by The International Labour Conference
It is an annual gathering of governments, workers, and employers from ILO member countries. The conference’s goal is to discuss the organization’s broad policies, establish and adopt international labour standards, and elect the governing body.
Governing Body
It is the ILO’s executive body, responsible for policy decisions, setting the agenda for the International Labour Conference, adopting a budget, and electing the Director-General. It is made up of 56 titular members, of which 28 are held by governments and 14 by employers and workers, respectively. Ten of the titular government seats are non-elected, permanent seats held by states with the greatest industrial importance; India is one of these nations.
International Labour Office
It is the International Labour Organization’s permanent secretariat, and it is in charge of the organization’s administration as well as the implementation of technical cooperation activities, as well as programmes for awareness, advocacy, and information sharing.
While international labour standards are revised on a regular basis, with new Conventions, Protocols, or Recommendations being drafted, the ILO Governing Body has identified eight conventions that it considers fundamental in terms of the subjects they address, which are as follows:
Freedom of Association and Protection of the right to Organise Convention (1948):
The most fundamental labour rights, such as the right of workers to form and join organisations of their choice without the approval of their employer, the right of workers’ and employers’ organisations to draught their own constitutions and rules, and the right of workers’ and employers’ organisations to form and join federations, were crystallised. It imposes a duty on ILO members to ensure that workers and employers can freely organise without undue interference from administrative authorities.
Right to organise and collective bargaining convention (1949):
This document seeks to protect workers and workers’ organisations from anti-union discrimination in the workplace. For example, requiring non-union membership as a condition of employment. It seeks to promote voluntary bargaining between employers or employers’ organisations and workers’ organisations and calls for the development of machinery to facilitate such bargaining.
Forced Labour Convention (1930) and its Protocol (2014)
This document is one of the primary international instruments responsible for the worldwide reduction in forced/compulsory labour. It criminalises the use of forced labour and requires ratifying countries to ensure that it is strictly enforced. Ratifying States must also ensure that forced labour legislation is covered and enforced for all workers, regardless of the nature of their work or the sector of the economy in which they work. This includes taking all necessary steps to end all forms of forced labour, as well as identifying and rehabilitating all victims of such labour.
Abolition of Forced Labour Convention (1957)
This Convention expands on the general prohibition in the preceding document by prohibiting the use of forced labour for political coercion, education, punishment, mobilising labour for economic development, labour discipline, as punishment for strike participation, and as a means of racial, social, national, or religious discrimination.
Minimum Age convention (1973):
This document requires ratifying countries to implement a national policy aimed at effectively eliminating child labour. It also requires states to raise the minimum age for employment/work to a level consistent with young people’s physical and mental development. To that end, ratifying states must submit a declaration stating the minimum age for employment, which cannot be less than 15 years in any case. States whose economies are insufficiently developed to specify a minimum age of 14 years are exempted.
Worst forms of child labour convention (1999):
The term “child” refers to all persons under the age of 18 for the purposes of this Convention. Each member who ratifies this convention is obligated to take immediate steps to eliminate the most heinous forms of child labour. This term refers to practises such as slavery, human trafficking, serfdom, and the use of child soldiers, among others. Member States are required to implement similar programmes in collaboration with employers’ and workers’ organisations.
Equal remuneration convention (1951):
The ratifying states are required by this convention to promote the application of the equal remuneration principle for work of equal value. This means that pay rates for comparable work are established without regard to gender.
Discrimination (employment and occupation) convention (1958):
This convention addresses discrimination based on race, colour, gender, sexual orientation, religion, political opinion, national origin, or social origin. Other distinctions that have the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity are included. Ratifying states must prevent such discrimination through legislation, educational programmes, and collaboration between employer and worker organisations.
