The International Labour Organization's tripartite system and effectiveness

ILO

International Labour Organization

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the tripartite UN agency that brings together governments, employers, and workers of its member states in common action to promote decent work throughout the world. Its main aims are to promote rights at work, encourage decent employment opportunities, enhance social protection and strengthen dialogue in handling work-related issues. (International Labour Organization)

The ILO was founded in 1919 to pursue a vision based on the premise that universal, lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon decent treatment of working people. The ILO became the first specialized agency of the UN in 1946. (International Labour Organization)

These ILO standards take the form of international labour Conventions and Recommendations. ILO Conventions are international treaties, subject to ratification by ILO member States. Recommendations are non-binding instruments - often dealing with the same subjects as Conventions - which set out guidelines orienting national policy and action. Both forms are intended to have a concrete impact on working conditions and practices around of the world. Whether or not a country has ratified a particular Convention, the standards provide guidance for the operation of national labour institutions and mechanisms, and good labour and employment practices. (ILO Organization: Office of Communication)

Let there be no doubt that there is much controversy over the ILO's role in setting standards and how effective their system is in the current day. We will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of this organization and determine in the end how truly effective it is in it's current format. We will also lay out a few changes, as seen by the "experts" that may make ILO even more effective.

Strengths of ILO as a Global Standard-setting Body

Tripartism

Basic to the operations of the International Labor Organization (ILO) is tripartism -- the process by which workers, employers, and governments contribute to the setting of workplace standards and the protection of workers' rights worldwide. This concept, unique among international organizations, is founded in evidence that voluntary interaction and dialogue among representatives of the various parties is vital for social and economic stability and progress, while being consonant with democratic ideals. (Simpson)

There is no doubt that tripartism is the real strength of the ILO. This tripartism permeates the whole organization, including its voting rules. Under the ILO constitution each member state can send four delegates to meetings of the International Labour Conference, two from government, one from employers and the other from workers. Each has one vote. This applies to the ILO committee structure as well, where most of the work is done. (John Braithwaite, Peter Drahos)

The Conventions and Recommendations are a vivid example of tripartite deliberations, resulting in the adoption of compromise instruments that contain solid obligations but that are, at the same time, sufficiently flexible as to be acceptable to the majority of countries. (Simpson, the ILO and Tripartism: Some Reflections - Labour Standards Cooperation)

Independent organizations for workers and employers are the cornerstones of ILO's tripartite structure and its efforts to promote freedom of association. ILO's Committee on Freedom of Association, set up in 1950, has examined over 2,000 cases of violation of workers' and employers' freedom to organize themselves. It has a mandate to handle complaints in all ILO member States, including those that have not ratified freedom of association conventions. (International Labour Organization - 2)

The case of ILO, according to Braithwaite and Drahos, suggests that perhaps tripartism ought to become a constitutionalizing principle for international organizations.

Basic Labour Standard-setting Function

Though there is much dispute over the current effectivity of the ILO's labour-setting capability, it cannot be passed over for the good it has done over many decades of protecting workers worldwide. The basic process and the global standards it has established would have been nearly non-existent if not for the ILO.

The standard-setting function is the strength of the International Labour Organization. It draws its uniqueness from the constant search for a consensus between public authorities and the principal interested parties, namely employers and workers. The entire process of international labour standards, from their elaboration to the supervision of their application and their promotion is motivated by tripartism, which is a peaceful means of conducting work relations involving the full participation of employers and workers in the decisions which affect them. Governments and employers' and workers' organizations are thus partners in the framework of this unique international organization, the ILO, whose objective is to improve the lot of all people in their work. Standards are the principal means which it puts at their disposal for bringing this about. (ILO Bureau for Worker's Activities)

In June of each year, after considerable preparatory work, representatives of governments, and employers' and workers' organizations of all member countries meet in the International Labour Conference in Geneva, to adopt or revise those standards which will become international labour Conventions or Recommendations. These international instruments deal with people and their work. The Conventions are binding for countries which ratify them.

These standards are subject to constant supervision by the ILO. Each member country agrees to present periodically to the International Labour Office a report on the measures taken to apply, in law and in practice, the Conventions which it has ratified. The government reports are examined by the Committee of Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations, composed of some twenty independent, eminent figures in either the legal or social field and who are also specialists in labour matters. The Committee submits an annual report to the International Labour Conference, which is closely examined by a tripartite

Committee composed of government, employer and worker members. (ILO Bureau for Worker's Activities)

Weaknesses of ILO as a Global Standard-setting Body

Professor Guy Standing worked for the International Labour Organization (ILO) from 1975 to 2006. During that time he was director of labour market policies, coordinated technical work in eastern Europe following the collapse of the Berlin wall and was director of the ILO's Socio-Economic Security Program. In 1998-99, he served as a member of the transition team of the new Director General Juan Somavia. It would be fair to say that he knows the ILO inside out. Now Professor of Economic Security at the University of Bath in the UK, he is well placed to reflect on the organization's potential and failings. (Standing)

Focus of the ILO

The roots of the ILO's current problems began in the 1970s, according to Standing, with the rise of economic philosophies that tended to view any kind of regulation as a 'market distortion'. It was not long before the ILO was seen as a symbol of an antiquated way of thinking. The U.S.A. actually pulled out from 1977 to 1980. This precipitated a crisis and ever since then, particularly after the fall of communism, the ILO has been struggling to redefine itself. (Standing)

The ILO still sets labour standards, of course," says Standing, "but it made a historic mistake in putting its faith in a new Declaration in 1998 establishing core standards to which all its members had to subscribe. Not bad, you might think. The problem was that this tended to marginalize all the other Conventions and it was not legally binding. Meanwhile, the ILO has tried to take on a role of a development agency, providing technical assistance to governments, and it has tried to become a global provider of knowledge and expertise. It has lost its focus, and cannot stretch to all three roles successfully. The roles are all subject to internal pressures. This has resulted in a gradual shift towards vague terms and a reluctance to deal in objective measurement. There's a tacit understanding that these things just lead to trouble." (Standing)

Vague Strategy

Standing says that in 1999, the ILO adopted the vague notion of "social dialogue," a term it borrowed from the OECD. Taking shelter behind vagueness was becoming a general strategy. Another example was the Declaration in 1998, which enshrined "core" labour standards. These are all worthy standards: banning forced labour, gender discrimination, the worst forms of child labour, and calling for an end to restrictions on the freedom of association. However they are matters of common and civil law, rather than part a global strategy or progressive agenda.

Again, it is all part of a drift towards imprecision and soft labour law," says Standing, "as opposed to binding regulation. Over recent decades the ILO has stopped addressing inequality and replaced this with calls for employment equity." (Standing)

Tripartism "Warping"

The tripartite structure is what gives the ILO its legitimacy on the global stage. It does not take much imagination to guess what would happen if these three groups started taking control of the key positions. Rather than a genuine discussion over fact-based policy, presented by competent authorities, we would soon have capture or deadlock. Sadly, this is what happened. Some of the key management positions have been filled by Employer or Worker reps, and this has ushered in a regime of horse-trading. The ILO is at an impasse. Just a time when the world needs effective global rules, the organization has allowed itself to become marginalized. It needs to be rescued, or something else created to fill a void. (Standing)

Role of the ILO

The failure to move from old-style labourism means that the ILO is not in any position to play a major role. Endless empty statements about decent jobs are no substitute for a really progressive strategy. Whisper it... But globalization is dead. Now is the time for real friends of workers across the world to work for a new strategy for equality and freedom. The New Unionism movement must embrace that strategy, for it is as important now as at any time in history that we have strong associations to represent all of us in our work and in our dealings with the state. (Standing)

Coalition Building

Some critics have cited as one of ILO's greatest shortcomings a longstanding resistance to coalition building with constituents outside of its tripartite focus (e.g., with a broader range of NGOs, such as consumer groups, religious institutions, media organizations, etc.). There is some indication that the ILO is improving in this respect as the International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor, which is based within the group, does involve a diversity of organizations representing more viewpoints than those found in the traditional tripartite construct. (Noah)

Observers emphasize improved coalition building with outside groups as essential for the ILO if the organization is going to play an important role within the debates on globalization. These commentators think it may be unrealistic for any single institution to represent the concerns of all workers within today's economies. (Noah)

Inability to Enforce Conventions

Still others emphasize the weakness of the ILO as an organization (e.g., it cannot impose trade sanctions on member States) as a shortcoming in its efforts to protect the rights of all stakeholders equally - i.e., including those of workers. These critics point to the fact that as the situation is for all other multilateral agreements, governments adopt ILO Conventions on a voluntary basis, and as of now, not all governments have adopted all Conventions or enforced them adequately. (Noah)

As a result of a perception of the ILO being weak and/or ineffectual, labor advocates and policy makers have increasingly attempted to incorporate labor provisions into NAFTA and the WTO. In 1997, the WTO finally addressed the link between trade and labor conditions but then officially handed over responsibility for the issues to the ILO. (Noah)

Problems with Tripartite Representation

The very strength of the ILO, the tripartite representation of interests, foreseen in the ILO ever since its foundation, faces serious problems where many - or sometimes even most - working people in the world are not to be found in the formal economy (where associations of workers and employers really exist) but rather in the informal economy. (Senghaas-Knobloch)

Failed States & Dictatorships

In addition to this ILO has the problem to face heterogeneous state structures, even of failed states, and of governments with a very low administrative capacity in the area of labour policy, and ILO has to cope with dictatorships. (Senghaas-Knobloch)

Vision

At its General Council meeting in Geneva on May 27, 2008 the International Organization of Employers (IOE)was presented with an "Employers' vision for the ILO" a statement which sets out the key employer policy priorities. In speaking at the presentation of the Statement, IOE President Ambassador Abraham Katz stressed that the key role of the private sector in terms of national economic and social development was now internationally recognized by all social actors and that this recognition reinforced the important role employers have in assisting the ILO to achieve its objectives.

To facilitate that participation however, the employers needed an ILO equipped and focused on the policies that impact on labour markets and workplaces in a globalizing world" he said.

The ILO has a comparative advantage in such policy areas and we need to help the ILO avoid the temptation of spreading itself too widely and in too many areas" he added. "This means an ILO that focuses on the strength of its unique tripartism, that promotes entrepreneurship and enterprise creation, the two means by which work can be created and sustained, and that helps workers be more employable and productive, through education, skills development and training. Productive participation in the labour market is key to alleviating poverty and social disadvantage" he stressed.

We face many challenges in the world of work today, but we are serious in our belief that an ILO that puts work back in the centre of its priorities is an ILO that can make the most positive contribution to the labour and social policy concerns we all have" he said. "We look forward to working with the ILO Director-General and his Office over the coming months in order to realize this vision in the work of the ILO and by doing so helping to improve the positive impact of the ILO on the lives of real people at work" he concluded.