Developing A Fair and Just Society Using Decent Work
All member states of the United Nations adopted the global goals to achieve sustainable development. Among the Sustainable Development Goals, is to achieve economic development by providing decent work for all (ILO, 2013). The critical role of decent work for all is achieving sustainable development by providing job opportunities to people meeting the economic and social needs of the society. Different factors contribute to fair and just treatment of people in the society, including the political social and economic systems. Work is a significant component of human life. A fair and just society ensures that all people are treated equally at all level. By providing decent work, it ensures that all people have access to equal job opportunities. New Zealand has implemented policies aimed at complying with decent work requirements (Hayward, 2013). Consequently, New Zealand has succeeded in improving the labour sector with all people having equal opportunities and creating an equitable society. Decent employment is a contributing factor to a fair and just society.
Decent employment will ensure that there are employment opportunities for all. Unemployment is a global problem that leads to other problems such as poverty, income inequality, lack of access to proper nutrition, education and health (ILO, 2013). The employed can access some of these resources while the unemployed cannot creating unfairness in society. Decent employment was created to ensure that There are sufficient job opportunities in the various economies, thus allowing people to earn income. Everyone has an opportunity to work in a job that has social and economic remunerations, thus ensuring economic justice by fair employment opportunities.
Decent work policies in New Zealand were developed to ensure equal opportunities and treatment of people in their workplace (Hyde, 2013). There is sufficient evidence to show some people were in the past treated better than others in the working environment. For example, the male gender in some countries is considered for job opportunities than women (Rai, Brown, & Ruwanpura, 2019). In other, physically challenged people are discriminated and do not have the same employment opportunities. Thus, in most organizations, ‘ men are more than women and men are more considered for better positions in work than women. Such disparities create an unfair working environment which translates to society when a large population faces similar challenges. Decent work ensures that fairness and eliminated equality by eliminating any form of discrimination.
Income disparity in society has led to the unfair and unjust treatment of people. Across the world, there is a broad categorization of people according to their economic status or income. In the community, there is the poor, the wealthy, low, middle- and high-income earners. Such unfair economic status is achieved through income disparities. Decent work aims at eliminating the huge income disparities by ensuring that all people have access to work that offers adequate income and productive work (ILO, 2013). Decent work emphasizes eliminating poverty by ensuring that the income from work is sufficient to meet the social and economic needs of the employees.
Working environment is a big concern to most employees. Huge disparities exist in the working environment as some workplaces are safer than others. People are exposed to different risks in the working environment. Those working in poor working environments are exposed to higher risks than those working in well-protected places. Some are cushioned by insurances from these risks, while others are protected in different ways. Decent work policies are meant to ensure the employers provide a safe working environment for all employees. Decent work policies require employers to provide a safe working environment by providing risk allowance and insurances to ensure the safety of employee (ILO, 2013). It will eliminate the risks faced by employees in the workplace.
Unjust and unfair workplace policies have ensured unfair lives among the employees during and after the working years. Retirement poses a challenge to all employees because of lack of basic salaries and wages. Retired individuals face different challenges which create unfair and unjust society as some have retirement plans while others do not have social security or retirement plans at all. These differences create social inequality at work and after retirement in society.
A large population in society live miserable lives as a result of poor employment agreements that do not have stipulated working times. Some people are forced to work for more than 10 hours a day while others work as less as two hours a day. As a result, some people have an imbalanced personal -work life because of lack of decent working time. Decent work policies ensure that employees have decent work time, allowing them to work within considerable time and have sufficient time for family and personal matters (ILO, 2013). Decent work ensures to eliminate the worktime differences to address the work and personal time challenges that create unfairness among the working population.
Decent work reduces inequality and increases resilience. Lack of safe and secure jobs creates unfair and unjust society resulting in vulnerability to certain groups in the society. It results in social, economic and political uneasiness as some people feel treated unfairly as they do not have decent jobs. In countries where there are no decent jobs, there are increased cases of strikes as people protest for better jobs, pay and working environments. Decent work ensures that there are equal job opportunities that are safe, secure and meet the economic needs of the employees.
Decent jobs will ensure employees’ rights are respected. Decent work pillars seek to guarantee the employees the welfare through ensuring that their rights are respected and upheld (ILO, 2013). Countries, where there are no decent work policies employee rights, are neglected and subjected to poor working conditions resulting in social and economic injustices. New Zealand has implemented various statues to ensure that decent work is achieved by implementing a work policy that ensures employee rights are observed (Hyde, 2013). It is a way of ensuring fairness and justice in the direct society where most people spend almost a third of their day almost the entire year.
Decent work ensures continued social contracts which ensure progress in democratic societies. In countries where there is no decent work, insufficient investments, and decreased consumption results in the erosion of basic ethics. When people lack the economic capacity to live, there is underconsumption, which may force people to result in erosion on ethics and people, resulting in crime to meet their needs. Decent work that ensures continued economic gains for people to spend and invest to meet their economic needs (ILO, 2013).
Descent work can develop a fair and just society by creating work opportunities that are safe, secure, and provide adequate income to meet the needs of the employees. Decent work thus can help eliminate job opportunity problems, income inequality, promotion injustices, and suitable jobs that are safe and secure even after retirement. In the long run, addressing the economic disparities created by job policies and employers will help achieve decent work and address the problems associated with work such as income inequality and poverty. New Zealand has implemented various statutes since the 1980s geared toward achieving decent work for its people as a way of eliminating disparities in the working environment and the entire society (Hyde, 2013).
References
Hayward, K. (2013). How Do New Zealand Labour Standards Comply with the International Labour Organisation’s Conventions and Recommendations Implemented after 1980 and the Introduction of Neo-Liberalism. Waikato L. Rev., 21, 158.
Hyde, R. (2013). Domestic workers in New Zealand and the implications of International Labour Organization Convention No. 189.
ILO. (2013). Decent work indicators. Guidelines for producers and users of statistical and legal framework indicators.
Rai, S. M., Brown, B. D., & Ruwanpura, K. N. (2019). SDG 8: Decent work and economic growth–A gendered analysis. World Development, 113, 368-380.