Hedva Sarfati is an economist and political scientist. She is an analyst of comparative employment, social protection and labour relations policies and practice.

She is currently consultant to the Geneva-based International Social Security Association, coordinating an international research project on the Interactions between Labour Market Shifts and Social Protection Reforms (ISSA/LMSP).

She contributes feature articles to the US work and employment website BraveNewWorkWorld (BNWW) on employment and industrial relations in the new European economy.

She is a member of the International Industrial Relations Association and a member of the Editorial Board of the quarterly publication Industrial Relations, published by the Department of Industrial Relations of the Laval University, Quebec, Canada. She also serves on the editorial board of the labour page, "Work and Representation" of the new US Transatlantic Information Exchange Service (TIESNET).

Prior to retiring (1997), she was a high official at the International Labour Office (ILO, Geneva Switzerland) where she occupied several senior posts including:

Director, Industrial Relations and Labour Administration Department, where she launched, in 1997, an international comparative research project dealing with the impact of labour market flexibility on labour legislation and on collective bargaining, as well as a comparative international survey of legislative provisions concerning termination (dismissals). She headed the ILO Secretariat of the International Labour Conference Committee which discussed and adopted an international Convention and Recommendation on Private Employment Agencies (1997). Chief of the Salaried Employees and Professional Workers Branch, responsible for organizing periodical international tripartite meetings for the social partners (governments, employers’ organizations and trade unions) to discuss developments in employment, conditions of work and labour relations policies and practice in the broad services sector (public administration, health, education, public utilities, telecommunications and postal services, financial services, retailing, the media and performing arts). Particular focus in this context was placed on public sector reform, the impact of structural adjustment programmes, deregulation, privatization, globalization, and the impact on the workforce of the introduction of information and communication technologies.

Developed jointly with the ILO’s International Training Centre in Turin and the International Institute of Public Administration (IIAP-France) a special three-year action-oriented training programme for public service human resource managers, particularly in the context of structural adjustment for the African region and for countries in transition in Central and Eastern Europe.

Participated in the formulation and monitoring of technical cooperation projects related to public service reform (Niger, Benin, Mauritius, South Africa, Guinée, Mali, China, Hungary, Haiti).

Chief Editor of the quarterly Social and Labour Bulletin - published by the ILO in English French and Spanish, reviewing world wide trends and developments in the area of employment and social policy, including labour legislation, employment and social security policies, incomes policy and pay, industrial relations, equality of opportunity, conditions of work, occupational safety and health and migration.

Educational background: Hedva Sarfati is a graduate in political science of the Graduate Institute of International Studies, University of Geneva. She is also a graduate of the Interpreters’ School of the same University.

Selected list of publications:

Hedva Sarfati and Giuliano Bonoli (Eds.) (2002), Labour Market and Social Protection Reforms in International Perspective: Parallel or converging tracks? Ashgate, Abingdon, 518 pages, hardback (ISBN 0 7546 1926 5); Paperback (ISBN0 7546 1927 3)

Flexibilité et création d’emplois: un défi pour le dialogue social en Europe, (Paris, L’Harmattan, 1999). "Face au chômage persistant en Europe — quel rôle jouent la flexibilité du marché du travail et le dialogue social?", Humanisme et entreprise (Neuilly-sur-Seine), no. 238, Dec. 1999, Cahiers du Centre d’études et de recherche (France).

Labour market flexibility vs. Jobs: A challenge for social dialogue in Europe Communication to the 11^th World Congress of the International Association of Industrial Relations (22-26 September 1998, Bologna, Italy), published by the the Graduate Programme on Human Resources Management and Employment Relations, Institute of Business Administration (IAE), Paris University, (available on the GREGOR website : http://www.univ-paris1.fr/GREGOR/). The European job crisis and the role of labour market flexibility and social dialogue (BNWW, 1999) The 35-hour week legislation hotly debated in France (BNWW, 1999) "

Remuneration of Nurses in Islamic Countries: An Economic Factor in a Social Context", in Nancy Bryant (Ed.) : Nurses in Islamic countries, (Oxford University Press, forthcoming in 2000).

"Negotiating trade-offs between jobs and labour market flexibility in the European Union" in: The International Journal of comparative Labour Law and Industrial Relations (Kluwer, the Netherlands),Vol. 14, No. 4, Winter 1998.

"Professional unions around the world", in EPE Journal of the Engineers’ and Managers’ Association (Chertsey, Surrey), vol. 77, No. 1, Jan. 1995.

"Global information processing: Offshore programming", 2^nd Euro-FIET information technology Forum, Nice, Oct. 1993.

"Breaking the glass-ceiling for women in executive jobs" (Briser le plafond de verre", in French) , Special Issue for the 8^th of March in the monthly French review of the CFDT union for engineers and professionals CFDT-CADRES (Paris), March 1993.

Union representation in the public service and international labour standards", in IISA- Institut international des Sciences administratives : La représentation du personnel: Pour quoi faire, Acts of the XIIIth Symposium of the International Public Service Association (AIFP, Avignon, July 1990).

Differentiated forms of Employment – Issues and Prospects", EC seminar on Women and the Completion of the internal market – Committee on Atypical Employment (Dublin, February 1990). Hedva Sarfati and Margaret Cove:

New Technologies: Skills "mismatch" and the challenges ahead" in New Technology: International perspectives on Human Resources and Industrial Relations, Edited by Greg Bamber and Russel Lansburry, (Lonon, Unwin Hyman, 1989).

"The protection of the salaried creator – the role of the ILO" , Symposium of the French Association of Copyright Lawyers (1989).

"International cooperation in the area of personnel management – challenges and pitfalls" ("La coopération dans le domaine de la gestion du personnel: enjeux et ecueils"), in Revue française d’administration publique, April –June 1989. "

Public service – the political implications in the perspective of the international labour standards" (Fonction publique – fonction politique dans l’optique des normes internationales du travail"), published in French in the Acts of the 11^th Symposium of the International Association of the Public Service (Avignon, July,1988).

"Labour market flexibility: pressures for change", 2^nd European Congress of the International Industrial Relations Association (IIRA), (Tel-Aviv, Dec. 1987). Hedva Sarfati and Catherine Kobrin (Eds).: Labour Market Flexibility: A comparative anthology, Gower Publishing Company (Aldershot, UK, Gower Publishing Company ,1988).

Hedva Sarfati and Margaret Cove (Eds): Technological change: The tripartite response, 1982-86 (ILO, Geneva, 1985) Hedva Sarfati and Jacques Monat (Eds): Workers’ participation: A voice in decisions, 1981-85, (Geneva , ILO, 1986). ILO:

Collective bargaining: A response to the recession in industrialised market economy countries, Hedva Sarfati (Ed.), (Geneva,1984). ILO: New technologies: Their impact on employment and the working environment, Hedva Sarfati (Ed.), (Geneva,1982).

The European job crisis and the role of labour market flexibility and social dialogue

Policy implications of the Labour Market and Social Protection Nexus

The 35-hour week legislation
hotly debated in France

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