The president of CEOE, Antonio Garamendi, took part today in the 108th Meeting of the International Labor Conference, which is being held these days in Geneva and also coincides with the celebration of the first centenary of the International Labor Organization (ILO). Later he will participate in the XXX Meeting of Presidents of Iberoamerican Business Organizations that will inaugurate Antonio Garamendi; the president of the OIE, Erol Kiresepi; and the former president of CACIF and CEIB, Antonio Malouf. This meeting is attended by the presidents and representatives of the 23 most representative business organizations from the 20 Latin American countries, Spain, the Principality of Andorra and Portugal.
During his speech at the 108th Meeting of the International Labor Conference, the president of CEOE highlighted that the 100-year history of the ILO demonstrates the validity of the mission that was assigned by the founders to guarantee social justice, through a governance model, based on tripartism, which makes the ILO a unique reference in the United Nations system. He said that this model has served as inspiration for CEOE and has been key to guarantee economic growth, job creation and social peace.
Private company
The celebration of the centenary of the ILO, said Garamendi, also serves to initiate a frank debate on how to successfully face the challenges that the organization has in an economic context, marked by a vertiginous technological transformation driven by digitization. The president of CEOE explained that the Centennial Declaration resulting from the discussion in the Committee of the Whole should recognize the role of sustainable private enterprise, as a source of economic growth and job creation.
Garamendi said that both private entrepreneurship and the implementation of regulatory frameworks that encourage their development, represent two premises without whose recognition the organization can not credibly respond to the new challenges of the coming century, such as the digitalization of our societies, the globalization of our markets, climate change or demography. In short, he said, it is about linking sustainable private enterprise and the improvement of regulatory environments to the creation of employment and, in turn, taking into account these major global processes, which are transforming production models and relationship models. traditional labor
Sustainability
CEOE believes that the future of work is closely linked to the future of the company. Garamendi explained that "we are experiencing moments of profound changes in the multilateral system in which the ILO should play a role in the United Nations, according to its constitutional mandate and the tripartite structure. In this regard, he added that the SDGs constitute the international Agenda in which the ILO has a very important space in some of them, mainly in SDG 8, which clearly links employment to economic growth.
It is true, he said, that normative action has been very important as a source of inspiration for labor legislation in member countries, but it is also necessary to update it to respond to changing needs in our societies. The ILO, pointed out Garamendi, should reinforce other aspects such as the development of sustainable enterprises, the capacity for economic analysis and the digital challenge, in which training is the essential element to facilitate transitions to the new model, and facilitate access for the young population to the labor market.
Aware of the importance of training workers in a more globalized economy, said Garamendi, CEOE and Fundación Telefónica will sign an agreement in the coming weeks to promote training in digital skills in the main sectors of the Spanish economy. He also expressed his pride in belonging to the OIE's great family, which, among other responsibilities, provides essential support within the framework of the ILO, but also in other forums of the United Nations, both globally and regionally.