Group Assignment ILO Convention 12 (1921)
History
One of the earliest conventions on record, as the ILO only began meetings in 1919.
ILO Convention 12 (1921) followed late industrial transformation of workmen’s compensation rules, for example, the first modern US industrial protections took place in New York in 1910 (Witt, 1998).
A convention to cover agriculture was a natural transition for concurrent trends in farming from manual power to technological power, and a parallel shift from 18th century common laws concerning accidents and injuries to the first modern managerial responsibility for work (Witt, 1998).
It appears most nations were slow to ratify C12, thirteen years later; only eighteen European nations had done so (Cheyney, 1934). Fewer than 30% of the current 76 ratifying states joined C12 before 1950. Most joined in the 1960’s. The largest agricultural nations, Indonesia, India, and China, have yet to ratify C12. This suggests that their agricultural injury compensation programs may remain couched in forms of common law ethics similar to those found in the west during the 18th century, or earlier.
Purpose
European Socialist Movements
History
One of the earliest conventions on record, as the ILO only began meetings in 1919.
ILO Convention 12 (1921) followed late industrial transformation of workmen’s compensation rules, for example, the first modern US industrial protections took place in New York in 1910 (Witt, 1998).
A convention to cover agriculture was a natural transition for concurrent trends in farming from manual power to technological power, and a parallel shift from 18th century common laws concerning accidents and injuries to the first modern managerial responsibility for work (Witt, 1998).
It appears most nations were slow to ratify C12, thirteen years later; only eighteen European nations had done so (Cheyney, 1934). Fewer than 30% of the current 76 ratifying states joined C12 before 1950. Most joined in the 1960’s. The largest agricultural nations, Indonesia, India, and China, have yet to ratify C12. This suggests that their agricultural injury compensation programs may remain couched in forms of common law ethics similar to those found in the west during the 18th century, or earlier.
Purpose
European Socialist Movements
Prior to C12 Workmen’s Compensation (Agriculture), there were no international standards or minimum provisions for farming labour-related injuries. Workers were beginning to handle dangerous new motorized equipment without adequate protection or skills training. At the same time, industrial workers in Europe and North America were beginning to enter stratified divisions of labour and accompanying social movements pushed for workers rights. The ILO is the gift and legacy of that emerging middle class, from their past to our present and future.
Effects of Colonialism
Violation of farm labourers’ rights during the 1800’s was commonplace in many European colonial possessions. These included corvee labour, forced government expropriations of private lands and crops, dumping of imported foodstuffs by business conglomerates, and plantation slavery. Famines and crop failures often accompanied these working conditions as exemplified by the Cultivation System crises of the 1840s to 1850s period in Indonesia (Elson, 1994)
Thus few ratifications of C12 have taken place in the poorest parts of Asia. Reason for this could be due to the slow rate of localized national middle class population growth (Smith, 2002). Thus neither labour unions nor accompanying political pressures and societal movements can effect changes upon IR standards nationally. In some cases internationally, ILO/NGO and US sanctions have succeeded in pressuring developing countries to uphold minimum labour standards relating to children as in Bangladesh, legalization trade unionism in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, South Korea, and Swaziland, or general democratic rights as in Guatemala (Douglas, Ferguson, and Klett, 2004).
The mechanization of agriculture also determined development and lowered human labour rates in Southeast Asia during the last fifty years. But, a correlation between declining or undervalued exchange rates may logically explain a burst in migrant farm labour there for the last decade which undermines any efforts to support farm labour with C12 ratifications. Pingali, Hossain, and Gerpacio state in their book, Asian Rice Bowls, the Returning Crisis, that, “overvalued exchange rates result in choice of imported machines/fertilizers, and pesticides over domestic, labour-intensive technologies.” (1997:296)
ILO statistics from 1996 suggest that agricultural labour still employs nearly half of the planetary workforce at 47% and almost sixty percent of workers in developing countries. Most farm labourers at the turn of this century worked in poverty, without any social security (Albrecht, 1993). Most remain in the same state today.
Implementation
C12 is currently ratified in seventy-six nations but excludes the most populous, and most agricultural. Namely, India, China, and Indonesia. Malaysia Peninsular and Sarawak ratified in 1961 and 1964, but are of late inundated by thousands of unreported and unofficial farm labourers from neighbouring countries (Rix, 2001)
Developed countries report the lowest percentages of farm labourers as a total workforce near ten percent. But nearly all include many migrant or seasonal workforces from other countries, especially in the USA, which has not ratified C12 (nor has Canada)
Enforcement
If the ILO was intended to be more than a regulatory standards agency then it is not upholding advocacy on behalf of C12 and Workmen’s Compensation (Agriculture). But to do so would be a change in mandate, and might discourage nations from further ratifications or maintenance of current conventions.
Encouraging more nations to join should be the concurrent goal of member nations. Economic trade between member nations should reflect some benefits to ratifications.
C12 is merely the minimum standard of farm labour rights. The rates of compensation and the programs themselves are left to member states to determine in national IR strategies.
ILO Convention No.12:
Workmen compensation in Agriculture (1921)
Introduction
Workmen compensation in Agriculture (1921)
Introduction
Growth in global agriculture production is necessary not only to increase international food availability and raise nutrition levels of developing populations; it is essential to the development process. In this case, the role of farm workers is a paramount production factor in agriculture. Their rights must be protected in order to achieve maximum productivity and the welfare of the family labourer, the tenant farmer, the sharecropper, and the seasonal migrant harvester in the agriculture sector. As a manifestation of labour protection in the agricultural sector, The ILO released Convention No.12 to regulate worker’s compensation in agriculture in the case of personal injury by accident arising out of or in the course of their employment.
Definition ILO Convention No. 12
As mentioned in Article No.1 of ILO Convention No.12:
“Each member of the International Labour Organization which ratifies this convention undertakes to extend to all agricultural wage-earners its law and regulation which provide for the compensation of workers for personal injury by accident arising out of or in the course of their employment”
In these terms, worker’s compensation benefit programs are established through IR mechanisms or government bodies of ratifying nations to pay a worker for any injuries that are work related. In accordance with the Metropolitan West Region of New South Wales employment injury means all injuries resulting from accident or occupational disease, either contracted or aggravated in the cause of employment. Many causes of employment injuries are classified in the following chart:
Employment
Injuries
Workplaces
Injuries
Non Workplaces
Injuries
Occupational
diseases
During
Recess Period
Road Traffic
Accident
Commuting
Accident
During
Work
During
Work break
History
C12 is one of the earliest conventions on record, as the ILO only began meetings in 1919. ILO Convention 12 (1921) followed the late industrial transformation of workmen’s compensation rules, for example, the first modern US industrial protections took place in New York in 1910 (Witt, 1998). In its current form, C12 is an interim convention possibly dues to the fact that many core conventions crossover into the field of agriculture.
At the beginning of the century, a convention to cover agriculture was a natural transition in workplace dynamics. The trends in farming methods were moving from manual power to technological power. For example, combines and threshers were taking the place of horse and plow. Training and safety were not included. Eighteenth century common laws concerning such accidents and injuries no longer represented the needs of the majority of workers. New standards helped define safety and the first modern managerial responsibility for work (Witt, 1998).
It appears most nations were slow to ratify C12, even thirteen years later; only eighteen European nations had done so (Cheyney, 1934). Fewer than 30% of the current 76 ratifying states joined C12 before 1950. Most joined in the 1960’s during a peak rise in technological growth in the developing world. The largest agricultural nations, Indonesia, India, and China, have yet to ratify C12.
Purpose
C12 is one of the earliest conventions on record, as the ILO only began meetings in 1919. ILO Convention 12 (1921) followed the late industrial transformation of workmen’s compensation rules, for example, the first modern US industrial protections took place in New York in 1910 (Witt, 1998). In its current form, C12 is an interim convention possibly dues to the fact that many core conventions crossover into the field of agriculture.
At the beginning of the century, a convention to cover agriculture was a natural transition in workplace dynamics. The trends in farming methods were moving from manual power to technological power. For example, combines and threshers were taking the place of horse and plow. Training and safety were not included. Eighteenth century common laws concerning such accidents and injuries no longer represented the needs of the majority of workers. New standards helped define safety and the first modern managerial responsibility for work (Witt, 1998).
It appears most nations were slow to ratify C12, even thirteen years later; only eighteen European nations had done so (Cheyney, 1934). Fewer than 30% of the current 76 ratifying states joined C12 before 1950. Most joined in the 1960’s during a peak rise in technological growth in the developing world. The largest agricultural nations, Indonesia, India, and China, have yet to ratify C12.
Purpose
European Socialist Movements
Prior to C12 Workmen’s Compensation (Agriculture), there were no international standards or minimum provisions for farming labour-related injuries. Workers were beginning to handle dangerous new motorized equipment without adequate protection or skills training. At the same time, industrial workers in Europe and North America were beginning to enter stratified divisions of labour and accompanying social movements pushing for workers rights. The ILO is the gift and legacy of that emerging middle class, from their past to our present and future.
Effects of Colonialism
Violation of farm labourers’ rights during the 1800’s was commonplace in many European colonial possessions. These included corvee labour, forced government expropriations of private lands and crops, dumping of imported foodstuffs by business conglomerates, and plantation slavery. Famines and crop failures often accompanied these working conditions as exemplified by the Cultivation System crises of the 1840s to 1850s period in Indonesia (Elson, 1994)
Thus few ratifications of C12 have taken place in the poorest parts of Asia. Reason for this could be due to the slow rate of localized national middle class population growth (Smith, 2002). Neither labour unions nor accompanying political pressures or societal movements can effect changes upon IR standards nationally in many countries. In some cases internationally, ILO/NGO and US sanctions have succeeded in pressuring developing countries to uphold minimum labour standards relating to child workers as in Bangladesh, legalization of trade unionism as in the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, South Korea, and Swaziland, or general democratic rights as in Guatemala (Douglas, Ferguson, and Klett, 2004).
Farming Mechanization
The mechanization of agriculture also determined development and lowered human labour rates in Southeast Asia during the last fifty years. But, a correlation between declining or undervalued exchange rates may logically explain a simultaneous burst in migrant farm labour there for the last decade. This undermines any efforts to support farm labour with C12 ratifications. Pingali, Hossain, and Gerpacio (1997:296) state, “overvalued exchange rates result in choice of imported machines/fertilizers, and pesticides over domestic, labour-intensive technologies.”
ILO statistics from 1996 suggest that agricultural labour still employs nearly half of the planetary workforce at 47% and almost sixty percent of workers in developing countries. Most farm labourers at the turn of this century worked in poverty, without any social security (Albrecht, 1993). Most remain in the same state today.
Implementation
C12 is currently ratified in seventy-six nations but excludes the most populous, and most agricultural. Namely, India, China, and Indonesia. Malaysia Peninsular and Sarawak ratified in 1961 and 1964, but are of late inundated by thousands of unreported and unofficial farm labourers from neighbouring countries (Rix, 2001).
Developed countries report the lowest percentages of farm labourers as a total workforce near ten percent. But nearly all include many migrant or seasonal workforces from other countries, especially in the USA, which has not ratified C12 (nor has Canada)
Enforcement
The ILO was not originally intended to be more than a regulatory standards agency. Enforcement follows an honour system where each representative ratifying nation is expected to put in place suitable IR or government regulations. In the case of C12, procedural observations and complaints concerning individual nations or their employment injury insurance schemes are regularly made. For example, the Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) reported in 1991 that effective in 1987, agricultural social security laws or regulations coverage can be made on a regular basis. For example, the Malaysian Trades Union Congress reported to the ILO National Committee compensation would be guaranteed for workers earning a thousand dollars or less per month. However the system covered plantation workers only, who are less likely to represent illegal, migrant populations.
In such a case, the ILO Malaysian Committee encouraged advocacy on behalf of C12 and Workmen’s Compensation (Agriculture) to the Malaysian government. Their response in 1992 clarified that compensation would be extended only to contract workers, further excluding unofficial, illegal, unprotected workers. The ILO can only make recommendations to enforce the ratification, on the basis of observations or complaints. Few agricultural labour complaints have officially been made to the ILO in the last decade.
Encouraging more nations to join should be the concurrent goal of member nations. Economic trade between member nations should reflect some benefits to ratifications.
C12 is merely the minimum standard of farm labour rights. The rates of compensation and the programs themselves are left to member states to determine in national IR strategies.
Bibliography
Albrecht, O., 1993, ‘International Labour Standards: A framework for social security’, International Labour Review, Vol. 132, Iss.2, pg. 163.
Cheyney, A.S., 1934, ‘International Labour Conventions’, Monthly Labour Review, U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, Vol. 38, No. 4.
Douglas, A.W., Ferguson, J.P., and Klett, E., 2004, ‘An Effective Confluence of Forces in Support of Workers Rights: ILO Standards, US Trade Laws, Unions, and NGOs’, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 26, Iss. 2; pg. 273.
Smith, P., 2002, ‘”Whither the emerging class?”: Post-crisis Asia searches for a new economic model’, World Policy Journal, Vol. 19, Iss. 2, pg. 49.
Witt, J.F., 1998, ‘The transformation of work and law of workplace accidents, 1842-1910’, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 107, Iss. 5, pg. 1467.
« C12 Workmen’s Compensation (Agriculture) Convention, 1921. » http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp2.htm (21 July 2004).
“Convention No. C012 was ratified by 76 countries.” http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp2.htm (21 July 2004).
Albrecht, O., 1993, ‘International Labour Standards: A framework for social security’, International Labour Review, Vol. 132, Iss.2, pg. 163.
Cheyney, A.S., 1934, ‘International Labour Conventions’, Monthly Labour Review, U.S. Bureau of Labour Statistics, Vol. 38, No. 4.
Douglas, A.W., Ferguson, J.P., and Klett, E., 2004, ‘An Effective Confluence of Forces in Support of Workers Rights: ILO Standards, US Trade Laws, Unions, and NGOs’, Human Rights Quarterly, Vol. 26, Iss. 2; pg. 273.
Smith, P., 2002, ‘”Whither the emerging class?”: Post-crisis Asia searches for a new economic model’, World Policy Journal, Vol. 19, Iss. 2, pg. 49.
Witt, J.F., 1998, ‘The transformation of work and law of workplace accidents, 1842-1910’, The Yale Law Journal, Vol. 107, Iss. 5, pg. 1467.
« C12 Workmen’s Compensation (Agriculture) Convention, 1921. » http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp2.htm (21 July 2004).
“Convention No. C012 was ratified by 76 countries.” http://www.ilo.org/ilolex/english/convdisp2.htm (21 July 2004).
*Original document of agriculture statistics, still pending discovery of original source. Found on ILO site the lists of complaints and recommendations, some on Malaysia, concerning early 90’s. Confirmed that C12 is an interim convention. It is up for review? Could be interesting discussion.
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