The 110th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) will take place in Geneva from 27 May to 11 June 2022. For the first time in its history, the ILC, which is the Annual Conference of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has included a general discussion on “Decent work and the social and solidarity economy”, in view of which a report on the topic
Ahead of the 110th ILC, the International Coalition of the Social and Solidarity Economy (ICSEE) has published a position paper aiming at providing key inputs. The International Coalition was settled in September 2021 by five organisations, all of them partners of SEE, namely the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA), the Global Social Economy Forum (GSEF), the SSE International Forum (SSE IF), the International Cooperative and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) and the International Association of Mutual Benefit Societies (AIM), which is a founding member of SEE.
Its mission is to speak for the interests of SSE actors at global level, promoting an exchange of experiences during the international debates, with a special focus on decent work and SSE. In addition, ICSEE is participating in the improvement of working conditions to allow hundreds of millions of people to live a dignified life. In its position paper, the ICSSE presents recommendations and key messages that the ILC should be aware of/ take into account.:
First of all, ICSSE supports some of the ILO’s actions, such as providing clear inputs to allow an international conceptualisation of the social economy, in the framework the report on Decent work and the social and solidarity economy.
Second, the ICSSE requests a full acceptance of the organisations of the Social and Solidarity Economy as to make an explicit distinction with the ordinary for-profit companies. The recognition of SSE has to consider the different legal frameworks of every actor in order to support their peculiarities and adapt policies accordingly:
The International Coalition is also calling for a regulation of social economy enabling frameworks along with a more inclusive co-production of public policies, protecting democratic governance, autonomy and voluntary and open membership. Eventually, the coalition entails an enlargement of international activities to promote partnership and collaboration among the SSE enterprises and it requests ILO to keep going with the sponsorship of the SSE at the UN level.
Arthur Windsor & Raffaele Scarpa
