September 1969 — VOL. 50, No. 9 —
The International
Labour Organization
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Working for people who work, the International
Labour Organization this year completed fifty years of service
as the oldest of the United Nations specialized agencies.
Set up in 1919 under the League of Nations to bring governments,
employers and trade unions together for united action to meet
problems arising out of industrialization, the ILO has sought
to meet that obligation by standard-setting, research, spreading
information, and providing technical co-operation.
Its guiding principle is: "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."
Seeking to put its finger on the causes of the unrest which
threatened the peace and harmony of the world, the ILO Constitution
blamed "injustice, hardship and privation." It sought to establish
by international action the regulation of hours of work, prevention
of unemployment, provision of an adequate living wage, protection
of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising
out of his employment, protection of children, young persons
and women, and provision for old age.
This is probably the greatest enterprise of our age —
the continuing improvement of the standard of living of men
and women in every country; the fight against ignorance, misery
and poverty; and the promotion of world security and peace.
Millions of people who are unaware of the importance or
even the existence of the International Labour Organization
benefit daily by the work it does.
What does the ILO do? It is a world forum where labour and
social problems are discussed by representatives of labour
and employers and governments, sitting down together to work
out solutions. It sets standards, as a result of these deliberations,
for working and living conditions.
The ILO does not impose international views or solutions,
but works through national governments.
Its standards help employers' and workers' organizations
to formulate their own plans and programmes and collective
agreements. The ILO follows through, when requested, with
technical co-operation, research and publishing.
This year, labour, management, and government sit down together
at a tripartite conference in Ottawa to mark the fiftieth
anniversary of the founding of the International Labour Organization.
They will discuss such topics as labour-management relations
and labour standards; the need for trained supervisors and
shop stewards; the importance of communication, consultation,
and the resolution of problems; the responsibility of labour,
management, and the government to the public; and the role
of member countries, especially Canada, in external aid programmes.
The Organization
The ILO recognized from its earliest times that as an international
body intimately associated with one of mankind's touchiest
activities it must be above reproach. Its integrity must be
demonstrated in every decision and pronouncement. It must
speak out as an evidence that it has no hidden purposes. It
resists all attempts to interject political issues, and it
takes precautions lest its aims and purposes become lost or
buried under political propaganda.
Those purposes reach into every country on earth, whether
it is a tiny place with only a few hundred thousand people
or a nation that is continental in its territory.
In one country the ILO may teach peasants to use a plough;
in another country it may teach industrial management 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 of small industrial institutes.
Canada's interest
When the League of Nations, with which the ILO was affiliated,
dissolved after World War II, the ILO survived to join the
United Nations' family. Its member states increased from 45
in 1919 to 122 in 1969.
Canada was in the movement from the beginning. She took
an active part in the discussion which led to establishment
of the Organization in 1919, and has been represented by government,
worker, and employer delegates at every session of the International
Labour Conference. She was host to the ILO during the war
years, at McGill University in Montreal, until the ILO returned
to its permanent headquarters in Geneva in 1948.
Because Canada is a federal country, with most labour matters
wholly or partly under provincial jurisdiction, there have
been limitations upon the number of ILO Conventions that could
be ratified.
This has been embarrassing because of Canada's international
posture as one of the states of chief industrial importance,
hence expected to set a good example.
An effort to press through the "Hours of Work" convention
providing for the 8-hour day, made under cover of Section
132 of the British North America Act, ran aground on the snag
of provincial rights. The Supreme Court confirmed the view
that the provinces had legislative competence in this field,
and this was confirmed by the Privy Council.
Nevertheless, the influence of ILO instruments is to be
seen in many items of Canadian legislation, and as John Mainwaring,
Director of the International Labour Affairs Branch, Canada
Department of Labour, put it: "We have got past the despairing
stage of not too many years ago when we considered it inexpedient
to seek to do anything very much about ILO Conventions which
fell partly within provincial jurisdiction."
The favourable economic conditions of recent years and the
enhanced strength of organized labour have been accompanied
by a considerable expansion of provincial labour legislation.
Provincial ministers, advisers and observers have been included
in delegations to the ILO Conferences and other meetings.
Some Conventions have been ratified after consultation with
the provincial governments, and consultative procedures are
being made more productive.
Canada has not performed outstandingly in the field programmes
of the ILO. In the twenty years since the ILO moved into the
technical assistance field in underdeveloped countries, fewer
than a hundred Canadians have been recruited to serve on projects,
although Canadian experts in significant numbers serve on
projects sponsored by the Canadian International Development
Agency. Some reasons given are: preference for Europeans,
distance from Geneva, and the higher salaries expected. Canada
is, however, co-operating with the ILO in setting up a pilot
training centre of a national apprenticeship scheme in Tanzania.
While the Department of External Affairs has the general
responsibility for handling Canada's international relations,
the Department of Labour is the official liaison agency between
the Canadian Government and the International Labour Organization.
There was a meeting of the American States Members of the
ILO in Ottawa in 1966 which gave history a new phrase: "The
Ottawa Plan for Human Resources Development." This is a plan
for the countries of Latin America and of the Caribbean region,
touching upon manpower planning, the training of workers and
management, and the level of employment. Here originated the
ILO World Employment Programme, which is now being developed
continent by continent.
Structure of the ILO
As an international organization functioning in a difficult
field, the ILO has adopted forms which do not come readily
to the eye or ear: Governing Body and Conference.
The prime purpose of the annual Conference which is attended
by about 1,100 delegates, advisers and observers, is to set
international labour standards. The Governing Body which functions
as an executive council, consisting of twenty-four government,
twelve worker and twelve employer members, guides the operations
of the organization. The Office is the research centre, operational
headquarters, and publishing house. It has branch and field
offices in many countries, including Canada.
When matters of importance work their way up to the Conference
level, decisions about them may issue as Conventions or Recommendations
or Resolutions. Acceptance of ILO standards is a matter of
free choice, but member countries are obliged to submit the
Conventions and Recommendations to their parliaments or other
appropriate authorities for consideration.
A Convention is a draft international treaty. When a government
ratifies a Convention it accepts the obligation to apply its
provisions, and to report at intervals on how the Convention
is being applied. Reports are scrutinized by an international
committee of experts and then by the Conference.
There is a provision for complaint against a government
which is not securing the effective observance of a Convention
it has ratified. If other methods fail to hold the government
to its obligations the complaint may be referred to the International
Court of Justice.
The ILO maintains a scoreboard of ratifications, and it
is a matter of pride for countries to make a good showing.
Canada, in spite of its difficulties as a federal state, has
ratified 24 Conventions, covering such things as hours of
work in industry, unemployment indemnity, protection against
accidents, and abolition of forced labour and discrimination.
The second class of instrument issuing from the ILO Conference
is a Recommendation, which is a guide to action but not a
binding treaty. Taken together, these instruments have come
to be known as the International Labour Code.
Social objectives
Behind the activities and statistics of the ILO is the awareness
that workers are people. Labour involves not only a set of
technological and economic relations, but also a set of social
relations. Men work not only to earn a living but to live
as well as they can in their environment.
The improvement of conditions of work and life are among
the basic constitutional objectives of the ILO. In fact, the
ILO was the first international organization to set precise
standards implementing human rights.
Of the ILO Conventions, three are designed to ensure freedom
of association and the right to organize; two are aimed at
abolishing forced labour, and three others are directed toward
the elimination of discrimination in employment.
Canada has ratified four of the Conventions which have a
direct connection with the rights spelled out in the United
Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Attention of the ILO has been given to the plight of members
of tribal or semi-tribal populations whose social and economic
conditions are at a less advanced stage than those of the
national community, and whose status is regulated wholly or
partly by their own customs and traditions or by special laws.
The aim of the ILO Convention is to promote systematic remedial
action for these people, and for their progressive integration
into the life of the country.
This Convention, not yet ratified by Canada, echoes what
was said in the Monthly Letter of July 1947: "Everyone
with sympathy for the Indians and care for Canada's obligations
will wish success to the parliamentary committee in its search
for an honourable and thorough way of discharging the Dominion's
responsibilities to these First Citizens of Canada. It is
not enough to save the Indian from extinction. If the Indian
Affairs Branch can provide a fulcrum to help the Indian reach
a new and more satisfying life, it will be a fine demonstration
of practical democracy."
The status of women
All women, wherever they work — whether in a field
or a factory or a home — are deeply affected by the work
of the International Labour Organization. They have an equal
interest with men in the ILO's declared intention to help
build a world in which all human beings shall live out their
lives in conditions of freedom and dignity, of equal opportunity
and treatment.
In its early days the ILO laid stress upon protecting women
against exploitation, but the programme has been broadened
in keeping with the changing times.
Today it is aimed at helping women to attain better training
and equal opportunities and equal treatment, so as to lift
them out of their second-rate social status which has been
an accepted condition in many countries.
Out of every one hundred women, thirty are economically
active. Women make up a little over a third of the world's
labour force. In Canada the number of working women has increased
dramatically over the past quarter century: from one married
woman in twenty to one in four.
These women workers, the ILO believes, should have equal
opportunities to develop their capacities and to participate
in economic and social life.
It recognizes that many women workers face special problems
because of their function of motherhood and because of their
heavy home responsibilities. One of the first Conventions,
ratified by 25 countries (not including Canada), provided
for six weeks' leave from work before childbirth.
In the years to come, the accent will be on the needs and
problems of women in the developing countries, for these are
vast and urgent. Progress is slow, because improvement is
balked by the inertia of customs, attitudes and law.
Helping young people
What can the International Labour Organization do to help
young people meet the challenge of our fast-changing society
and develop their full skills and capacities for the common
good?
It is seeking to regulate and progressively limit child
labour with a view to its abolition everywhere; it adopts
Conventions to protect young workers, to ensure that they
are well prepared for work, and to provide social security
protection. It organizes and administers vocational guidance
services, and develops methods, techniques and materials for
vocational training.
The ILO considers skill training to be one of the best and
most positive forms of service to working youth. It seeks
to enlist community support and the practical support of labour
and management in providing training services for girls and
boys. It would eliminate all discrimination in access to training
facilities on any grounds other than individual capacity and
merit.
Usually the accent is on training strategic personnel such
as supervisors, foremen, technicians and vocational instructors,
for these are people who can train others. When a centre is
fully developed, the ILO experts are withdrawn, relinquishing
responsibility to the national authorities.
Health and safety
The emphasis of ILO activities in the field of occupational
safety has developed from mere protection to a policy of the
promotion of health among workers.
Safety is still an important feature. There are Conventions
which lay down rules concerning the working environment, the
strength of equipment, and training in first aid; there are
rules regarding safe and hygienic practices; there is technical
research into the harmful effects of materials; there is medical
research to determine the causes and treatment of occupational
diseases and the physical characteristics conducive to accidents;
and there is safety education in universities, trade schools,
and engineering colleges.
The model code of safety regulations for industrial establishments
has 244 sets of regulations in sixteen chapters and runs to
some 500 pages.
Canada provided a colourful episode in the campaign to prohibit
the dangerous use of white phosphorus, a disease-causing substance
used in the manufacture of matches. It is told by Mr. Mainwaring
in the Labour Gazette. The Minister of Labour, who had made
personal investigation of the effects of the disease in Canada,
produced at a Cabinet meeting a jar containing the preserved
jaw-bone of a woman worker who had been a victim. This convinced
the Cabinet, but because an election intervened it was not
until three years later that protective legislation was put
on the statute books.
Labour-management
The International Labour Organization has an active programme
designed to promote continuous improvement in the relations
between labour and management. It operates through research
and information services, technical co-operation, and educational
programmes.
The association between the ILO and the trade union movement
is of long standing. Labour and management participate with
equal voice and vote in the formulation of ILO standards,
receive copies of their governments' reports, and play a leading
part in their final evaluation.
An impressive characteristic of our time is the increase
in the demand for training institutes and facilities. There
is a universal shortage of millions of managers, instructors
and teachers, and of hundreds of millions of skilled workers
and technicians.
More than three hundred ILO management development, productivity
and small-scale industry experts are in the field. Their purpose
is to train national personnel who will take over training
as soon as possible.
The ILO's World Employment Programme has as its aim to create
more opportunities for jobs and skills of value to the community
and satisfying to the workers, especially in the new countries.
It will be, in the words of Kalmen Kaplansky, Director of
the Canada Branch of the International Labour Office, "A world
campaign for providing greater employment opportunities and
enhanced training facilities for the hundreds of millions
who are idle today through no fault of their own."
The need is indicated by the statistics: between 1970 and
1980 more than 280 million people will be added to the world's
labour force. Of these, 226 million will be in the less developed
regions of the world.
This calls for action on a massive scale, and it accounts
for the ILO urge to participate in what has been called "The
Great Adventure of modern times." Canada is committed to the
extent of one per cent of her gross national product in 1970
for aid to developing countries. She now contributes about
$300 million a year.
Neither Canada nor the ILO can impose solutions to problems
on the countries they seek to help: they can only assist them
to find their own way to progress. They contribute toward
strengthening the national economies of the developing countries
so as to ensure the attainment of higher levels of economic
and social welfare for their people.
In a country so industrialized as Canada it is natural that
many people should be surprised to learn of the backwardness
of other countries.
Although the developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin
America possess two-thirds of the world's population their
inhabitants share only one-sixth of the world's income. The
gross national product of the richer countries in 1966 was
$1,400 billion; the transfer from 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 development is
the essential part of economic development. It is interested
in providing leadership, inspiration and education to people,
rather than in doses of technology. It seeks to promote fuller
and more productive employment of the labour force, and to
ensure more efficient utilization of the available manpower
resources.
Work is for all
Work is common to all mankind, and, said Tolstoy in one
of his essays, work will draw men together.
The ILO is not a group of sentimental humanitarians, but
an association of men and women and States united to work
toward lasting peace based upon social justice as it is represented
by the rule of law, political democracy, human rights, and
the fundamental freedoms.
It is contributing toward the improvement of living standards
in all countries, believing as it does that "Poverty anywhere
constitutes a danger to prosperity everywhere."
Expert though it may be in its fields of effort, the ILO
encounters the tendency of people to expect great results
in a short time. It needs support and effort on governmental
level in every country, and among the people of every country,
so that it may not be accused of making a utopian suit which
we have not yet grown into.
Published by RBC Financial Group. All editions from the RBC
Letter collection are available on our web site at www.rbc.com/responsibility/letter.
Our e-mail address is: rbcletter@rbc.com.
Publié aussi en francais.
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