Mining Expert Comments on the Application of ILO Conventions on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining

This paper explains how text mining was used within the context of a research project on social dialogue regimes, jointly undertaken by the University of Geneva, the University of Lyon 2 and the International Institute of Labour Studies of the International Labour Organisation (ILO). The research project, which was made possible through the generous support of the Geneva International Academic Network Foundation (GIAN), is seeking to provide a better understanding of the structural determinants (e.g., economic, social, cultural and institutional), as well as the socio-economic outcomes of “social dialogue regimes.” An important part of the research is based on the analysis of the reports of the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations (CEACR). The CEACR is one of the main bodies within the ILO supervisory system. It is responsible for supervising the application by member States of ILO Conventions and recommendations. Its observations concerning the progress made by members States in the implementation of ratified ILO Conventions are published in its reports. Text mining was used for the purpose of extracting useful information from these reports in semi-automatic way. This paper discusses the text mining approach that was followed, the different steps of the mining process and presents a synthetic analysis of the results obtained.