Chapter I.—Organisation (Art. 387 to 399)

Article 1 [387].

1.

A permanent organisation is hereby established for the promotion of the objects set forth in the Preamble.

2.

The original Members of the League of Nations shall be the original Members of this organisation, and hereafter membership of the League of Nations shall carry with it membership of the said organisation.

[Page 698]

Note to XIII, 1 [387]

COMPREHENSIVE LIST OF INTERNATIONAL LABOR ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP

[Page 699]

Afghanistan	Sept. 26, 1934
Albania	Dec. 17, 1920
Argentine Republic	Jan. 16, 1920
Australia	Jan. 10, 1920
Austria	Oct. 30, 1919
Belgium	Jan. 10, 1920
Bolivia	Jan. 10, 1920
Brazil	Jan. 10, 1920
Bulgaria	Dec. 16, 1920
Canada	Jan. 10, 1920
Chile	Jan. 10, 1920
China	July 16, 1920
Colombia	Feb. 16, 1920
Costa Rica	Dec. 16, 1920–Dec. 31, 1926
Cuba	Mar. 8, 1920
Czechoslovakia	Jan. 10, 1920
Denmark	Mar. 8, 1920
Dominican Republic	Sept. 29, 1924
Ecuador	Sept. 28, 1934
Egypt	May 26, 1938
Estonia	Sept. 22, 1921
Ethiopia	Sept. 28, 1923
Finland	Nov. 17, 1919
France	Jan. 10, 1920
Germany	Oct. 30, 1919–Oct. 20, 1935
Greece	Mar. 30, 1920
Guatemala	Jan. 10, 1920–May 25, 1938
Haiti	June 30, 1920
Honduras	Nov. 3, 1920–July 9, 1938
Hungary	Sept. 18, 1922
India	Jan. 10, 1920
Iran (Persia)	Jan. 10, 1920
Iraq	Oct. 3, 1932
Ireland (Irish Free State)	Sept. 10, 1923
Italy	Jan. 10, 1920–Dec. 9, 1939
Japan	Jan. 10, 1920–Nov. 2, 1938
Latvia	Sept. 22, 1921
Liberia	June 30, 1920
Lithuania	Sept. 22, 1921
Luxembourg	Nov. 24, 1919
Mexico	Sept. 12, 1931
Netherlands	Mar. 9, 1920
New Zealand	Jan. 10, 1920
Nicaragua	Nov. 3, 1920–June 26, 1938
Norway	Mar. 9, 1920
Panama	Nov. 25, 1920
Paraguay	Jan. 10, 1920–Feb. 23, 1935
Peru	Jan. 10, 1920
Poland	Jan. 10, 1920
Portugal	April 8, 1920
Rumania	Sept. 4, 1920
El Salvador	Mar. 10, 1920–Aug. 8, 1939
Siam (Thailand)	Jan. 10, 1920
South Africa, Union of	Jan. 10, 1920
Soviet Socialist Republics, Union of	Sept. 18, 1934–Dec. 14, 1939
Spain	Mar. 9, 1920
Sweden	Mar. 8, 1920
Switzerland	Jan. 10, 1920
Turkey	July 18, 1932
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (British Empire)	Jan. 10, 1920
United States	Aug. 20, 1934
Uruguay	Jan. 10, 1920
Venezuela	Mar. 3, 1920
Yugoslavia (Serb-Croat-Slovene State)	Feb. 10, 1920
Dates of membership are inclusive.

The first session of the International Labor Conference, which met in 1919 before the League of Nations was officially in existence, decided that it had authority to admit states to membership in the Organization. The following were admitted at that session:

Austria	October 30, 1919
Finland	November 17, 1919
Germany	October 30, 1919
Luxembourg	November 24, 1919

See the notes following the comprehensive list of League of Nations membership under article 1 of the treaty of peace with respect to the status of Austria, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Paraguay.

Japan ceased to be a member of the League of Nations on March 27, 1935 but continued its membership in the International Labor Organization until November 2, 1938.

Several states which withdrew from the League of Nations maintained their membership in the International Labor Organization, with or without notice to that effect.

[Page 700]

Article 2 [388].

The permanent organisation shall consist of:

(1)

a General Conference of Representatives of the Members and,

(2)

an International Labour Office controlled by the Governing Body described in Article 393.

Article 3 [389].

1.

The meetings of the General Conference of Representatives of the Members shall be held from time to time as occasion may require, and at least once in every year. It shall be composed of four Representatives of each of the Members, of whom two shall be Government Delegates and the two others shall be Delegates representing respectively the employers and the workpeople of each of the Members.

2.

Each Delegate may be accompanied by advisers, who shall not exceed two in number for each item on the agenda of the meeting. When questions specially affecting women are to be considered by the Conference, one at least of the advisers should be a woman.

3.

The Members undertake to nominate non-Government Delegates and advisers chosen in agreement with the industrial organisations, if such organisations exist, which are most representative of employers or workpeople, as the case may be, in their respective countries.

4.

Advisers shall not speak except on a request made by the Delegate whom they accompany and by the special authorization of the President of the Conference, and may not vote.

5.

A Delegate may by notice in writing addressed to the President appoint one of his advisers to act as his deputy, and the adviser, while so acting, shall be allowed to speak and vote.

6.

The names of the Delegates and their advisers will be communicated to the International Labour Office by the Government of each of the Members.

7.

The credentials of Delegates and their advisers shall be subject to scrutiny by the Conference, which may, by two-thirds of the votes cast by the Delegates present, refuse to admit any Delegate or adviser whom it deems not to have been nominated in accordance with this Article.

Article 4 [390].

1.

Every Delegate shall be entitled to vote individually on all matters which are taken into consideration by the Conference.

2.

If one of the Members fails to nominate one of the non-Government Delegates whom it is entitled to nominate, the other non-Government Delegate shall be allowed to sit and speak at the Conference, but not to vote.

3.

If in accordance with Article 3 [389] the Conference refuses admission to a Delegate of one of the Members, the provisions of the present Article shall apply as if that Delegate had not been nominated.

Article 5 [391].

The meetings of the Conference shall be held at the seat of the League of Nations, or at such other place as may be decided by the Conference at a previous meeting by two-thirds of the votes cast by the Delegates present.

Article 6 [392].

The International Labour Office shall be established at the seat of the League of Nations as part of the organisation of the League.

Article 7 [393].

[The International Labour Office shall be under the control of a Governing Body consisting of twenty-four persons, appointed in accordance with the following provisions:

[The Governing Body of the International Labour Office shall be constituted as follows:

[Twelve persons representing the Governments;

[Six persons elected by the Delegates to the Conference representing the employers;

[Six persons elected by the Delegates to the Conference representing the workers.

[Of the twelve persons representing the Governments eight shall be nominated by the Members which are of the chief industrial importance, and four shall be nominated by the Members selected for the purpose by the Government Delegates to the Conference, excluding the Delegates of the eight Members mentioned above.

[Any question as to which are the Members of the chief industrial importance shall be decided by the Council of the League of Nations.

[The period of office of the Members of the Governing Body will be three years. The method of filling vacancies and other similar questions may be determined by the Governing Body subject to the approval of the Conference.

[Page 702]

[The Governing Body shall, from time to time, elect one of its members to act as its Chairman, shall regulate its own procedure and shall fix its own times of meeting. A special meeting shall be held if a written request to that effect is made by at least ten members of the Governing Body.]

1.

The International Labour Office shall be under the control of a Governing Body consisting of thirty-two persons:

• Sixteen representing Governments,
• Eight representing the Employers, and
• Eight representing the Workers.

2.

Of the sixteen persons representing Governments, eight shall be appointed by the Members of chief industrial importance, and eight shall be appointed by the Members selected for that purpose by the Government Delegates to the Conference, excluding the Delegates of the eight Members mentioned above. Of the sixteen Members represented six shall be non-European States.

3.

Any question as to which are the Members of chief industrial importance shall be decided by the Council of the League of Nations.

4.

The persons representing the Employers and the persons representing the Workers shall be elected respectively by the Employers’ Delegates and the Workers’ Delegates to the Conference. Two Employers’ representatives and two Workers’ representatives shall belong to non-European States.

5.

The period of office of the Governing Body shall be three years.

6.

The method of filling vacancies and of appointing substitutes and other similar questions may be decided by the Governing Body subject to the approval of the Conference.

7.

The Governing Body shall, from time to time, elect one of its number to act as its Chairman, shall regulate its own procedure, and shall fix its own times of meeting. A special meeting shall be held if a written request to that effect is made by at least twelve of the representatives on the Governing Body.

Note to XIII, 7 [393]

The text of this article is that of an amendment adopted by the International Labor Conference on November 2, 1922, which came into force on June 4, 1934.

The Council of the League of Nations on September 30, 1922 decided that the eight members of the International Labor Organization at present of chief industrial importance were, in French alphabetical order: Germany, Belgium, Canada, France, Great [Page 703] Britain, India, Italy, and Japan. India was the member included as a result of the submission of the question to the Council. The decision was applicable to the next reconstitution of the Governing Body. The formula employed in evaluating “chief industrial importance” utilized index numbers of the following characteristics (League of Nations, Official Journal, 1922, pp. 1339–87, at p. 1357):

(1)

Industrial population (including mines and transport);

(2)

Relation of industrial population to total population;

(3)

Length of railway track;

(4)

Relation of railway track to area;

(5)

Horsepower used in industry;

(6)

Relation of horsepower to total population;

(7)

Size of mercantile marine.

At the eighty-ninth session of the Governing Body in 1940 it was decided not to replace the mercantile-marine factor in the index and to retain the criteria used since 1934–35, which were—

1.

The scale of contributions to the League of Nations, based on an index of national wealth;

2.

Industrial importance (population in industry, horsepower and production) based on League of Nations world index of industrial production;

3.

Value of foreign (export and import) trade;

4.

Total figures of occupied population.

States of chief industrial importance have been named to fill vacancies as follows: Belgium succeeded Italy in 1939; Canada succeeded Germany in 1935; China succeeded Japan in 1935; the Netherlands succeeded the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1944.

The United States became a state of chief industrial importance upon its accession to membership in 1934. After 1944 the eight states of that category were: Belgium, Canada, China, France, India, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States.

Article 8 [394].

1.

There shall be a Director of the International Labour Office, who shall be appointed by the Governing Body, and, subject to the instructions of the Governing Body, shall be responsible for the efficient conduct of the International Labour Office and for such other duties as may be assigned to him.

2.

The Director or his deputy shall attend all meetings of the Governing Body.

Article 9 [395].

The staff of the International Labour Office shall be appointed by the Director, who shall, so far as is possible with due regard to the efficiency of the work of the Office, select persons of different nationalities. A certain number of these persons shall be women.

Article 10 [396].

1.

The functions of the International Labour Office shall include the collection and distribution of information on all subjects relating to the international adjustment of conditions of industrial life and labour, and particularly the examination of subjects which it is proposed to bring before the Conference with a view to the conclusion of international conventions, and the conduct of such special investigations as may be ordered by the Conference.

2.

It will prepare the agenda for the meetings of the Conference.

3.

It will carry out the duties required of it by the provisions of this Part of the present Treaty in connection with international disputes.

4.

It will edit and publish in French and English, and in such other languages as the Governing Body may think desirable, a periodical paper dealing with problems of industry and employment of international interest.

5.

Generally, in addition to the functions set out in this Article, it shall have such other powers and duties as may be assigned to it by the Conference.

Article 11 [397].

The Government Departments of any of the Members which deal with questions of industry and employment may communicate directly with the Director through the Representative of their Government on the Governing Body of the International Labour Office, or failing any such Representative, through such other qualified official as the Government may nominate for the purpose.

Article 12 [398].

The International Labour Office shall be entitled to the assistance of the Secretary-General of the League of Nations in any matter in which it can be given.

[Page 705]

Article 13 [399].

1.

Each of the Members will pay the travelling and subsistence expenses of its Delegates and their advisers and of its Representatives attending the meetings of the Conference or Governing Body, as the case may be.

2.

All the other expenses of the International Labour Office and of the meetings of the Conference or Governing Body shall be paid to the Director by the Secretary-General of the League of Nations out of the general funds of the League.

3.

The Director shall be responsible to the Secretary-General of the League for the proper expenditure of all moneys paid to him in pursuance of this Article.