Labor obligations: record labor obligations included in contracts in new social object

[odscjen]

Background

This issue relates to the following CoST IDS elements proposed in the CoST IDS/OC4IDS review:

Labour obligations

Labour obligations

Module: Social
Indicator: Labour compliance

Disclosure format

Disclose labour obligations in the construction contract. This can include, without limitation, the following:

• Minimum wage
• Overtime
• Prohibition of forced labour
• Prohibition of child labour
• Equal opportunity
• Non-discrimination
• Freedom of association
• Grievance mechanism
• Working at height
• Underground work
• Handling of materials/equipment
• Monitoring of accidents
• Traffic management
• Accommodation
• Protective equipment
• Others (explain)

Contracting process level: Publish a summary of the labor obligations:

1. For each labor obligation in the contract, add a code from the laborObligations codelist to the.summary.social.laborObligations.obligations array.
2. Optionally, add a further explanation of the labor obligations to .summary.social.laborObligations.description. Publish the bidding documents that specify labor obligations: Add a document to .summary.documents, set its .id incrementally, set its .documentType to ‘biddingDocuments’ and set its .url to the URL at which the documents are available. Publish the signed contract that includes labor obligations: Add a document to .summary.documents, set its .id incrementally, set its .documentType to ‘contractSigned’ and set its .url to the URL at which the signed contract that includes labor obligations is accessible.

Proposal

Create an laborObligations object within the new social object (see overarching issue). This shall include an obligations array of codes taken from the open ‘laborObligations’ codelist, and a description field.

Research is still required to fully define the codelist

Add the following fields and objects:

Path	Title	Description	Type (format)	Codelist
social.laborObligations	Labor obligations	Information about labor obligations stipulated in the construction contract(s).	object	-
laborObligations.obligations	Obligations	The labor obligations stipulated in the construction contract(s), using the open laborObligations codelist.	array of strings	laborObligations
laborObligations.description	Description	A short description of the labor obligations	string	-

Add the following codes:

Codelist	Code	Title	Description
laborObligations	minimumWage	Minimum wage	TBD
laborObligations	overtime	Overtime	TBD
laborObligations	prohibitionForcedLabor	Prohibition of forced labor	TBD
laborObligations	prohibitionChildLabor	Prohibition of child labor	TBD
laborObligations	equalOpportunities	Equal opportunities	TBD
laborObligations	nondiscrimination	Non-discrimination	TBD
laborObligations	grievanceMechanism	Grievance mechanism	TBD
laborObligations	workingAtHeight	Working at height	TBD
laborObligations	undergroundWork	Underground work	TBD
laborObligations	handling	Handling of materials/equipment	TBD
laborObligations	accidentMonitoring	Monitoring of accidents	TBD
laborObligations	trafficManagement	Traffic management	TBD
laborObligations	accommodation	Accommodation	TBD
laborObligations	protectivePersonalEquipment	Protective personal equipment	TBD

Example

{ 
 "contractingProcesses": [ 
   { 
 	"id": "1", 
 	"summary": { 
   	"social": { 
     	"laborObligations": { 
       	"obligations": [ 
         	"minimumWage", 
         	"paidOvertime" 
       	], 
       	"description": "The contract's labor obligations include a minimum wage of $20 per hour and an overtime limit of 10 hours per week." 
     	} 
   	} 
     } 
   }
 ]
}

Sources

• SuRE - Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure
• World Bank Environmental and Social framework
• Equator principles - specifically for Grievance mechanisms
• GRESB 2023 Infrastructure Asset Standard and Reference Guide

cc @EvelynDinora

[jpmckinney]

Maybe:

• forcedLaborProhibition
• childLaborProhibition
• materialsEquipmentHandling

Why was paid overtime changed to just overtime?

[odscjen]

Why was paid overtime changed to just overtime?

Because I'd changed it from overtime to paid overtime initially and realised that it wasn't clear that this was what was intended when this code was originally suggested by CoST. It could have also been meant to reflect agreements around limiting overtime hours, e.g. in the SuRe standard Criterion S2.7 Working Hours and Leave asks for evidence that there is a:

Relevant clause in the employment policy detailing working hours and weekly rest (working hours not exceeding 48 hours a week on a regular basis, and overtime limited to 12 hours a week on a voluntary basis).

@EvelynDinora was the overtime point relating to limiting hours or ensuring they are paid?

[EvelynDinora]

@odscjen It is ensuring they are paid, but both are important to ensure good practice in working conditions

[odscjen]

Based on the previous comments and further research suggesting the following codelists with descriptions. These descriptions still need altered to ensure they use non-normative language.

Codelist	Code	Title	Description
laborObligations	minimumWage	Minimum wage	A minimum wage that an employer must pay their labor force for work performed, which cannot be reduced by collective or individual agreements or contracts.
laborObligations	paidOvertime	Paid overtime	Agreement that hours worked in addition to regular working hours will be paid at an specified level.
laborObligations	weeklyRestProtection	Weekly rest protection	Regular working hours and voluntary overtime are both capped to protect a minimum level of weekly rest.
laborObligations	forcedLaborProhibition	Prohibition of forced labor	The project shall not resort to any form of forced labor and will comply with all applicable national and international laws regarding forced or compulsory labor.
laborObligations	childLaborProhibition	Prohibition of child labor	The project shall not resort to any form of child labor and will comply with all applicable national and international laws regarding employment of minors.
laborObligations	equalOpportunities	Equal opportunities	Employment opportunities will not be based on personal characteristics unrelated to job requirements.
laborObligations	nondiscrimination	Non-discrimination	The project will not discriminate against any employees with respect to any aspects of employment, such as hiring, wages, access to training, job assignment, promotion, or termination of employment.
laborObligations	grievanceMechanism	Grievance mechanism	The project will provide accessible and transparent grievance mechanisms to enable all workers to raise workplace concerns.
laborObligations	workingAtHeight	Working at height	Adequate fall prevention and protection measures will be implemented wherever workers are expected to work at height.
laborObligations	undergroundWork	Underground work	The project will provide adequate occupational health and safety equipment, information and services appropriate for underground work in compliance with the Safety and Health in Mines Convention, 1995. The project will provide adequate occupational health and safety equipment, information and services appropriate for underground and excavation work such as drilling, blasting, rock bolting and soft soil work.
laborObligations	materialsEquipmentHandling	Handling of materials/equipment	The project will ensure that all workers engaged in handling of materials or equipment as part of their employment will receive at no cost to themselves adequate training and appropriate protective equipment.
laborObligations	accidentMonitoring	Monitoring of accidents	The project commits to monitor, document and report on all occupational accidents, diseases and incidents.
laborObligations	trafficManagement	Traffic management	The project will adopt road safety initiatives proportional to its scope and nature that are protective of project workers and other road users.
laborObligations	accommodation	Accommodation	The project will provide accommodation services to workers that accommodate their physical, social and cultural needs and protect and promote their health, safety and well-being.
laborObligations	protectivePersonalEquipment	Protective personal equipment	The project will provide access to, training in, and maintenance of appropriate personal protective equipment at no additional cost to its workers.

Sources

• minimumWage ILO
• Forced labor and child labor prohibitions ( S2.4), weeklyRestProtection (S2.7) SuRe
• equal opportunities, non-discrimination, materials equipment handling, accident monitoring, accommodation The World Bank Environmental and Social Standards - ESS2 Labor and Working Conditions
• grievance mechanisms The World Bank Environmental and Social Standards - ESS2 Labor and Working Conditions and SuRe criterion S2.6 Employee Grievance Mechanism
• working underground ILO guide to international labour standards convention no. 176
• traffic management (section 3.4), PPE, working at height (section 2.3) IFC general EHS guidelines

Discussion

• The only mention I could find of specifics relating to working underground was specifically related to Mines. @EvelynDinora , @mgraca-prado is there some other type of underground work that should be covered here?

[mgraca-prado]

Hi Duncan, @duncandewhurst
The reference to underground work aims at also including broad excavation works such as drilling, blasting,rock bolting or soft soil work. Maybe we could leave the definition a bit wide than mining, What do you think?

Source:
https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/underground-work

https://www.labor.nc.gov/underground-construction#:~:text=Underground%20construction%20refers%20to%20the,electrical%20transmission%20and%20distribution%20lines.

[duncandewhurst]

That sounds good to me, I think that we can replace the reference to the mines convention with that clarification:

The project will provide adequate occupational health and safety equipment, information and services appropriate for underground and excavation work such as drilling, blasting, rock bolting and soft soil work.

[odscjen]

Thanks @mgraca-prado I've updated the table in #404 (comment) with Duncan's suggestion based on your clarification.

@mgraca-prado @jpmckinney @EvelynDinora any objections or clarifications to the rest of the list or can we move this into the Agreed column?

[jpmckinney]

LGTM. Just make sure to use non-normative words instead of shall, must, etc. in the code descriptions when making the PR. Most codes just use "will", instead.

[EvelynDinora]

@odscjen Agree with James, and no objections from our side.

[odscjen]

Great, thanks both, I'll move this to Agreed now and add a note to the proposal to update the descriptions with non-normative language as part of the PR