The first BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) meeting was held virtually on May 11 and 12, 2021. The meeting was chaired by the Labour Secretary of India, Apurva Chandra. India has assumed the BRICS Presidency in 2021.
The prime agenda for discussions during the meeting was the formalization of the labour markets, promoting social security agreements amongst BRICS nations, Gig and Platform workers’ role in the labour market and the women’s participation in the labour force.
Sh. Apurva Chandra, Secretary, MoLE Chaired first #BRICS Employment Working Group Meeting. The Indian delegation comprised of Smt. Anuradha Prasad, Spl. Secretary, MoLE, Sh. R.K Gupta, JS, MoLE, Sh. Ajay Tewari, JS & DGLW, MoLE & Sh. Rupesh Kumar Thakur, Director, MoLE. pic.twitter.com/a111BYvQBN
— Ministry of Labour (@LabourMinistry) May 11, 2021
In the meeting, apart from the representatives of the member nations Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the representatives of the International Social Security Agency and the International Labour Organisation also gave valuable suggestions on the agenda issues.
BRICS nations on ‘multilateral social security framework’The representatives of the BRICS nations, during the meeting, expressed willingness to have a multilateral social security framework for safeguarding the rights of the workers. The Social Security Agreement will facilitate the international workers to port their benefits to their home countries thereby preventing the loss of their hard-earned money. Further, the workers will be exempted from contributing (social security schemes) both in the home as well as in the host countries. The multilateral Social Security framework will help the workers in avoiding the double contributions in a cluster of such nations. |
1st BRICS Employment Working Group (EWG) meeting: Other key discussions
• The member nations, on the issue of the Social Security Agreement, decided to enter into a dialogue and discussion with each other. They resolved to take it forward towards the signing of the agreements, while the ILO and ISSA on their part, assured technical support for helping the conclusion of such agreements.
• The BRICS member nations also decided to come up with a multilateral framework for the social security agreement at a later stage.
• Various initiatives taken by the member nations for the formalization of jobs and in what way the pandemic has enhanced informalization risk, were also discussed.
• BRICS member nations decided to promote women’s participation in productive, remunerative and decent work and also extending the social security cover to the women workers who are engaged in the informal sector. The impact of the pandemic on women’s participation in the labour force was also discussed.
• In the issue of Gig and Platform workers as well as their role in the labour market, the discussion took place on how the rapid growth of digital labour platforms has been altering the labour process.
• Various measures taken and challenges faced by the member countries including the social protection system extension was also discussed during the meeting.
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