Mr. Roberto Suárez Santos

Secretary-General
International Organisation of Employers


Roberto Suarez Santos was appointed Secretary-General of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) on 26 October 2018, having held the post of Deputy Secretary-General since December 2012. Prior to joining the IOE, Roberto was ILO Programme Director for the promotion of youth employment in the Maghreb region. He previously worked at the Spanish Confederation of Employer’s Organisations in areas ranging from comparative labour policies and labour relations to youth unemployment and social and employment policy. He was BUSINEESSEUROPE’s Vice President for Labour Affairs for several years. He also was Vice-President of Business at OECD’s Employment and Labour Affairs Committee, and a member of various follow-up committees for the European Social Fund and the EU Economic and Social Committee.  Roberto’s experience extends to academia, having served as associate professor of European Social Law at both the Universidad Complutense de Madrid and the Universidad Pontificia de Comillas in Spain.  Roberto is a lawyer with experience in European and international labour law, as well as international relations.  

IOE is the largest private sector network in the world. With 159 business and employer organisation members in 150 countries, IOE is the powerful balanced voice of business at the international level.  

Sessions


11:05 - 11:55 am EDT / 15:05 – 15:55 pm UTC / 17:05 – 17:55 pm CEST
Breakout Session B – Organized by ILO: Resilient and sustainable workplaces in light of the COVID-19 Pandemic through good governance and social dialogue

The session will address the impacts of COVID-19 on workers and businesses. It will ask participants to express their knowledge and views of what has worked well and what needs to be improved for a better governance of the crisis and be prepared for other potential threats to health and economic growth. The roundtable discussion will bring together representatives from the International Labour Organization, government, employers, workers, and a research institution to engage on a dialogue focused around following key questions:
- What type of action is required from all to better address the still on-going pandemic, how can we build better into the future we want, and what have we learned from this experience that we should not repeat?
- How will this influence the future of prevention?
- Where should we focus as a priority for being able to forecast and prepare for health and safety emergencies that can affect us all globally or in a given a region? What are the major challenges and obstacles that we need to consider?
- What advice would you give to our audience on how to build and make the best use of synergies between tripartite actors in diverse national environments? What are the most difficult obstacles for this to happen?

Speakers:
Mr. Andrew Gavrielatos, Executive Director, Community Engagement, SafeWork NSW and Chair, XXIII World Congress on Safety and Health at Work, Australia
Mr. Roberto Suárez Santos, Secretary-General, International Organisation of Employers, Switzerland
Mr. Owen Tudor, Deputy General Secretary, International Trade Union Confederation, Belgium

Panelists:
Ms. Salima Admi, Director of Labour, Ministry of Labour and Professional Integration, Morocco
Mr. Derrick Hynes, President and CEO of FETCO (Federally Regulated Employers – Transportation and Communications)
Ms. Tara Peel, National Representative, Health, Safety & Environment, Canadian Labour Congress, Canada
Dr. Elke Schneider, Senior Project Manager, European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, Spain
Dr. Youcef Ghellab, Head, Social Dialogue Unit, International Labour Organization

Moderator:
Mr. Joaquim Pintado Nunes, Chief, Labour Administration, Labour Inspection and Occupational Safety and Health Branch, International Labour Organization

Languages:
English, French, German, Spanish