Abstract

AbstractThe expansion of the International Labour Organization (ILO’s) body of norms between 1945 and 1970 remains unique. However, little quantitative research has been done to date on how universalising ideas of the Declaration of Philadelphia of 1944 are reflected in the adoptions of the following period and are challenged by conflicting normative developments, such as the simultaneous evolution of segmenting instruments oriented towards a “Standard Employment Relationship” (SER) of a Global North origin. The article traces the adoption developments of ILO conventions and situates them along central historical developments (colonialism, changes in membership structure). It argues that the ILO helped to foster an ideal concept of employment, namely the SER, whose regulatory ideas stemmed historically from the Global North and became spread through worldwide ratifications of ILO conventions.

Highlights

  • Roosevelt invited the International Labour Organization (ILO) to the White House in 1941, he prepared the ILO for a post-war task in which the organisation would “have an essential part to play in building up a stable international system of social justice for all peoples everywhere” (Deacon 2015, 46)

  • The ILO responded by creating a comprehensive portfolio of standards ready to be ratified by every member

  • In the Declaration of Philadelphia from 1944, the ILO declared that labour is not a commodity (International Labour Conference 1944, I, a) and committed to an inclusive understanding of labour rights

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Summary

Introduction

When the president of the United States Franklin D. The establishment of the ILO in 1919 as part of the League of Nations and later as an agency of the United Nations in combination with the independence movements in the aftermath of World War II meant that the third wave of labour legislation expansion took the shape of universalism It was only after the Declaration of Philadelphia that the ILO broadened the scope of labour regulation by including “all nations, developed as well as less developed, with worldwide coverage, including former colonies as well as independent nations” (International Labour Conference 1944, II, a). Freedom of expression and association, as well as collective bargaining, were deemed crucial to the effective implementation of the goals of the Declaration (III, e) These were new rights in former colonies and in former communist and socialist countries and helped to distribute an understanding of workers’ representation stemming from the industrialised member countries of the Global North. Still an influential principle today, it was prominently reaffirmed several times

Of Old and Not So New Members
Structure of Adopted Instruments that Came into Force After 19453
23 Final Articles 46
Conclusion

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