A—7a

1948 NEW ZEALAND

INTERNATIONAL LABOUR CONFERENCE REPORT OF GOVERNMENT DELEGATES ON THE THIRTY-FIRST SESSION, HELD AT SAN FRANCISCO, JUNE-JULY, 1948

To be Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives

INTRODUCTION The International Labour Organization was established in 1919 as part of the machinery for international co-operation set up within the framework of the League of Nations following the First World War. Its purposes are to raise world labour conditions through the fixing of international minimum standards, to equalize international competition, and, by promoting social justice in all countries, to help to secure universal and lasting peace. The International Labour Organization is financed by member Governments, but it is democratically controlled by representatives of organized employers and organized workers of the member States as well as by representatives of Governments. The machinery of the Organization consists of — (1) The International Labour Office, which is the Secretariat of the Organization, maintaining a permanent staff of international civil servants and providing a world centre for information, research, and advice on labour matters; (2) The Governing Body, composed of sixteen Government representatives and eight employers' and eight workers' members, which acts as the executive council of the Organization, exercising supervision over the work of the Office and framing the annual budget of the 1.L.0.; and (3) The International Labour Conference. The Conference, which normally meets once a year, is a world assembly for the consideration of labour and social questions. Each national delegation to the Conference comprises four delegates, two representing Government, one representing organized employers, and one representing organized workers. Each delegate may be accompanied by advisers, who shall not exceed two for each item on the Agenda. Each of these three sections speaks and votes independently of the others, so that all points of view find free expression.