International Labour Organization

Also called the ILO. An agency of the United Nations that seeks to promote and standardize labor practices. It makes recommendations to member states and calls for the elimination of child labor, slavery, and discrimination. It also promotes the right to unionize. It was established in 1919 and is based in Switzerland.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

an organization run by the UNITED NATIONS whose basic remit is to assist in the improvement of social and working conditions throughout the world. The ILO provides technical assistance to countries with manpower training, advises governments on labour standards and work practices, and publishes regular series of international labour statistics.

International Labour Organization (ILO)

a special agency of the UNITED NATIONS whose objective is to promote an improvement in living standards and working conditions throughout the world, thereby facilitating social justice as a basis for securing world peace.

The functions of the ILO encompass all aspects of social and economic conditions affecting employment throughout the world. It promotes national labour standards and work practices but only in an advisory capacity as it has no legislative powers. It provides technical assistance in manpower training, social policy and administration, and encourages cooperation between labour groups. The ILO is also concerned with the collection and dissemination of international labour statistics and undertakes research on a variety of labour-related problems. See INTERNATIONAL LABOUR ORGANIZATION UNEMPLOYMENT MEASURE.

Collins Dictionary of Economics, 4th ed. © C. Pass, B. Lowes, L. Davies 2005

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References in periodicals archive

Ten years ago the International Labor Organization warned that long-term stability and prosperity would elude Afghanistan if employment, the kind that guarantees a regular income, wasn't made a key component of projects to reconstruct this war-ravaged country.

A dollar a day for working in Afghanistan

The International Labor Organization (ILO) claims that up to 51 million jobs globally could be lost due to the economic downturn in 2009, reports Reuters .

Up to 51 million jobs worldwide at risk

The researchers point out that foreign direct investment is positively correlated with the number of International Labor Organization conventions ratified, and that multinational investment "is positively correlated with the right to establish free unions, the right to strike, the right to collective bargaining, and the protection of union members." The study concludes: "In short, there is no solid evidence that countries with poorly protected worker rights attract [multinational companies]." So you can shop at The Gap with a good conscience.

Sweatshops forever: oppression raises wages

He is currently living in Geneva, Switzerland, working for the International Labor Organization (ILO) and completing a book, An Amateur's Guide to Running Effective Meetings.

Leadership camp suggestions for developing a more effective curriculum

The initiative includes a $7 million for the International Labor Organization's Program on the Elimination of Child Labor that will develop strategies to help former child soldiers in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Uganda, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Colombia.

U.S. to spend $13 million on former child soldiers. (Child & Family)

According to a report issued by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2000, 700 old ships end their lives every year on beaches in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, China, Vietnam and other Asian countries, where there are few environmental or worker protection laws.

Ship recycling: a cleaner, greener way to scrap large boats. (Currents)

The International Labor Organization reports that up to 9 million hotel and tourism workers could lose their jobs as a result of this slowdown.

The occidental tourist: hospitality has been a universal human virtue. Today travelers themselves have an equally important moral obligation to the people and places they visit. (culture in context)

Meanwhile, officials of the International Labor Organization, who visited Rangoon last month, were barred from meeting Suu Kyi.

Ran-goons: why isn't Burma on Bush's "Axis of Evil" list?

He would leave child labor, for example, to the International Labor Organization, though it has been working on the problem since its founding in the 1920's.

Jagdish Bhagwati, The Wind of the Hundred Days: How Washington Mismanaged Globalization

Chest X-rays must be interpreted by two B-readers according to the 1980 International Labor Organization (ILO) standard for pneumoconioses (43).

Lung Cancer in a Nonsmoking Underground Uranium Miner

International Labor Organization Publications Center, P.O.

"Workers without Frontiers: The Impact of Globalization on International Migration"

A report issued by the Geneva-based International Labor Organization concluded that many pension schemes in the developing world are in financial difficulty "simply because of an inability to collect all the revenues due to them, to invest any reserves wisely or to pay benefits promptly and in full."

Bracing for a New Wave of Retirees