International Labor Organization (Ilo)

International Labor Organization (ILO) The history of the International Labor Organization is an interesting one which actually points to the history of organized conflict within the world. At a micro level, the organization was formed in 1919 as part of the Treaty of Versailles which helped to end World War I.

The establishers of this organization were convinced that in order to preserve international peace for all time that social justice needed to reign -- perhaps the key driving force behind social injustice is the regular exploitation of the laborer from his labor and the capital benefits it produces. However, from a macro level, the creation of the ILO extends much further than the political motives associated with the first World War.

Prior to the waging of that war and ever since the industrial revolution took place and the means by which laborers were displaced from the results of their labor greatly intensified, there was a growing socialist movement.

It was the prevalence of this movement (which perhaps reached its height in the early decades of the 20th century, that the Preamble to the Constitution of the ILO states, "conditions of labour exist involving such injustice hardship and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperiled" (ILO, 1996).

Moreover, there were numerous social advocates who disapproved of the World War I from a class perspective, and stated that it only pitted working class workers from different countries killing one another for the exploitation of the ruling class. Finally, this exploitation had been going on since well before the Industrial Revolution, even at the agricultural level as systems of feudalism and other economic exploitive systems indicate.

The ILO was created, therefore, to end such exploitation and to give the laborer more benefits and sanitary working conditions for his or her labor. Significantly, in the aftermath of the Second World War, it became a part of the United Nations, which in itself was created as one of the terms of peace of that martial encounter. The standards the ILO champions are most certainly feasible, and are designed to "create greater opportunities" (ILO, 1996) for better employment for the disenfranchised.

In fact, it largely appears as though these standards are merely common sense, and are those that are in alignment with the golden rule that one should treat others as one desires to be treated oneself. The majority of these standards pertain to areas such as a dearth of child labor, a lack of discrimination in the workplace, and the elimination of forced labor.

They also seek to create the conditions of labor that are favorable to the laborers in order to minimize their illness and support their health -- so they can continue to labor effectively. There is nothing apart from natural human greed that would deem any of these standards unfeasible -- the right of the laborer to bargain collectively and to associate with whomever he or she so pleases in order to ensure that such rights are met is simply another way of ensuring that these standards are implemented.

The advantages of these standards of labor are many. Laborers can safely earn a living, and do so in a way in which they may progress and perhaps even take care of their families and their own financial states as well. Additionally, those employing these laborers can rest assured that these workers will be able to work at increased rates of efficiency. The disadvantages of these standards are.