The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has played an important role in the defence and advancement of workers’ rights globally at critical historical junctures – the Great Depression, decolonisation, the creation of Solidarność in Poland, the victory over apartheid in South Africa – and today in the building of an ethical and productive framework for a fair globalisation.
It was created in 1919, as part of the Treaty of Versailles [PDF 837KB] that ended World War I, to reflect the belief that universal and lasting peace can be accomplished only if it is based on social justice.
Early years
The ILO moved to Geneva in the summer of 1920, with France’s Albert Thomas as its first Director. Nine International Labour Conventions and 10 Recommendations were adopted in less than two years. These standards covered key issues, including:
- hours of work,
- unemployment,
- maternity protection,
- night work for women,
- minimum age,
and - night work for young persons.
A Committee of Experts was set up in 1926 to supervise the application of ILO standards. The Committee, which still exists today, is composed of independent jurists responsible for examining government reports and presenting each year to the Conference its own report on the implementation of ILO Conventions and Recommendations.
The Great Depression, with its resulting massive unemployment, soon confronted Britain’s Harold Butler, who succeeded Albert Thomas as Director in 1932. Realizing that handling labour issues also requires international cooperation, the United States became a Member of the ILO in 1934, although it continued to stay out of the League of Nations.
The American, John Winant, took over as head of the ILO in 1939 – just as the Second World War was imminent. He moved the ILO’s headquarters temporarily to Montreal, Canada, in May 1940 for reasons of safety.
His successor, Ireland’s Edward Phelan, had helped to write the 1919 Constitution and played an important role once again during the Philadelphia meeting of the International Labour Conference, in the midst of the Second World War.
Government delegates, employers and workers from 41 countries adopted the Declaration of Philadelphia as an annex to the ILO Constitution. The Declaration still constitutes the Charter of the aims and objectives of the ILO. The Declaration sets out the key principles for the ILO’s work after the end of World War II. These include that “labour is not a commodity”, and that “all human beings, irrespective of race, creed or sex, have the right to pursue both their material well-being and their spiritual development in conditions of freedom and dignity, of economic security and equal opportunity“.
Going global
In 1946, the ILO became a specialized agency of the newly formed United Nations.
America’s David Morse was Director-General from 1948-1970, when the number of Member States doubled and the Organization took on its universal character. Industrialized countries became a minority among developing countries, the budget grew five-fold and the number of officials quadrupled.
The ILO established the Geneva-based International Institute for Labour Studies in 1960 and the International Training Centre in Turin in 1965. The Organization won the Nobel Peace Prize on its 50th anniversary in 1969.
Under Britain’s Wilfred Jenks, Director-General from 1970-73, the ILO advanced further in the development of standards and mechanisms for supervising their application, particularly the promotion of freedom of association and the right to organize.
His successor, Francis Blanchard of France, expanded ILO’s technical cooperation with developing countries. The ILO played a major role in the emancipation of Poland from dictatorship by giving its full support to the legitimacy of the Solidarnosc Union, based on respect for Convention No. 87 on freedom of association, which Poland had ratified in 1957.
Belgium’s Michel Hansenne succeeded him in 1989 and guided the ILO into the post-Cold War period, emphasizing the importance of placing social justice at the heart of international economic and social policies. He also set the ILO on a course of decentralization of activities and resources away from the Geneva headquarters.
In March 1999, Juan Somavia of Chile took over as Director-General. He emphasized the importance of making decent work a strategic international goal and promoting a fair globalization. He also underlined work as an instrument of poverty alleviation and the ILO’s role in helping to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, including cutting world poverty in half by 2015. Under Somavia, the ILO established the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, which published a major report responding to the needs of people as they cope with the unprecedented changes that globalization has brought to societies.
In May 2012, Guy Ryder (UK) was elected as the tenth Director-General of the ILO. He was re-elected to his second five-year term in November 2016. Ryder has emphasised that the future of work is not predetermined: Decent work for all is possible but societies have to make it happen. It is precisely with this imperative that the ILO established its Global Commission on the Future of Work as part of its initiative to mark its centenary in 2019.
