International Labour Office/ International Labour Organization Essay ⋆ Business Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the United Nations (UN) specialized agency that seeks “to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue in handling work-related issues.” It was created at the Peace Conference on January 25, 1919, at Versailles, and in May 2008 the ILO counted 181 member states. Since its creation, the ILO has been the single most influential force—both operational and scholarly—in the international world pressuring governments to take a more humane posture on labor.

The ILO has a unique arrangement within the UN system. It has a “tripartite” format in which representatives of governments, employers, and workers collectively discuss and shape policies and programs at the international level, incorporating a multilevel knowledge about employment and work. This tripartisim is encouraged within ILO’s member states by promoting social dialogue. The ILO formulates international labor standards in the form of conventions and recommendations setting the standards for labor rights: freedom of association, the right to organize, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labor, equality of opportunity and treatment, and other standards addressing work-related issues.

The ILO has four strategic objectives:

(1) promote and realise standards and fundamental principles and rights at work; (2) create greater opportunities for women and men to secure decent employment and income; (3) enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all; and (4) strengthen tripartism and social dialogue.

The main organs of the ILO are the International Labour Conference, the Governing Body, and the International Labour Office, headed by a director general. The national delegations of the ILO member states meet every year in June at the International Labour Conference in the organization’s headquarters in Geneva. Each delegation is composed of two government representatives, an employer representative and a worker representative. Also, alternates and technical advisers generally appointed by the cabinet ministers assist government representatives. Consensus in the national delegations is not required, and each representative has one independent vote. Employers and workers are free to express their views and the vote reflects the positions of their organizations. The Conference is the ILO’s policy-making and legislative body. It is also an annual space for the discussion of labor and social issues, and it is within the Conference that international labor standards are established and adopted.

The Governing Body is a tripartite body composed of 56 voting members—28 government members, 14 employer members, and 14 worker members. It is the executive council of the ILO and is elected every three years at the Conference, taking into account geographical distribution. The Governing Body generally meets three times a year. Among its functions are the supervision and application of international labor standards; the design of the agenda for the annual Conference and other ILO meetings; the establishment of the budget to be approved by the Conference; monitoring of the decisions taken at the Conference; and deciding on actions to be taken. The Governing Body also has the function of appointing the director general and directing the activities of the International Labour Office.

The International Labour Office, located in the headquarters, is the permanent secretariat of the ILO, and it is the focal point for the organization’s overall activities. It prepares the background material for the specialized meetings of the organization and the conferences. It also engages in research and education activities, recruits technical cooperation experts, collects information and statistics relevant to the world of work, issues a broad range of specialized publications (studies, reports, and periodicals), provides the secretariat for the conferences, and assists employers, workers’ organizations, and government departments in labor and social matters.

The International Labour Office employs around 1,900 officials at the Geneva headquarters. It also engages with 600 experts undertaking missions of technical cooperation around the world.

The director general is the head of International Labour Office. Since its creation, the ILO has had nine directors general: Albert Thomas, France, 1919– 32; Harold Butler, United Kingdom, 1932–38; John G. Winant, United States, 1939–41; Edward J. Phelan, Ireland, 1941–48; David A. Morse, United States, 1948–70; Wilfred Jenks, United Kingdom, 1970–73; Francis Blanchard, France, 1973–89; Michel Hansenne, Belgium, 1989–99; Juan Somavia, Chile, 1999 to present.

The ILO also has regional offices located in Abidjan, Bangkok, Beirut, Lima, and Geneva, and they are supported by 40 ILO offices in other countries. The ILO also holds sectoral meetings and committees in order to facilitate views on the problems faced in different economic sectors and explore specific solutions within them. There are 22 sectoral committees in industry, maritime and transport, and public and private services.

Bibliography:

Drusilla K. Brown and Robert M. Stern, The WTO and Labour and Employment. Critical Perspectives on the Global Trading System and the WTO, 14 (Edward Elgar, 2007);
International Labour Office, International Labour Standards: A Workers’ Education Manual (1998);
International Labour Organisation (ILO), “About the ILO” (2008);
ILO, The ILO at a glance (2007);
Everett M. Kasalow, “The Comparative Labour Field,” Bulletin of the International Institute of Labor Studies (v.5, 1968);
Bruce E. Kaufman, The Global Evolution of Industrial Relations: Events, Ideas and the IIRA (International Labour Office, 2004);
Tsuyoshi Kawakami and Kazutaka Kogi, “Ergonomics Support for Local Initiative in Improving Safety and Health at Work: International Labour Organization Experiences in Industrially Developing Countries,” Ergonomics (v.48/5, 2005);
Daniel Roger Maul, “The International Labour Organization and the Struggle against Forced Labour from 1919 to the Present,” Labor History (v.48/4, 2007);
Guiseppe Nesi, Luca Nogler, and Marco Pertile, Child Labour in a Globalized World: A Legal Analysis of ILO Action (Ashgate, 2008);
Bala Subramaniam, “Work of the International Labour Organization (ILO) Concerning Security, Safety & Health in Ports,” Ports and Harbors (v.48/8, 2003).

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