International Labor Standards International Labor Standards Freedom of Association & Collective Bargaining Child Labor Discrimination and Equality Human Capital Forced Labor Acceptable Conditions of Work General Info

International Labor Standards
En Español

In 1995, the ILO identified four basic rights as "fundamental to the rights of human beings at work" and launched a campaign to increase the ratification of the conventions corresponding to these rights. The basic rights are:

• Freedom of association (Convention No. 87) and the right to organize and bargain collectively (Convention No. 98);
• Freedom from forced labor (Convention No. 29 and 105);
• Equal remuneration (Convention No. 100) and nondiscrimination in employment (Convention No. 111); and
• Abolition of child labor (Convention No. 138).

An additional child labor convention — addressing the "worst forms" (Convention No. 182) — ; was passed in 1999. As of October 2003, 75 percent of the 175 ILO member nations had ratified seven or more of these eight conventions (International Labour Organization, 2003). These eight conventions comprise the core labor standards.

In 1998 the ILO adopted a Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, committing ILO member nations to realize and achieve at the policy level the four basic rights as an obligation inherent in ILO membership, regardless of whether or not they have ratified conventions corresponding to those rights. The declaration addresses the principles and rights that are the subject of the eight "fundamental" conventions, but signing the declaration does not obligate a member government to carry out the detailed legal provisions of the conventions.

While the broad principles behind the four core international labor standards are fairly clear, what they mean in practice is not always obvious. In order to flesh out the meaning, the committee believes that it is necessary to begin with the work of the ILO and to review how the ILO interpretation of the concept of "core labor standards" has evolved. The ILO has 175 member nations. Its unique tripartite structure also includes representatives from national organizations of workers and employers.

Traditionally, the ILO has established international labor standards by formulating conventions, which are multilateral treaties that are binding on the countries that ratify them. Once a country ratifies a convention, it has an international obligation to implement the treaty in law and practice. To hold ratifying countries accountable for meeting their international obligations, the ILO has established a sophisticated supervisory system that includes ongoing reporting, dialogues with member nations, general complaints procedures, and a special procedure specifically for complaints related to freedom of association. This system is a key source of information on compliance with international labor standards, much of it available on the Internet.

The committee's starting point for interpreting the meaning of the four core international labor standards is the jurisprudence built up over the years by ILO experts as it relates to the eight fundamental conventions. The committee recognizes that elements of this jurisprudence remain controversial and unsettled, but there is no alternative consensus definition and, in general, it was not our role to rewrite the meaning of these standards.

Definition of Standards

Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining:

WebMILS uses ILO Convention No. 87 and No. 98 recognizing the three central components to the standard are freedom of association, the right to organize, and the effective recognition of the right to bargain collectively. While neither ILO Convention No. 87 nor No. 98 mentions the right to strike, a long tradition of ILO jurisprudence has established the right to strike as an essential component of collective bargaining.

Further discussion
Assessing Compliance

Forced Labor:

WebMILS uses the central definition of forced labor found in ILO Convention No. 29: all work or service that is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself or herself voluntarily. Below are the categories of forced labor, detailed within the further discussion.

• Slavery and Abductions
• Compulsory Participation in Public Works Projects
• Mandatory Forced Labor in Remote Areas
• Bonded labor
• Involuntary Labor Resulting from Trafficking in Persons
• Domestic Workers in Involuntary Labor Situations
• Prison Labor and Rehabilitation Through Work
• Other Forms of Forced Labor

Further discussion
Assessing Compliance

Child Labor:

ILO Conventions No. 138 and No. 182 distinguish between unacceptable "child labor" that is to be abolished and "child work" that may contribute to a child's healthy development. The Minimum Age Convention (No. 138) stipulates, "national legislation should fix a minimum age or ages at which children can enter into different types of work." Although the convention states that the general minimum age should not be less than the age for completing compulsory schooling and in any event should not be less than 15 years of ag — he ultimate aspiration being 16 year — t offers some flexibility for developing nations that are unable to meet this target by allowing them to set a minimum age of 14 until they are able to comply fully with the convention. Light work, defined as not likely to be harmful to children's health or development and not likely to be detrimental to their attendance at school or vocational training, may be allowed for children 12 and older, and nonhazardous work is allowed for children 15 and older. Hazardous work and the worst forms of child labor are never allowed for children.

Further discussion
Assessing Compliance

Discrimination and Equality: ILO Convention No. 100 addresses the need for "equal remuneration for men and women workers for work of equal value," an issue originally raised in the preamble to its constitution. Convention No. 111 is broader, both in terms of the grounds for and applications of discrimination that it prohibits. The later convention includes "terms and conditions of employment," including wages and benefits, and it bars discrimination, defined as "any distinction, exclusion, or preference...which has the effect of nullifying or impairing equality of opportunity or treatment in employment or occupation." There are seven prohibited grounds for discrimination: race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national extraction, and social origin.

Further discussion
Assessing Compliance

Acceptable Conditions of Work: Acceptable conditions of work differs fundamentally from the core international labor standards as there is no comparable international consensus supporting a defined set of standards governing its components of minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health. The committee proposes the following minimum, tractable, easily identifiable, and comparable list of indicators of acceptable conditions of work:

• a mechanism exists to establish minimum wages (based on ILO Convention No. 26);
• the regular workweek is 48 hours or less (based on ILO Conventions No. 1, 30, 47 and on widespread national law);
• the nation has and enforces a law providing for a specified number of paid holidays days each year for covered workers (based on ILO Conventions 52, 101, 132);
• all workers in covered jobs receive a full day of rest every 7 days (this expands ILO Convention No. 14, which applies only to industrial workers); and
• there is a mechanism for setting health and safety standards (ILO Convention No. 155).

Further discussion
Assessing Compliance

Human Capital: In the committee's analysis, human capital includes both formal education — ; that is, primary, secondary, and tertiary education offered through traditional schooling — ; and nonformal education and training that may be available to both children and adults. Nonformal programs may include, for instance, vocational training, apprenticeships, literacy programs, and other programs by which both children and adults can obtain learning and job skills.

Further discussion
Assessing Compliance