UNECE and ILO to address hardships of laid-off industrial workers in European transition economies

Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation
Prospekt Vernadskogo 82, Moscow
10.00 am, 26 November 2003

Geneva, 26 November 2003 - The on-going industrial restructuring in economies in transition has made redundant millions of industrial workers all across the region. While some of them manage to acquire new skills and obtain employment again, the vast majority struggle to find their place in the market economy with all the economic, social and political consequences. Given the sheer size of the problem, policy-makers in these countries are still searching for ways to assist redundant workers of non-viable enterprises and sectors undergoing restructuring, to maintain employment and incomes in decaying towns and regions, and to ensure sustainable production growth for the future. These and other pressing issues of industrial restructuring in economies in transition will be discussed at the Regional Forum on Social Aspects and Financing of Industrial Restructuring, to be held in Moscow on 26 and 27 November 2003. The Government of the Russian Federation is hosting the Forum.

In response to the aforementioned issues, the Regional Forum is co-organized by the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). It will focus, in particular, on economic and social problems encountered in the course of industrial restructuring in countries of the former USSR and Southeast Europe. This event will bring together representatives of governments, labour unions, the private sector and academic institutions from market and transition economies in Europe. The participants will try to identify best practices in handling painful and politically sensitive issues of unemployment and income loss in the process of restructuring non-competitive industries. In addition, they will address the regional experience with workers' retraining, their enhanced mobility, incentives for the creation of new companies, in particular SMEs, as well as with foreign and domestic investment for industrial restructuring. Such an approach could be of particular relevance for single industry towns and areas in transition countries, where thousands of people have lost jobs and incomes through enterprise downsizing and closures.

A special session at the Forum will discuss the key issue of domestic and foreign financing to cover the costs of industrial restructuring. Enterprise case studies are expected to be presented dealing with the role of foreign direct investment in restructuring, as well as major stumbling blocks to the effective participation of foreign investors.

Practical experience in developed and transition economies has proved that the success of industrial restructuring depends on the close collaboration of all stakeholders, in particular employers, trade unions, various levels of government and the public at large. The Regional Forum will reflect on the ways and means of reaching a desirable social consensus on the objectives, mechanisms and acceptable costs of industrial restructuring. The Forum's results should contribute to a better industrial restructuring policy formulation and to its implementation in concerned transition economies.

The key panellists of the Forum are:

Mr. Georgi Kleiner, Deputy Director, Central Economics and Mathematics Institute, Academy of Sciences, Russian Federation
Mr. Albert Zenner, Manager Human Resources, ARBED-ARCELOR, Luxembourg
Mr. Antonio Parenti, First Secretary, European Commission Delegation, European Commission
Ms. Andrea Broughton, Editor, European Industrial Relations Review, United Kingdom
Mr. Vladimir Popov, Director, "Sotsugol'" State Enterprise, Russian Federation
Mr. Pierre Danthony, Human resources consultant, France
Ms. Alena Vankevich, Professor, Vitebsk State Technological University, Russian Federation
Mr. Stanislav Sokolenko, Chairman of the Board, Ukrimpex JSC, Ukraine
Mr. Jaromir Gottvald, Associate Professor, Technical University of Ostrava, Czech Republic
Ms. Ludmila Istomina, Programme Officer, UNDP Belarus
Ms. Taisia Eletskikh, Project Manager, UNDP Belarus

For more information please contact:

Mr. Iouri Adjoubei
Industrial Restructuring, Energy and Enterprise Development Division
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE)
Palais des Nations, room 429-2
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland

Telephone: +41(0)22 917 24 88 / 19 64
Telefax: +41(0)22 917 01 78 or 917 00 37
E-mail: [email protected]
Web site: http://www.unece.org/ie/wp8/nov.htm

Ref: ECE/IREEDD/03/N02