HRM ASSIGNMENT

100 YEARS OF ILO – ACHIEVEMENTS, DISAPPOINTMENTS AND

SETBACKS AND GOAL POSTS FOR FUTURE

GROUP-6

NAME ROLL NO.

DIVYA MANI TRIPATHI B19016
ISHAAN ARORA B19020
NIKITA GULGULE B19031
RAGHAV BHATIA B19035
SNEHAL TIWARI B19055
VAASU SEHGAL B19057
Contents

Introduction and History of ILO.............................................................................................................3

ILO and India..........................................................................................................................................6
100 years of ILO - achievements and success over the years................................................................8
Interviews............................................................................................................................................12
Case Study: Child Labour in Myanmar.................................................................................................13
Future Goal posts and what lies ahead................................................................................................15
References...........................................................................................................................................18

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Introduction and History of ILO

ILO, International Labour Organisation, the United Nations agency headquartered in Geneva
that sets international labour standards and promotes social protection and work opportunities
for all came into existence in 1919. It celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2019, thereby
marking over a century of successful initiatives towards advancing social justice and
promoting decent work and enriching the lives of millions of individuals across the world in
the process.

ILO, a product of the Treaty of Versailles, came at a time when the world was in high turmoil
in the aftermath of the first world war and was experiencing disruptive changes in industrial,
technological, and political scenarios on a global level. Arthur Henderson, Nobel Peace Prize
laureate, said that “Another essential to a universal and durable peace is social justice.” As
social justice became the need of the hour, presumed as a necessity to lasting universal peace,
it gave rise to ILO.

ILO is of the firm belief that when the three keys - the workers, the employers, and the
representing governments would come together and work in tandem, it would unlock the
doors of social justice.

ILO and the concept of TRIPARTISM

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ILO is the only international UN organization where the member governments cannot
exercise their voting rights. Under the concept of Tripartism, all the three stakeholders - the
workers' representatives, the employers, and the member governments have an equal say in
the decisions and the policymaking.

Social Dialogue - The unique process wherein the parties affected in the world of work would
have a voice in the decision-making process. The dialogue can take many forms, be it
negotiations or meetings between the workers, employers, and governments. And over the
years, this has led to increased stability, equity, productivity, and sustainable growth.

Thus, the Tripartism concept and the social dialogue work in unison to promote and
guarantee fundamental principles and rights at work. They ensure that the workers are treated
fairly, the workers benefit from advances in the economy and globalization, thereby acting as
essentials for sustainable development, social justice, and peace.

The following four issues considered as core principles and rights in the workplace by the
ILO governing body:

Freedom of
association Elimination of
and the right all forms of
to collective forced labour
bargaining

Effective Elimination of
abolition of discrimination
child labour at work

The ILO has a supervisory system at the international in place that ensures that the member
countries enforce the International labour standards.

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 The Seven Centenary Initiatives

As a part of its centenary celebrations, ILO has implemented seven initiatives aimed at
equipping the ILO to take up successfully the challenges of its social justice mandate in the
future.

The future of work initiative

The end to poverty initiative

The women at work initiative

The green initiative 

The standards initiative 

The enterprises initiative

The governance initiative

 The Future of Work Initiative

o Guiding the key stakeholders - governments, workers, and employers to tackle
the world of work challenges that would surface in the next century through
global strategic dialogue.
 The End of Poverty Initiative
o Taking strategic steps to eradicate global poverty by promoting a
multidimensional response through employment protection, social justice,
world of work, and labour markets.
 The Women at Work Initiative
o Consistently working on improving the place and conditions of women in the
world of work by engaging workers, employers, and governments to take
concrete steps towards realizing equality of treatment and opportunity.
 The Green Initiative

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 o Strategically transitioning into low carbon and sustainable future by
revamping the ILO's governance structure, policymaking, and tools for
guiding the key stakeholders.
 The Standards Initiative
o Implementing a standards review mechanism and consolidating tripartite
consensus through a supervisory system, thereby enhancing the relevance of
International Labour Standards.
 The Enterprise Initiative
o Establishing a channel with the enterprises for successful ILO engagement,
which would contribute to the sustainability of both ILO and the enterprises.
 The Governance Initiative
o Reforming the ILO's governance structures based on the findings of the
assessment 2008 Declaration in its final provision.

ILO and India

India was one of the founding members of ILO and has been a permanent member of the ILO
governing body for over 97 years now, with the first ILO office starting in India in 1928.
India holds a non-elective seat on the governing body and features in the ten countries of
Chief Industrial Importance with the second largest workforce in the world. There have four
elected chairmen of the Governing from India in these years. Further, India had been the part
of all six committees of the Governing Body of ILO through which it functioned. Now that it
has shifted to sections (Institutional Section (INS), Policy Development Section (POL) and 3
others), India is proactive in all the proceedings that take place through these sections.

During the initial years of founding of the ILO, it was described as a ‘wild dream’ by many
with its aim of setting up standards for the vast array of work cultures, labour issues and
economic priorities present globally. India prides itself as being one of the strong members
that showed full commitment towards it and helped the ILO sustain and be effective for over
100 years now.

The International Labour Organization uses Conventions (International Treaties) and

Recommendations as its means of action in setting the Labour Standards internationally.

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Conventions are international treaties that lay out legally binding obligations on the countries
by which it is ratified. Recommendations are general non-binding guidelines that orient that
the policies and actions of countries. India has historically had a positive approach towards
the International Labour Standards set up. India has ratified as many as 41 Conventions of the
ILO placing it at a much better position than most countries.

Recent Initiatives

In a recent initiative, ILO delivered a Declaration for the Future of Work which was actively
shaped by contributions from India. The declaration set out an agenda for growth and
development which is “human-centered”, placing people and their work at the center of the
laid-out economic and social policies. It acknowledged the changing world of work with
technology, demography and climate change. This Declaration was adopted by the
constituent members in June 2017. India aimed at implementing the Declaration in a three-
fold manner,

 Make people capable of benefitting from the changing world of work by making
investments in their capabilities
 Ensure the adequacies of Institutions for everyone through active investments, and
 Ensure sustainability of investments for the future of work through investing in them

Thus, the aims consist of promotion of availability of decent work for all, while providing
ample employment opportunities, and thus leading to a sustainable and inclusive economic
growth.

Most recently, the ILO India office released a five-year (2018-2022) programme called
‘Decent Work Country Programme (DWCP)’. The programme primarily outlined how the
three parties – Government, Employers and Workers, will work together in the coming five
years so as to ensure progressive and just work for everyone in the future. The DWCP
programme acknowledges the challenges faced by India with its large informal economy and
the largest youth population in the world and provides a strategy with focus on three
priorities,

 Promotion, adoption and implementation of International Labour Standards – This

needs to be done in order to protect the workers from unacceptable forms and
conditions of work.

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100 years of ILO - achievements and success over the
years

Established in 1919 in the aftermath of World War I, the International Labour Organisation
has spent a century promoting decent work and advancing social justice, influencing the lives
of millions of working people across the globe. Over the 100 years, the ILO has created a
series of legally-binding international labour standards, relating to a number of issues from
freedom of association to labour inspection, the right to organize and to bargain collectively,
forced labour, equal pay and discrimination.

The following are some of its major milestones over the years:

1919 - Establishment

The ILO is created under the Versailles Treaty following World War I.

1919/1920 - 10 recommendations and 9 conventions

Under the guidance of the ILO’s first director, Albert Thomas, 10 recommendations
and 9 conventions are approved in the first 2 years, including conventions on working
hours, minimum age, maternity protection, unemployment, night work for young
people and night work for women.

1926 - Slavery Convention

The Slavery Convention gets adopted by the League of Nations. Signatory countries
have to eliminate all kinds of slavery and impose heavy fines on those involved in
slave trading or slave holding.

1926 - Committee of lawyers control conventions

A committee consisting of independent lawyers hold multiple countries accountable for

the ILO conventions that have been ratified.

1929 - Beginning of the Great Depression

The ILO plays a pivotal role in fighting the Great Depression, a time period of over ten
years that brought huge unemployment in Europe and the US.

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1936 - First regional conference in Santiago

With the advent of anti-democratic and nationalistic regimes in Europe, the ILO
focuses more on America. The conference of US member states reaffirms the idea of
universality: ILO’s actions must correspond to the needs of people throughout the
world, irrespective of the economic or social regime their country belongs to.  

1944 - The Declaration of Philadelphia

The ILO adopts the Declaration of Philadelphia, which states that

(1) labour is not a commodity

(2) freedom of association and of expression are essential for sustained progress

(3) poverty anywhere is a threat to prosperity everywhere.

1946 - The ILO joins the UN

The ILO becomes United Nation’s first specialised agency. This makes ILO one of the
central forums for debate throughout the Cold War.

1947 - First Asian regional conference in New Delhi (India)

Delegates from 18 territories and countries meet to support ILO activities in Asia, in a
time of great change which saw Pakistan and India gain independence.

1948 - Convention on freedom of association

Convention no. 87 on 'freedom of association and protection of the right to organise' is

adopted, giving the right to workers to establish and join organisations of their own
choicde, without authorisation.

1949 - Convention on collective bargaining

Convention nr. 98 on the 'right to organise and collective bargaining' says that workers
shall be guarded against acts of anti-union discrimination, and gives the right to
collective bargaining.

1960 - First African regional conference in Lagos (Nigeria)

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This African regional conference - the biggest one organized by the ILO - takes place
given the independence of numerous African countries. In 1960, 16 African countries
join the ILO, which changes the organisation’s activities and structure significantly.

1964 - The Declaration against Apartheid

The International Labour Conference adopts the Declaration against Apartheid, chiding
South Africa’s racial segregation practices. Nelson Mandela praises the ILO for its
contribution in the fight against apartheid.

1969 – ILO awarded the Nobel Peace Prize

Mrs. Aase Lionaes, chair of the Nobel Committee, in her speech, said: “Beneath the
foundation stone of the ILO's main office in Geneva lies a document on which is
written: if you desire peace, cultivate justice. There are few organizations that have
succeeded to the extent that the ILO has, in translating into action the fundamental
moral idea on which it is based.”

1977 - Multinational Enterprises Declaration

The Declaration intends to direct and guide multinational corporations in areas such as
training, employment, working conditions, industrial relations, and health and safety.

1982 - ILO promotes freedom of trade union in Eastern Europe

In 1981, the government of Poland dissolves the trade union Solidarnosc, which had
been founded in the previous year. The ILO gives full support to the legitimacy of
Solidarnosc in Poland. 

1992 - New programme to eliminate child labour

The ILO begins the International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour,
which goes on to contribute to save 86 million children from child labour.  

1998 - ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Workplace

Member countries agree to promote and respect the rights and principles relating to

(1) collective bargaining and freedom of association

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(2) condemning of child labour

(3) abolition of all kinds of forced labour

(4) fundamental principles and rights at workplace, regardless of whether they have
accepted the relevant conventions or not.

2008 - The Declaration on Social Justice for a Fair Globalisation

The declaration encourages work through four objectives that are interlinked and
mutually supportive:

(1) employment creation

(2) social protection

(3) fundamental principles and rights at work

(4) social dialogue.

2009 - The Global Jobs Pact

The Global Jobs Pact urges governments to make job creation a priority in their
policies with respect to economic recovery and extend the social protection of workers
along with their families.

2015 - Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

The 4 pillars of decent work become important elements of the Sustainable

Development 2030 Agenda: employment creation and enterprise development, rights at
work, social dialogue and social protection. SDG 8 is dedicated specifically to decent
work.

2019 - ILO centenary

On the auspicious occasion of the 100th anniversary of ILO, an independent report is

published with recommendations and trends on the world of work and the future.

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Interviews

In an interview with us, Mr. Raghunath Pandey, President, Jusco Shramik Union, quoted
that “Management and Union are two faces of the same coin”. According to him, along with
collectively bargaining for its demands, the union must support the management in
performing its activities because both ultimately strive for the wellbeing of the organisation.
The articles of the ILO ensure the basis of this collective bargaining. As provided by the ILO,
he is constantly striving to protect the rights of the permanent employees by trying to limit
the hiring of the contract workers. He introduced a new grade of employees which enjoyed all
the benefits of the permanent workers in order to combat the growing number of contract
workers. He has also started the ‘Naukri chodo, Naukri paao’ scheme in Tata Steel so that the
wards of the existing employees would be preferred over the new contract workers. He is also
working for the abolishment of discrimination at workplace as stated by the ILO. Ladies have
been allowed to work in Shift B and Shift C as well. They are being provided with the best of
facilities and security.

In an interview with us, Mr. M. H. Hiramanek, Deputy President of the Tata Robins Fraser
Labour Union mentioned that they strongly follow the guidelines set by the ILO. To abolish
gender discrimination as prescribed by the ILO, the union not only pushed the management
to recruit female employees on the shop floor, but also provided for better female washrooms
and a creche facility. One position on the union leaders committee was also reserved for a
woman candidate so that the woman employees would be comfortable to raise their
grievances. Mr. Hiramanek also spoke about ILO’s advisory assistance in dealing with the
issue of increased contract workers. According to him, the union constantly faces a trade off
between the rights of the permanent employees and the contract workers. Since his union’s
objective is the welfare of each and every employee, it becomes extremely difficult for him to
juggle between the demands of the management, permanent employees and the contract
workers.

We also spoke to Mr. Prakash Gangal, retired President of State Bank of India Employee
Union. He mentioned that ILO functions an advisory body and did not interfere in the daily
functions of the Union. Also, it did not provide exclusive support during employee strikes.

Mr. Sharad Gangal, Professor of Comparative Industrial Relations in TISS, Mumbai. He

gave us an insight into the functions of ILO. He spoke about some of the articles and the

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preview of ILO. He also mentioned that some of the provisions were contradictory to that of
WTO eg. labour market flexibility.

Mr. Suresh Gulgule, retired President Works, International Tyres and Bedrock mentioned
that he had started his career as shift worker and climbed his way up through the ranks. Since
he had no formal education relating to management or labour laws, he found it very difficult
to deal with strong union leaders such as Dattaji Salvi, R. J. Mehta, Dr. Datta Samant and
Prabhakar Sansgiri. ILO, during that time, used to issue monthly journals containing basic to
advanced information regarding its articles. With the help of these journals, he became
competent to face the technicalities regarding pressures and strikes of the unions. On two
occasions, he was able to prevent violent protests by declaring lockouts. On the
recommendations of the ILO, he started many employee welfare activities like appointing a
doctor in the factory, conducting sessions for the workers regarding information about
procurement of loans and helping them with the bank procedures, initiation of sports and
recreational activities. He was also able to gain enough knowledge from the ILO journals in
order to negotiate with the unions about wage rises.

Case Study: Child Labour in Myanmar

Child labour is an evil that deprives many of a happy childhood. In Myanmar, it has long
been a menace. Rory Mungoven, Liaison Officer of ILO, said the following on World Day
against Child Labour, marked on June 12-

“Myanmar is facing up to the massive challenge of child labour and making it a national
priority. A first priority should be to keep children out of hazardous forms of work and
improve the safety conditions for those young people who are working”.

As Figure 1 shows, almost 13 million children, or roughly 10% of the population, are facing
this problem in one way or another. Out of all the industries, agriculture, forestry and fishing
is the biggest contributor and employs more than 60% of all the working children. However,
this is mostly in the rural regions. In urban areas, wholesale and retail trade is the industry
where most of the children are working. This problem gets especially intensified when over
half the working children are working in hazardous work conditions such as mining and
quarrying.

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Figure 1: Data taken from Myanmar Labour Force Survey-2015

Unlike almost any other country, child labour in Myanmar is practiced openly and widely
accepted socially as a normal business practice. More than being normalized, this practiced is
caused due to poverty. Often times, poor children are forced to work in nights with only an
hour off for breaks.

This incident happened in a garment factory, where children were also forced to sleep on
concrete floors in the work premises itself and then asked to resume work again in the
morning. They were often sustaining injuries due to harmful chemicals that were being used
in the production process. Not only this, but there were not even basic amenities such as
drinking water or functional washrooms present in many of the factories. Children were
working 10 hours continuously and suffering from fatigue. After these children were
discovered, the brand, FWF, and several local NGOs took remedial actions.

In December 2013, Myanmar ratified the ILO Convention #182 on the worst forms of child
labour. Their Government is taking ILO’s help to finalize their 1st National Action Plan on
Child Labour. Most importantly, this list will help clarify what all work falls under the
hazardous category and is not suitable for children under 18 to do. In February, two years
ago, the government set up the “National Committee for the Eradication of Child Labour”
whose chair will be the Vice-President. This committee will also have people representing
employers, workers, key ministries and also the general public in large.

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However, it’s not only the ILO who is working to ensure that the situation improves in
Myanmar. EU, under its “Everything But Arms” (EBA) is strengthening its trade ties with
Myanmar, all the while helping them work on improving compliance with labour rights and
human rights conventions. The European Union will go on engaging with the government of
Myanmar including the EBA engagement. Even forums involving multiple nations such as
UNGA and ILO are involved in this process of setting the path forward. The ILO is
considering and recommending additional restrictive measures to member countries to target
and spur progress on all issues of concern.

Another major contributor has been USA, which is implementing three five-year projects in
collaboration with the government of Myanmar. These are aimed to speed up the integration
of ILO Convention #138- which involves minimum age and abolition of child labour. The
minimum age to work is 13-15 under this convention. On the other hand, 1.12 million
children between 5 to 17 are currently working in Myanmar.

All these efforts, along with continued pressure from ILO are ensuring that, as each day
passes, child labour and forced labour is being eradicated step by step. Myanmar, which has
also been in the limelight for various crimes against humanity in areas like Rakhine, cannot
stand against the peer pressure. It becomes immensely critical for Myanmar to take stringent
and effective action since it cannot afford the geo-political and economic ramifications of
being in the wrong books of world superpowers.

Future Goal posts and what lies ahead

The future of work

There are new forces transforming the world of work which call for decisive action.
Technological advances will lead to creation of new jobs, but those who lose their jobs in this
transition may not be the most equipped to take advantage of the new opportunities. The
skills of today will not match tomorrow’s jobs and new skills may become obsolete quickly.
As we adopt more sustainable practices, it will create millions of jobs but some other jobs
will disappear as countries close down their carbon and resource intensive industries.
Demographic changes are also significant. Flourishing youth populations in some countries
and aging populations in others may place pressure on social security systems and labour

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markets. However, herein lie new possibilities to afford care and active societies. There is a
need to seize the opportunities that these transformative changes bring to create a brighter
future and deliver equal opportunity, economic security and social justice.

Reinvigorating the social contract

This requires action on the part of governments as well as organizations. They need to
reignite the social contract that gives the workers a just share of economic prosperity, respect
for their rights and protection against risk in exchange for their contribution to the economy.
Social dialogue might play an important role here.

A human-centred agenda

ILO proposes a human-centred agenda for future work that strengthens the social contract by
placing people and their work at the centre of business practice and economic and social
policy. This agenda consists of three pillars of action:

1. Increasing investment in people’s capabilities

 A universal entitlement to learning lifelong which enables people to acquire skills,
reskill and upskill. Lifelong learning includes formal or informal learning from
childhood and basic education through to adult learning. Governments, workers
and employers, as well as educational institutions, all have responsibilities in
building an effective and appropriate lifelong learning ecosystem.
 Increasing investments in the institutions, policies and strategies that will support
people as future work transforms. All types of workers will need support through
the rising number of labour market transitions in the future. Labour market
policies need to become proactive and public employment services need to be
broadened.
 Implementing a transformative and measurable agenda for gender equality.
Policies need to take into account the sharing of unpaid care work in the home to
create genuine equality of opportunity at work. Women empowerment,
eliminating harassment at work and implementing pay transparency policies are
prerequisites for gender equality.
 Providing universal social protection from childhood to old age.

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2. Increasing investment in the institutions of work

 Establishing a Universal Labour Guarantee. All workers, irrespective of their

contractual arrangement or employment status, should enjoy fundamental
workers’ rights, an adequate wage, safety and health and limits on working hours
at work.
 Expanding time sovereignty. Workers should be provided greater autonomy over
their working time, while meeting the company’s needs. Leveraging technology to
increase flexibility and achieve work life balance can help them achieve this goal
and address the pressures that may come in future. It will take constant efforts to
implement maximum limits on work time and minimum hour guarantees to create
genuine choices for flexibility.
 Ensuring collective representation of employers and workers via social dialogue
and promoted through public policies. All employers and workers must enjoy the
right to collective bargaining and freedom of association, with the State protecting
those rights.
 Managing technology for decent work. This means managers and workers
deciding the design of work. It also implies taking a “human-in-command”
approach to artificial intelligence which ensures that final decisions regarding
work are taken by human beings.

3. Increasing investment in decent and sustainable work

 Incentivising investments in key areas for decent and sustainable work. Such
investments will also promote gender equality and create millions of jobs and new
opportunities for MSMEs. The rise of the rural economy, where the future of
many workers lies, should be made a priority.
 Altering business incentive structures for longer investment horizons and
exploring additional indicators of human development and well-being. New
metrics of country progress need to be introduced to account for the various
dimensions of growth, the value of unpaid work performed as service in
households and communities and the externalities of economic activities.

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References

https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/aboutus/WCMS_166809/lang--en/index.htm
https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/lang--en/index.htm
https://labour.gov.in/lcandilasdivision/india-ilo
https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/ilo-india-releases-third-five-year-
programme-to-ensure-decent-work-for-all/story/293175.html
https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---dgreports/---
inst/documents/genericdocument/wcms_192566.pdf
https://www.ilo.org/newdelhi/info/public/sp/WCMS_735372/lang--en/index.htm

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