When discussing the
topic of international employment and workers rights the ILO has to be
mentioned as one of the major players – if the not the major player – in
developing labour rights at a global level. The role of the ILO could be described
as controversial by some, positive by others, and even negative according to
some views. But the one thing that all can agree upon is the importance of the
ILO in shaping labour rights. Here we will try to shed light on the ILO, its
mechanism and some of its important milestones.
The International Labour
Organization (ILO) is the international body mandated to promote labour rights
and regulations. Part of the United Nations organization, it was established in
1919 under the “premise that universal, lasting peace can be established only
if it is based on social justice”[i] . As per
Juan Somavia, ILO Director General, “The primary goal of the ILO today is to
promote opportunities for women and men to obtain decent and productive work,
in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity” [ii] and
that is translated into the four strategic objectives[iii] of the
ILO:
- To promote and realize standards and fundamental principles and rights at work
- To create greater opportunities for women and men to decent employment and income
- To enhance the coverage and effectiveness of social protection for all
- To strengthen tripartitism and social dialogue
Tripartite system:
The ILO is the only UN
organization with a tripartite structure. Governments, workers and employers
representatives of the 183 member states participate in dialogue to reach
agreements and solutions to labour issues. Governments have equal votes to
employers and workers together (2 government representatives, 1 workers’ representative
and 1 employers’ representative and each representative have one equal vote). Each
year the International Labour Conference meets where all 4 delegates from each member
state and conventions are drafted therein. So unlike other organs in the UN
body, the representation of each member state is the same regardless of the
size of its population or the state of economic development of states.
The International
Labour Conference adopts thus conventions which become law instruments (soft
law) and are considered as recommendations. Member states can then ratify
conventions but ratification is not mandatory. However, ratified conventions are treaty in international
law to the ratifying member states and they become binding in those states and
the ILO has the right to monitor implementation and compliance. Usually the
states work on integrating the conventions in their national laws after
ratification.
The International
Labour Conference also issues recommendations that are not subject to
ratification and do not have binding implications. However, as part of soft
law, recommendations and non-ratified conventions have a role in international
and national law depending on the legal system. With the evolution of
international law, soft law’s role is becoming stronger, but this is a
different topic.
Core labour rights:
The 1998 declaration
on fundamental principles and rights at work enshrined the work of ILO by
declaring what became to be known as the four fundamental labour rights (core
rights). Those are freedom of
association and collective bargaining, elimination
of forced labour, abolition of child
labour and elimination of discrimination
in employment. Although the ILO had
addressed many other issues and there are many other conventions (some
mentioned below), only those four remain the core rights[iv]. The importance
of the 1998 declaration goes beyond the states ratified the conventions and the
ILO monitoring and implementation mechanisms; the core labour rights are found
in most of multinationals’ code of conduct (along with health and safety
issues) which are expanded to their supply chain (ideally) and to their respective
countries.
Conventions[v]: below are some of the ILO 189 conventions[vi]
Fundamental conventions:
Health
and Safety conventions:
Governance
conventions:
Other
selected conventions:
Challenges:
To conclude this
introduction of the ILO we have to mention some of the criticism of the ILO and
the challenges facing labour international law and in turn the ILO[vii]. Trade liberalization
and the neoclassical economic policies reach labour regulation/deregulation
which incites some to claim that the World
Trade Organization shall be involved in labour regulation which we call
here the conflict with trade liberalization WTO/GATT and international labour
regulation. The decision making within
the ILO is criticised that it promotes lobbying
(between employers organization or workers organizations) and thus pushing
certain agendas and being subject to power conflicts. The history of ILO shows
the concern of some countries of lowering
acquired standards (the case of USA before joining ILO fearing to lose what
they had at the time in terms of labour rights and laws), such a concern will
always be present when trying to set standard at an international level where
state members have different levels of development (industrial, legislative)
and different social and economic systems. The new forms of employment relationship and the fast pace in which the
standard relationship is changing poses its challenges on the organ regulating
this relationship. The new communication technology only accelerates those
changes which create a need to address the new emerging issues. We can trace in
the conventions that the ILO has been trying to keep up with the changes (the Home
Work convention for example). The international law itself and the soft/hard law dichotomy in a system
that is not fully matured is another challenge; the ILO being operating within
that system.
[iii] ibid
[iv] For deeper
understanding and insights about the fundamental rights at work and their
development within the ILO look at Claire La Hovary, Les droits fondamentaux au
travail Origines, statut et impact en droit international, The Graduate Institute,
Geneva Publications, 2009
[v] From ILO website www.ilo.org, visit the website for a list and
details of all conventions and ratifications
[vi] As of July 2011
[vii] Here we only list some
challenges without discussing in details each one. Details are found in separate
posts on each related topic
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