docks with Thailand’s labour inspectors”

Kuanruthai Siripatthanakol, National Project Coordinator (Thailand), GMS TRIANGLE Project

In an icy cold room in the fishing port of Samut Sakhon, a labour inspector reads over the payroll ledger of a small shrimp peeling shed. Most of the workers are from Myanmar and some of them appear to be very young. They are hesitant to discuss their situation with the inspectors, especially as their employer looks on. The ledger reveals discrepancies in the number of hours worked and payment of the daily minimum wage of 300THB (about US$ 9.15).

I’m here as part of a five-day training course for labour inspectors from the coastal provinces of Thailand.

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Life at sea: Sailing with the Maritime Labour Convention

We had arrived in China at just about the same time as Typhoon Utor.

Which was a bit of a problem, since our cameraman Damien Riunaud and I had travelled to Shenzhen to board the Singapore-bound APL Boston container ship and produce video footage documenting life at sea.

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