The Developing Program of the ILO
| Author | Carter Goodrich |
| DOI | 10.1177/000271624222400129 |
| Date | 01 November 1942 |
| Published date | 01 November 1942 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
183
The
Developing
Program
of
the
ILO
By
CARTER
GOODRICH
THE
program
of
the
International
Labor
Organization
is
a
developing
thing.
The
Peace
Conference
of
1919
gave
the
ILO
its
original
and
essential
character
as
an
official
agency
in
which
the
representatives
of
employers’
and
workers’
organizations
take
part
on
an
equal
footing
with
the
representatives
of
governments.
Its
wartime
policy
has
been
shaped
by
decisions
of
the
Govern-
ing
Body
and
by
John
Winant’s
timely
transfer
of
its
working
center
from
Ge-
neva
to
Montreal.
Finally,
significant
meetings
in
New
York
and
Washington
in
1941
and
in
London
in
1942
have
laid
down
the
broad
outlines
of
a
postwar
program.
An
example
will
show
that
this
three-
fold
division
is
by
no
means
absolute.
In
August
1942
the
Bolivian
Govern-
ment
asked
an
expert
from
the
Inter-
national
Labor
Office
to
draft
a
measure
providing
invalidity
and
old-age
pen-
sions
for
tin
miners.
This
action
may
be
regarded
either
as
a
continuation
of
the
ordinary
prewar
service
of
the
Office
in
a
field
to
which
it
has
given
particular
attention,
or
as
a
war
measure
which
will
increase
the
United
Nations’
supply
of
tin
by
attracting
more
miners,’
or as
a
contribution
toward
the
bases
of
post-
war
reconstruction.
Yet,
if
this
essen-
tial
continuity
of
purpose
is
recognized,
it
may
be
useful
to
organize
the
discus-
sion
in
terms
of
the
prewar,
the
wartime,
and
the
postwar
programs
of
the
ILO.
THE
PREWAR
PROGRAM
The
prewar
program
of
the
ILO
is
defined
with
extraordinary
definiteness
in
the
preamble
to
its
constitution.
It
declares:
Universal
peace
can
be
established
only
if
it is
based
upon
social
justice.....
Con-
ditions
of
labor
exist
involving
such
in-
justice,
hardship
and
privation
to
large
numbers
of
people
as
to
produce
unrest
so
great
that
the
peace
and
harmony
of
the
world
are
imperiled.
[Moreover]
the
failure
of
any
nation
to
adopt
humane
con-
ditions
of
labor
is
an
obstacle
in
the
way
of
other
nations
which
desire
to
improve
the
conditions
in
their
own
countries.
Finally,
the
preamble
lists
specific
measures
for
the
improvement
of
labor
conditions:
the
regulation
of
the
hours
of
work ... ,
the
regulation
of
the labor
supply,
the
pre-
vention
of
unemployment,
the
protection
of
the
worker
against
sickness,
disease
and
injury
arising
out
of
his
employment,
the
protection
of
children,
young
persons
and
women,
provision
for
old
age
and
injury,
protection
of
the
interests
of
workers
when
employed
in
countries
other
than
their
own,
recognition
of
the
principle
of
freedom
of
association,
the
organization
of
vocational
and
technical
education.
In
the
period
between
the
wars,
the
activity
of
the
Organization
was
devoted
primarily
to
the
working
out
of
the
pro-
gram
thus
outlined.
Each
year
the
In-
ternational
Labor
Conference
met
at
Geneva.
To
this
each
member
nation
was
entitled
to
send
two
government
delegates,
one
employers’
delegate,
and
one
workers’
delegate,
as
well
as
tech-
nical
advisers.
The
core
of
their
busi-
ness
was
the
formulation
and
the
adop-
tion
of
conventions,
or
labor
treaties,
containing
minimum
standards
in
the
various
fields
indicated.
Draft
t
pro-
posals
were
prepared
by
the
perma-
nent
staff
of
the
Office
on
the
basis
1
In
calculating
the
rates
for
pensions
under
this
measure,
service
during
the
war
is
to
be
counted
at
double
the
normal
rate.
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