THE head of the International Labour Organization on Monday described the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the world of work as "cataclysmic" and much worse than that of the 2008 financial crisis. Speaking at the opening of the ILO's two-week ministerial conference, director-general Guy Ryder also warned of an uneven economic recovery after the pandemic, partly fed by inequities in vaccine distribution. "The impact has been devastating, cataclysmic," he said. "Taken as a whole this represents a world of work crisis four times as severe as the one triggered by the financial crisis of 2008-2009." The United Nations agency…