VOL. 50, No. 9 HEAD OFFICE: MONTREAL, SEPTEMBER 1969

The International Labour Organization

WORKING FOR PEOPLE WHO WORK, the InternationalLabour Organization this year completed fifty yearsof service as the oldest of the United Nations spe-cialized agencies.

Set up in 1919 under the League of Nations tobring governments, employers and trade unionstogether for united action to meet problems arisingout of industrialization, the ILO has sought to meetthat obligation by standard-setting, research, spread-ing information, and providing technical co-operation.

Its guiding principle is: "All human beings, ir-respective of race, creed or sex, have the right topursue both their material well-being and theirspiritual development in conditions of freedom anddignity, of economic security and equal opportunity."

Seeking to put its finger on the causes of the unrestwhich threatened the peace and harmony of the world,the ILO Constitution blamed "injustice, hardship andprivation." It sought to establish by internationalaction the regulation of hours of work, prevention ofunemployment, provision of an adequate living wage,protection of the worker against sickness, disease andinjury arising out of his employment, protection ofchildren, young persons and women, and provisionfor old age.

This is probably the greatest enterprise of our age--the continuing improvement of the standard ofliving of men and women in every country; the fightagainst ignorance, misery and poverty; and the pro-motion of world security and peace.

Millions of people who are unaware of the im-portance or even the existence of the InternationalLabour Organization benefit daily by the work itdoes.

What does the ILO do ? It is a world forum wherelabour and social problems are discussed by rep-resentatives of labour and employers and govern-ments, sitting down together to work out solutions.It sets standards, as a result of these deliberations, forworking and living conditions.

The ILO does not impose international views orsolutions, but works through national governments.

Its standards help employers’ and workers’ organiza-tions to formulate their own plans and programmesand collective agreements. The ILO follows through,when requested, with technical co-operation, researchand publishing.

This year, labour, management, and governmentsit down together at a tripartite conference in Ottawato mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of theInternational Labour Organization.

They will discuss such topics as labour-manage-ment relations and labour standards; the need fortrained supervisors and shop stewards; the im-portance of communication, consultation, and theresolution of problems; the responsibility of labour,management, and the government to the public; andthe role of member countries, especially Canada, inexternal aid programmes.

The Organization

The ILO recognized from its earliest times that asan international body intimately associated with oneof mankind’s touchiest activities it must be abovereproach. Its integrity must be demonstrated in everydecision and pronouncement. It must speak out as anevidence that it has no hidden purposes. It resists allattempts to interject political issues, and it takesprecautions lest its aims and purposes become lost orburied under political propaganda.

Those purposes reach into every country on earth,whether it is a tiny place with only a few hundredthousand people or a nation that is continental in itsterritory.

In one country the ILO may teach peasants to usea plough; in another country it may teach industrialmanagement staff how to use an electronic computer.It may help with the revision of labour legislation,the organization of co-operatives, or the setting-up ofsmall industrial institutes.

Canada’s interest

When the League of Nations, with which the ILO

was affiliated, dissolved after World War II, the ILOsurvived to join the United Nations’ family. Itsmember states increased from 45 in 1919 to 122 in1969.

Canada was in the movement from the beginning.She took an active part in the discussion which led toestablishment of the Organization in 1919, and hasbeen represented by government, worker, and em-ployer delegates at every session of the InternationalLabour Conference. She was host to the ILO duringthe war years, at McGill University in Montreal, untilthe ILO returned to its permanent headquarters inGeneva in 1948.

Because Canada is a federal country, with mostlabour matters wholly or partly under provincialjurisdiction, there have been limitations upon thenumber of ILO Conventions that could be ratified.

This has been embarrassing because of Canada’sinternational posture as one of the states of chiefindustrial importance, hence expected to set a goodexample.

An effort to press through the "Hours of Work"convention providing for the 8-hour day, made undercover of Section 132 of the British North AmericaAct, ran aground on the snag of provincial rights.The Supreme Court confirmed the view that theprovinces had legislative competence in this field, andthis was confirmed by the Privy Council.

Nevertheless, the influence of ILO instruments is tobe seen in many items of Canadian legislation, and asJohn Mainwaring, Director of the InternationalLabour Affairs Branch, Canada Department of Labour,put it: "We have got past the despairing stage of nottoo many years ago when we considered it inexpedientto seek to do anything very much about ILO Con-ventions which fell partly within provincial juris-diction."

The favourable economic conditions of recent yearsand the enhanced strength of organized labour havebeen accompanied by a considerable expansion ofprovincial labour legislation. Provincial ministers,advisers and observers have been included in delega-tions to the ILO Conferences and other meetings.Some Conventions have been ratified after consulta-tion with the provincial governments, and con-sultative procedures are being made more productive.

Canada has not performed outstandingly in the fieldprogrammes of the ILO. In the twenty years since theILO moved into the technical assistance field in under-developed countries, fewer than a hundred Canadianshave been recruited to serve on projects, althoughCanadian experts in significant numbers serve onprojects sponsored by the Canadian InternationalDevelopment Agency. Some reasons given are:preference for Europeans, distance from Geneva, andthe higher salaries expected. Canada is, however,co-operating with the ILO in setting up a pilot trainingcentre of a national apprenticeship scheme inTanzania.

While the Department of External Affairs has thegeneral responsibility for handling Canada’s inter-national relations, the Department of Labour is theofficial liaison agency between the Canadian Govern-ment and the International Labour Organization.

There was a meeting of the American States Mem-bers of the ILO in Ottawa in 1966 which gave historya new phrase: "The Ottawa Plan for Human Re-sources Development." This is a plan for the countriesof Latin America and of the Caribbean region, touch-ing upon manpower planning, the training of workersand management, and the level of employment. Hereoriginated the ILO World Employment Programme,which is now being developed continent by continent.

Structure of the ILO

As an international organization functioning in adifficult field, the ILO has adopted forms which do notcome readily to the eye or ear: Governing Body andConference.

The prime purpose of the annual Conference whichis attended by about 1,100 delegates, advisers andobservers, is to set international labour standards.The Governing Body which functions as an executivecouncil, consisting of twenty-four government, twelveworker and twelve employer members, guides theoperations of the organization. The Office is theresearch centre, operational headquarters, and pub-lishing house. It has branch and field offices in manycountries, including Canada.

When matters of importance work their way up tothe Conference level, decisions about them may issueas Conventions or Recommendations or Resolutions.Acceptance of ILO standards is a matter of freechoice, but member countries are obliged to submitthe Conventions and Recommendations to theirparliaments or other appropriate authorities forconsideration.

A Convention is a draft international treaty. Whena government ratifies a Convention it accepts theobligation to apply its provisions, and to report atintervals on how the Convention is being applied.Reports are scrutinized by an international committeeof experts and then by the Conference.

There is a provision for complaint against a govern-ment which is not securing the effective observance ofa Convention it has ratified. If other methods fail tohold the government to its obligations the complaintmay be referred to the International Court of Justice.

The ILO maintains a scoreboard of ratifications, andit is a matter of pride for countries to make a goodshowing. Canada, in spite of its difficulties as a federalstate, has ratified 24 Conventions, covering suchthings as hours of work in industry, unemploymentindemnity, protection against accidents, and abolitionof forced labour and discrimination.

The second class of instrument issuing from theILO Conference is a Recommendation, which is a

guide to action but not a binding treaty. Takentogether, these instruments have come to be knownas the International Labour Code.

Social objectives

Behind the activities and statistics of the ILO is theawareness that workers are people. Labour involvesnot only a set of technological and economic relations,but also a set of social relations. Men work not onlyto earn a living but to live as well as they can in theirenvironment.

The improvement of conditions of work and lifeare among the basic constitutional objectives of theILO. In fact, the ILO was the first internationalorganization to set precise standards implementinghuman rights.

Of the ILO Conventions, three are designed toensure freedom of association and the right to or-ganize; two are aimed at abolishing forced labour, andthree others are directed toward the elimination ofdiscrimination in employment.

Canada has ratified four of the Conventions whichhave a direct connection with the rights spelled outin the United Nations Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights.

Attention of the ILO has been given to the plight ofmembers of tribal or semi-tribal populations whosesocial and economic conditions are at a less advancedstage than those of the national community, andwhose status is regulated wholly or partly by theirown customs and traditions or by special laws.

The aim of the ILO Convention is to promote sys-tematic remedial action for these people, and for theirprogressive integration into the life of the country.

This Convention, not yet ratified by Canada, echoeswhat was said in the Monthly Letter of July 1947:"Everyone with sympathy for the Indians and care forCanada’s obligations will wish success to the par-liamentary committee in its search for an honourableand thorough way of discharging the Dominion’sresponsibilities to these First Citizens of Canada. It isnot enough to save the Indian from extinction. If theIndian Affairs Branch can provide a fulcrum to helpthe Indian reach a new and more satisfying life, itwill be a fine demonstration of practical democracy."

The status of women

All women, wherever they work--whether in afield or a factory or a home -- are deeply affected bythe work of the International Labour Organization.They have an equal interest with men in the ILO’sdeclared intention to help build a world in which allhuman beings shall live out their lives in conditionsof freedom and dignity, of equal opportunity andtreatment.

In its early days the ILO laid stress upon protectingwomen against exploitation, but the programme hasbeen broadened in keeping with the changing times.

Today it is aimed at helping women to attain bettertraining and equal opportunities and equal treatment,so as to lift them out of their second-rate social statuswhich has been an accepted condition in manycountries.

Out of every one hundred women, thirty are eco-nomically active. Women make up a little over a thirdof the world’s labour force. In Canada the number ofworking women has increased dramatically over thepast quarter century: from one married woman intwenty to one in four.

These women workers, the ILO believes, shouldhave equal opportunities to develop their capacitiesand to participate in economic and social life.

It recognizes that many women workers face specialproblems because of their function of motherhood andbecause of their heavy home responsibilities. One ofthe first Conventions, ratified by 25 countries (notincluding Canada), provided for six weeks’ leave fromwork before childbirth.

In the years to come, the accent will be on the needsand problems of women in the developing countries,for these are vast and urgent. Progress is slow, becauseimprovement is balked by the inertia of customs, atti-tudes and law.

Helping young people

What can the International Labour Organization doto help young people meet the challenge of our fast-changing society and develop their full skills andcapacities for the common good?

It is seeking to regulate and progressively limit childlabour with a view to its abolition everywhere; itadopts Conventions to protect young workers, toensure that they are well prepared for work, and toprovide social security protection. It organizes andadministers vocational guidance services, and de-velops methods, techniques and materials for voca-tional training.

The ILO considers skill training to be one of thebest and most positive forms of service to workingyouth. It seeks to enlist community support and thepractical support of labour and management inproviding training services for girls and boys. It wouldeliminate all discrimination in access to trainingfacilities on any grounds other than individual capac-ity and merit.

Usually the accent is on training strategic personnelsuch as supervisors, foremen, technicians and voca-tional instructors, for these are people who can trainothers. When a centre is fully developed, the ILOexperts are withdrawn, relinquishing responsibility tothe national authorities.

Health and safety

The emphasis of ILO activities in the field of occu-pational safety has developed from mere protection toa policy of the promotion of health among workers.

Safety is still an important feature. There are Con-ventions which lay down rules concerning the workingenvironment, the strength of equipment, and trainingin first aid; there are rules regarding safe and hygienicpractices; there is technical research into the harmfuleffects of materials; there is medical research todetermine the causes and treatment of occupationaldiseases and the physical characteristics conducive toaccidents; and there is safety education in universities,trade schools, and engineering colleges.

The model code of safety regulations for industrialestablishments has 244 sets of regulations in sixteenchapters and runs to some 500 pages.

Canada provided a colourful episode in the cam-paign to prohibit the dangerous use of white phos-phorus, a disease-causing substance used in the manu-facture of matches. It is told by Mr. Mainwaring inthe Labour Gazette. The Minister of Labour, who hadmade personal investigation of the effects of thedisease in Canada, produced at a Cabinet meeting ajar containing the preserved jaw-bone of a womanworker who had been a victim. This convinced theCabinet, but because an election intervened it was notuntil three years later that protective legislation wasput on the statute books.

Labour-management

The International Labour Organization has anactive programme designed to promote continuousimprovement in the relations between labour andmanagement. It operates through research andinformation services, technical co-operation, andeducational programmes.

The association between the ILO and the tradeunion movement is of long standing. Labour andmanagement participate with equal voice and vote inthe formulation of ILO standards, receive copies oftheir governments’ reports, and play a leading partin their final evaluation.

An impressive characteristic of our time is theincrease in the demand for training institutes andfacilities. There is a universal shortage of millions ofmanagers, instructors and teachers, and of hundredsof millions of skilled workers and technicians.

More than three hundred ILO management develop-ment, productivity and small-scale industry expertsare in the field. Their purpose is to train nationalpersonnel who will take over training as soon aspossible.

The ILO’s World Employment Programme has asits aim to create more opportunities for jobs andskills of value to the community and satisfying to theworkers, especially in the new countries.

It will be, in the words of Kalmen Kaplansky,Director of the Canada Branch of the InternationalLabour Office, "A world campaign for providinggreater employment opportunities and enhancedtraining facilities for the hundreds of millions who areidle today through no fault of their own."

Postage paid in cash at third class rate.Permit No. 10005 in bulk-en nombre.

The need is indicated by the statistics: between1970 and 1980 more than 280 million people will beadded to the world’s labour force. Of these, 226 millionwill be in the less developed regions of the world.

This calls for action on a massive scale, and itaccounts for the ILO urge to participate in what hasbeen called "The Great Adventure of modern times."Canada is committed to the extent of one per cent ofher gross national product in 1970 for aid to develop-ing countries. She now contributes about $300million a year.

Neither Canada nor the ILO can impose solutionsto problems on the countries they seek to help: theycan only assist them to find their own way to progress.They contribute toward strengthening the nationaleconomies of the developing countries so as to ensurethe attainment of higher levels of economic and socialwelfare for their people.

In a country so industrialized as Canada it is naturalthat many people should be surprised to learn of thebackwardness of other countries.

Although the developing countries of Asia, Africaand Latin America possess two-thirds of the world’spopulation their inhabitants share only one-sixth ofthe world’s income. The gross national product of thericher countries in 1966 was $1,400 billion; the transferfrom richer to poorer countries was only $7.5 billion.

The ILO has not lost itself in a maze of statistics,but is pursuing its belief that human resources develop-ment is the essential part of economic development. Itis interested in providing leadership, inspiration andeducation to people, rather than in doses of tech-nology. It seeks to promote fuller and more productiveemployment of the labour force, and to ensure moreefficient utilization of the available manpower re-sources.

Work is for all

Work is common to all mankind, and, said Tolstoyin one of his essays, work will draw men together.

The ILO is not a group of sentimental humani-tarians, but an association of men and women andStates united to work toward lasting peace basedupon social justice as it is represented by the rule oflaw, political democracy, human rights, and the fun-damental freedoms.

It is contributing toward the improvement ofliving standards in all countries, believing as it doesthat "Poverty anywhere constitutes a danger toprosperity everywhere."

Expert though it may be in its fields of effort, theILO encounters the tendency of people to expectgreat results in a short time. It needs support andeffort on governmental level in every country, andamong the people of every country, so that it may notbe accused of making a utopian suit which we havenot yet grown into.

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