Economic and Social Policy Course

This course is designed to provide trade unions in the Asia Pacific with the necessary appreciation and understanding of current realities, trends, and mounting challenges in digital transformation as COVID continues to wreak havoc on economies, labour markets, trade union activities and campaigns. It demonstrated how other countries and tripartite sectors, together and separately, are trying to cope with the demands of digital transformation through collective bargaining and social dialogue. It looked at international labour standards (ILS), ILO tools and other instruments, which offer principles and policies to develop workable responses to transitions required by digital transformation. The course examined trade union good practices in promoting decent work as they navigate digital transformation and its implications on workers and rights, and how these can be adapted and replicated in the region. OBJECTIVES The five-week online course aimed to strengthen the role and capacities of trade unions in influencing economic and social policies in-country and in the region towards building forward better. By completing the elements of the training programme, participants were expected to: • analyse the weaknesses and policy deficits of emerging industrial relations practices conditioned by responses to the pandemic; • be able to use ILS, ILO tools and other instruments to develop studied policy recommendations and demands towards a coherent regulatory framework for digital labour governance and administration, which trade unions can bring in tripartite and bipartite discussions and public policy debates at the national, sectoral levels and enterprise levels; • share, learn from, and replicate successful global, regional, national, sectoral and enterprise trade union initiatives and strategies in promoting decent work and inclusive growth through digital transformation; and • come up with priority trade union strategies and actions to contribute to the achievement of SDG8 and deal with the challenges in digital transformation and transitions, including in union operations, capacity-development activities, union services, and union-to union networking for the promotion of decent work for workers. CONTENT The course covered five (5) learning modules: Module1: Economies, labour markets, industrial relations, and COVID-19; Module 2. Trends and Challenges in Industrial Relations with COVID-19; Module 3: The SDG 8 and the New Future of Work: Building Forward Better; Module 4: Transitioning to the Post-COVID 19 Normal; and Module 5: Concluding Activities and Action Planning. The course consisted of an estimated 40 hours of synchronous and asynchronous online learning, which included 21 tasks such as participation in live teach-ins (webinars), completion of self-guided learning modules, online interaction and collaboration, and submission of assignments, and ‘application of learning plans’, among others. ECAMPUS The activity was delivered via the E-campus, the education platform of the International Training Centre of the ILO. The platform was used for the distribution of course information, training material, learning tasks, exchanges of good practices and experiences, feedback and multimedia content.