ILO tripartite meetings focusing on specific sectors, are important venues for cross-border social dialogue. Several sectoral meetings are held each year and bring together representatives of governments, employers’ and workers’ organizations from different countries and regions to debate emerging issues and major trends and challenges in their sector.
The consensus reached during ILO sectoral meetings has resulted in recommendations for policy and action in the sectors concerned. The recommendations adopted by the meetings (taking the form, for example, of codes of practice, guidelines and conclusions) serve as a basis for the development of national policies and programmes, and provide guidance to constituents at the international and national levels. They also serve to shape ILO action, in the form of capacity building, policy advice, partnership building and knowledge sharing.
For instance, in October 2021, experts from governments and employers’ and workers’ organizations adopted the first Code of practice on health and safety in textiles, clothing, leather and footwear industries– the first for these industries. The Technical Meeting on the Future of Work in the Automotive Industry in February 2021, adopted conclusions that give governments, workers and employers a strong mandate to invest in people’s skills and a just transition to decent and sustainable work in the sector.
Sectoral meetings have also provided impetus for sectoral standard setting. In one of the most globalized industries, maritime transport, the Joint Maritime Commission (JMC), paved the way for the consolidation and updating of all maritime labour standards in the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006.
The Joint Maritime Commission (JMC) is the ILO’s only permanent bipartite body and is a good illustration of a venue for cross-border social dialogue on a specific industry, directly involving representatives of this industry. In addition to the two members of the ILO Governing Body, representing respectively the employers' group and the workers' group, the JMC is composed of 20 regular shipowner members and 20 regular seafarer members.
The JMC provides advice on maritime matters including standard setting for the shipping industry. One of the specific functions of the JMC, through the Subcommittee on Wages of Seafarers of the Joint Maritime Commission, consists of updating the minimum basic wage figure for seafarers, in accordance with the Seafarers' Wages, Hours of Work and the Manning of Ships Recommendation, 1996 (No. 187). This is the only statutory international wage fixing mechanism.
An ILO page on sectoral meetings provides access to the schedule of all meetings, relevant documentation, minutes and outcomes.