International Labor Organizations

The thirty-second General Conference of the International Labor Organization closed on July 2, 1949 after adopting three new international labor conventions, revising five others, approving three recommendations, revising one recommendation and voting several resolutions on ILO policy. One of the conventions required ratifying countries to assure to workers the right to organize into trade unions and to bargain collectively. This convention complemented the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize adopted in 1948. The other two new conventions were designed to assure that workers employed in the execution of contracts entered into by public authorities had wages, hours of work and working conditions not less favorable than those generally prevailing in the industry; and to protect workers' wages by assuring that they were paid in full, in cash, promptly and directly to the workers. The revised conventions approved by the conference 1) established international minimum standards to protect persons migrating from one country to take employment in another (replacing a convention adopted in 1939); 2) provided for the gradual abolition or the regulation of employment agencies which charged fees and were operated for profit (replacing a convention adopted in 1933); 3) established vacations with pay for seafarers; 4) set standards for the accommodation of crews on board ship; and 5) fixed minimum wages and maximum hours for seafarers and set requirements for the manning of ships. The three recommendations supplemented the Convention of Labor Clauses in Public Contracts and the Convention on the Protection of Wages, and recommended standards on vocational guidance for young persons and employment counseling for adults.