1.What is the International Labour Organization (ILO)?

UNIT 1.

UNIONS AND THE INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION

1. What is the International Labour Organization (ILO)?

The ILO is a specialized agency of the United Nations. It is the only agency with a tripartite structure. The ILO has the power to develop international labor standards, monitor compliance, and to formulate policies and programs to promote decent work and social justice. The ILO was established in 1919, with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles that ended the First World War. The ILO’s creation is rooted in the concern over the miserable and intolerable conditions of the working class caused by industrialization.1 The basic intention of the founders was to create an entity with the power to produce international labor legislation of a protective nature. The Preamble to the ILO Constitution reflects the various ethical, political, social, and economic concerns regarding the inhumane working conditions of the working class and the conviction that universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice. Part XIII of the Treaty of Versailles contains the ILO Constitution. Article 427 recognizes “that the well-being, physical, moral and intellectual, of industrial wage-earners is of supreme international importance” and that “labour should not be regarded merely as a commodity or article of commerce.” The ILO has been a strategic ally of trade unions. It was the first organization to legally recognize trade union rights, including the right to freedom of association at the international level.2 The international instruments adopted at the International Labour Conference, the principles and decisions of the bodies of the ILO supervisory system, the technical assistance of the International Labour Office, and the political support of the ILO have had substantial influence on the promotion of protective labor legislation3

1. The ILO: what it is, what it does. 2005, pp.3-6. Available here: http://www.ilo.ch/global/about-the-ilo/ WCMS_082364/lang--en/index.htm. 2. Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. General Survey on Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining. 1994, paragraph 5. 3. VILLASMIL PRIETO, Humberto. Una visión “americana” del centenario de la OIT: aproximación a la comprensión de una relación histórica. ILO: 2019. En: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---americas/---ro-lima/--sro-santiago/documents/publication/wcms_736787.pdf

and respect for the human rights claimed by trade unions.4 Currently, the ILO represents the concerns of 187 countries from every region and kind of development on the planet, and its activity includes the promotion of decent work for all people, independent of their wage-earning status or any other specificities or identities. In a very different context from that which existed in 1919, the ILO must now affirm its political importance and its potential to meet the new and diverse challenges arising from a globalization dominated by the hegemony of financial capital and transnational corporations, namely global production chains, financial speculation in the ‘real economy’, digital transformations, and now the fallout of the Covid-19 pandemic. In the context of unequal forces, trade union participation in the ILO is fundamental in order to influence its agenda, defend its normative and control system, promote the adoption of new international standards and the application of existing ones, and recall that the ILO exists to guarantee fair working conditions and to promote social justice. The international trade union movement, fully aware of these concerns and challenges, is politically and institutionally committed to promoting trade union participation in the ILO. Public Services International (PSI) reaffirms this programmatic commitment with its affiliates worldwide in the document “Putting people over profit: PSI priorities 2018-2022”,5 adopted at its 30th World Congress (Geneva, 2017).

4. The ILO played a critical role in accepting complaints filed by trade unions regarding serious human rights violations perpetrated by dictatorships in the region, such as Pinochet’s dictatorship and the dictatorship of the Military Junta led by Videla. An emblematic example was the Resolution on Human and Trade Union Rights in Chile. Available here: https://www.ilo.org/public/libdoc/ilo/P/09648/09648(1974-57.pdf 5. Putting people over profit: PSI priorities 2018-2022

PUTTING PEOPLE OVER PROFIT: PSI PRIORITIES 2018-2022 Public Services International, 30th World Congress (Geneva, 2017)

Use the tools available at the ILO to fight against violations of labour and trade union rights. ● Defend the ILO against attacks on the legitimacy of its mechanisms.

Recognize the ILO’s tripartite structure and its authority as the only legitimate international body with a mandate to address labour issues.

Continue to coordinate and support the actions of PSI affiliates at the

International Labour Conference, focusing on standard setting and the

Committee on Freedom of Association.

Give priority to work on Conventions 151 on Labour Relations (Public

Service) and 154 on the promotion of collective bargaining.

Monitor the implementation of Conventions 100 on Equal Remuneration, 111 on Discrimination, 156 on Workers with Family Responsibilities, and 183 on Maternity Protection and continue to fight for equal opportunities for all and the elimination of discrimination. ● Defend the right to strike at the ILO.

Build capacity at the regional level to ensure that member organizations are well prepared to support this work.

The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) has expressed this commitment in the Declaration “Building Workers’ Power: Change the Rules”,6 adopted at its 4th World Congress (Copenhagen, 2018), which stresses the importance of “reinforc[ing] the unique specificity of the ILO, defined by its tripartite governance structure and normative mandate, including its supervisory system.” At the regional level, the Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA) has stressed the importance of trade union participation in the ILO in “Trade unionism of the Americas in the ILO”,7 adopted at its 3rd Congress (São Paulo, 2016), where it reaffirmed the need to “contribute to the deepening of trade union advocacy on the ILO agenda, reaffirming a proactive stance in defense of its standards and control system and a partnership strategy.” National trade union centers and confederations around the world are actively involved in the ILO's

6. Building Workers’ Power: Change the Rules 7. https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---ed_dialogue/---actrav/documents/genericdocument/wcms_570475. pdf