Chapter 2 | Page 71 acceptability and quality are required for the right to work to be fully realised.125 The State is also obliged to take steps to make the right to work meaningful, and to use fiscal policy and financial incentives to create an environment conducive to this right.126 The ESCR Committee also identified the State’s obligation to implement policies to address unemployment127 and to adopt specific legislative measures which take into consideration issues such as a national monitoring mechanism for the employment strategy, numerical targets and time frames for implementation, national benchmarks, and the involvement and roles of the civil society and private sector.128 The right of everyone to the enjoyment of just and favourable conditions of work under Article 7 covers aspects of remuneration, safe and healthy working conditions, and equal opportunity for promotion, rest, leisure and reasonable limitation of working hours. The obligation for fair wages and equal remuneration should be based on a level that enables workers to have a reasonably decent living for themselves and their families.129 States must recognise these rights and take appropriate steps to safeguard their realisation. This effectively requires wages and other remunerations to be set in light of average cost of living in the country, and due consideration should be given to ensuring that wages exceed the poverty line. Trade union rights are included in both the ICESCR and ICPPR.130 The obligation to respect the individual right to form and join trade unions of one’s choice under Article 8 requires States to refrain from any action that would restrict this right, except as prescribed by law to protect the interests of national security or public order or for the protection of the rights and freedoms 125 Ibid., [6][12]. 126 Drzewicki, above n 123, 61. 127 CESCR General Comment No 18, E/C.12/GC/18, above n 124, [26]. 128 Ibid., [38]. 129 This is based on the assumption of a living wage, which allows the workers to meet their own basic needs and that of their family. 130 See for example, Manfred Nowak, UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: CCPR Commentary (Oxford University Press, Clarendon, 2005); Saul, Kinley and Mowbray, above n 7.