Development of a Web Application for Telecommuting Capability Assessment Embedded with Fuzzy Model

By early 2020, COVID-19 has caused a global pandemic which led to an enormous number of challenges worldwide in various sectors. The Philippine government has implemented multiple quarantine guidelines and travel restrictions to ensure the people's health and safety. However, the International Labour Organization projected an initial economic and labor market disruption affecting 11 million workers, or about 25% of the Philippine workforce, due to the pandemic. Therefore, the government, thru the concerned agencies continues to encourage employers to implement alternative work plans such as a work-from-home (WFH) operation in compliance with the established regulations in line with existing laws and policies. In line with the telecommuting concept, various research has already been performed, however, some were regarded inconclusive and require further study. Hence, in this study, a Web application was developed along with an embedded fuzzy model to evaluate the telecommuting capability assessment of employees. The proposed web application with embedded fuzzy model is capable of providing capability assessment using the four main input variables which are also relatively characterized for possible telecommuting cost assessment. © 2022 IEEE.

Protection against Poverty with Particular Reference to the Ilo Commitment

The close relationship between the constitutional mandate of the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations 2030 Agenda is evident. In particular, the interconnection is channelled through SDG 8: target 8.1 on GDP growth, target 8.2 on economic productivity and target 8.5 on full and productive employment and decent work for all are essential to ensure poverty reduction under SDG 1. Poverty eradication requires multilateral action, to support countries with a lower level of economic development, and individualised action, in line with a rights-based approach, to combat the social exclusion of the most disadvantaged. The situation of the health, economic and social crisis caused by COVID-19 and its consequences require both approaches. The study is divided into two parts. The first part analyses the concepts of poverty used by the ILO due to its universal and tripartite nature. The second deals with the ILO's normative action and strategic approach, including proposals in the context of the pandemic.

How effective were the COVID-19 relief measures? A comparative analysis of the seven largest economies of the world

This paper examines the effect of policy measures adopted by governments worldwide since the onset of the COVID-19-led pandemic on health and social sectors and the global economy. Taking the case of the United States, India, the Republic of Korea, China, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, and Germany, it comparatively studies the effect of pandemic and related policy measures: on the unemployment rate, GDP growth, per capita income, inequality (measured using the Gini coefficient), accumulated real income, interest rates of Central Bank of the respective countries, Relief packages as per the percentage of GDP, and Cash transfer by number of people covered of the said countries. Developing countries preferred to use direct cash transfers to the beneficiary account rather than providing food baskets as most developed countries provided to their population of the lower economic strata. Except for China, there is a contraction in the GDP of all the countries witnessed in 2020 and is set to rebound in 2021 and 2022. It is witnessed that the impact of the pandemic is uneven in different sectors, regions, and socio-economic groups;in some cases, the repercussions of these measures are likely to continue. © 2022 Universidad Tecnica de Manabi. All Rights Reserved.

Ratification of ICRMW toward the ILO Conventions amid COVID-19 in Thailand

Globalization has opened the avenues for the world to come together and attain sustainable growth. Migrant workers are a lifeline for several countries' labour forces and productivity. However, in Thailand, the rights of these migrants are restricted due to the non-ratification of the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Family Members (ICRMW). This research explores and analyzes various factors essentially responsible for the ratification of ICRMW in Thailand. The methodology adopted is the mixed method. The collected data were analyzed based on a socio-legal approach, with qualitative and quantitative tools and techniques combined: the strength, weakness, opportunity, and threats (SWOT) technique was integrated into the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) (SWOT-AHP). The findings suggest that Thailand has not yet ratified the ICRMW conventions, including ILO C-87 and ILO C-98, thus depriving migrant workers of protection. They are not protected by national law and are not entitled to equal protection as nationals: for instance, foreign workers are forbidden from migrating to the established labour unions and enjoying medical benefits and salaries. All these must be consistent with the conventions, particularly the Labor Protection Act, B.E. 2541 (1998) and the Labor Relations Act B.E. 2518 (1998). The novelty of this research is the analysis of the domestic and international laws in the Thai context, which depicts the need for ratification of ICRMW to protect migrant workers and their families. The findings can pave the way for similar future research in other ASEAN member countries. © 2022 by the authors. Licensee ESJ, Italy.

Extending the Occupational Safety and Health Management System as a Knowledge Management System Through the Mixed-Reality Remote Audit

Auditing is one of the most important stages in evaluating the effectiveness of an Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS), which is also recognized as a Knowledge Management System (KMS). According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the audit process is part of the evaluation element, where the auditor must evaluate the OSH performance. The traditional audit might not be able to be conducted due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Movement Control Order (MCO) scenario, therefore the remote audit is being viewed as a viable solution to ensuring the audit process continues. The solution could also be utilized beyond the pandemic period as it may become one of the effective method for the audit process. The paper describes how the OSHMS can be remotely audited utilizing Mixed Reality (MR) applications in a design thinking manner. To test the approach, preliminary data was collected in an OSH office. The findings of this paper will aid stakeholders in the relevant context in making investment decisions for digitising their OSH audit process in order to create a future-ready ecosystem. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Review of Remote Audit in Occupational Safety and Health Management System through the Mixed-Reality Spectrum

The Occupational Safety and Health Management System (OSHMS) is a collection of interconnected or interacting elements that work together to define and implement Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) policies and objectives. Employers must guarantee that this system is effectively implemented to safeguard employees from hazards in order to attain those goals and eliminating work-related injuries, illnesses, diseases, incidents and deaths by using the guideline given by the International Labor Organization (ILO) as well as the Department of Safety and Health (DOSH) of Malaysia. Auditing is among the vital process in analyzing the performance of OSHMS. The audit process is part of the evaluation element, as described by ILO where the auditor needs to evaluate the OSH performance. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the traditional audit could not be conducted, thus the remote audit is considered to be a viable option to ensure the audit process continues. Therefore, this paper intends to understand how the OSHMS especially in the university context can be remotely audited using Mixed Reality (MR) applications through a review of the literature. The findings indicate appropriate contexts of discussion for the study and also identified MR technology namely the 360-degree panoramic view technology that could be further studiedThe paper's contribution is a better knowledge of the OSHMS remote audit process through the usage of MR applications in a specialized setting. The findings of this study would be beneficial to the stakeholders in the relevant context particularly in the university in their investment decision-making for a future-ready ecosystem by digitising their enterprises. © 2021 IEEE.

COVID-19 border closures cause humanitarian crew change crisis at sea.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused many countries to close their borders to travellers, in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. Given the initially indiscriminate travel restrictions adopted in March 2020, many seafarers have been stranded on their ships, well beyond their initial labour contracts. Notwithstanding repeated calls by the United Nations, the shipping industry, and maritime unions to designate seafarers as "key workers" in all jurisdictions, many countries still do not allow crew change. While crew change is however generally possible in many ports, the number of people stranded at sea remains unacceptably high, which signals wide-spread breaches of the United Nations 2006 Maritime Labour Convention (MLC, 2006). This humanitarian crisis needs to be resolved soon, as its continuation risks eroding the hard-won Maritime Labour Convention.