The history of the ILO

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  The global history in general of working-class organizations

U.N. Labor Body Urges Full Employment Drive

Reuter. 26 November 1996. ILO argues that rising unemployment in developed economies is costly, but assumes it is not due to trade liberalization.

International Labour Organization - Child Labor

By Jagdish Parikh, for ILO/BIT, 11 February 1997. Re. the ILO's International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC).

ACFTU, ICFTU and changing ILO Conventions

By Gerard Greenfield, Asia Monitor Resource Center, 6 February 1998. The ACFTU felt that there are prejudices against China at the ILO Governing bodies due to ideological differences. The exclusion of China in the ILO Governing body is a violation of the ILO's principle of universality and non-discrimination. This sheds light on a motives behind the ACFTU agreeing to a rapid improvement in relations with the ICFTU.

ILO Asked to Speak Up on Asia's Ills

By Johanna Son, IPS, 15 March 1998. The ILO should be more assertive of its role as the "social conscience of development", starting with making its voice heard in Asia's economic meltdown, says the Philippine candidate for the ILO's top post.

Appeal from Ed Rosario: Defend the ILO conventions!

By Ed Rosario, Coordinator, WHC Continuations Committee, 15 May 1998. The Fifth Annual Independent Trade Union Forum in Defense of the Conventions and Norms of the ILO one-day forum will take place in Geneva on June 7 - on the eve of the 86th yearly session of the ILO. In the name of carrying out a wholesale "reform" of the ILO, the 150 labor conventions of the ILO are under attack.

Opening Speech to the International Trade Forum in Defense of ILO Conventions

By Ed Rosario, 7 June 1998. Preventing the ILO from becoming an appendage of the WTO. Free trade agreements, along with structural adjustment, are an assault upon our rights and upon our working and living conditions, and stand as barriers to social progress and democracy.

Where Is Labor's Strength?

A statement on the ILO and the WTO, by Trim Bissell, national coordinator, Campaign for Labor Rights, Labor Alerts, 23 November 1999. The WTO is attempting to "reform" the ILO. National governments will not rescue labor, and, as long as international institutions are answerable to national governments based on money or guns, labor cannot expect rescue from international standards such as the ILO Conventions.