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International Labour Conference: 16th-20th Sessions

The International Labour Conference through time

16th Session - 1932 (12-30 April)

Forty-nine States were represented. This number included twenty-seven European States and twenty-two non-European States. The delegates sent numbered 148 (85 were Government delegates, 32 employers' delegates, 31 workers' delegates). The number of advisers was 189. Thus, in all, 337 persons were officially accredited to the Conference. 

Source: Report of the Credentials Committee. 

President

Senator Gideon D. Robertson - Government Delegate of Canada

Vice-presidents

Mr Hammarskjöld, Swedish Government Delegate

Mr Theodore Schmidt, Austrian Employers' Delegate 

 Mr Kupers, Netherlands Workers' Delegate

Source: Minutes of the First Sitting.

I. Abolition of fee-charging employment agencies

II. Invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance

III. Age of admission of children to employment in non-industrial occupations

IV. Partial revision of the Convention concerning the protection against accidents of workers employed in loading or unloading ships

The Sixteenth Session of the International Labour Conference held twenty-one plenary sittings, and adopted two Recommendations and two Draft Conventions:

  • Recommendation (No. 40) for expediting Reciprocity as provided for in the Convention, adopted in 1932, concerning the Protection against Accidents of Workers employed in Loading or Unloading Ships;
  • Recommendation (No. 41) concerning the Age for Admission of Children to Non-industrial Employment;
  • Convention (No. 32) concerning the Protection against Accidents of Workers employed in Loading or Unloading Ships (revised 1932);
  • Convention (No. 33) concerning the Age for Admission of Children to Non-industrial Employment.

Record of Proceedings

World economic reconstruction: an analysis of the economic resolution adopted by the International Labour Conference

17th Session - 1933 (8-30 June)

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office upon the Working of the Convention Concerning the Age for Admission of Children to Employment in Agriculture

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office upon the Working of the Convention Concerning the Application of the Weekly Rest in Industrial Undertakings

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office upon the Working of the Convention Concerning the Compulsory Medical Examination of Children and Young Persons Employed at Sea

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office upon the Working of the Convention Concerning the Use of White Lead in Painting

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office upon the Working of the Convention Concerning Unemployment Indemnity in Case of Loss or Foundering of the Ship

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office upon the Working of the Convention Concerning Workmen’s Compensation in Agriculture

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office upon the Working of the Convention Fixing the Minimum Age for the Admission of Young Persons to Employment as Trimmers or Stokers

Forty-nine States Members of the Organisation were represented. This number included 27 European States, 11 Latin-American States, 7 Asiatic States, 2 African States, and Canada and Australia. The number of delegates sent was 159, 87 of these being Government delegates, 36 employers' delegates, and 36 workers' delegates. The advisers numbered 212. The total number of persons accredited to the Conference was thus 371. 

Source: Report of the Credentials Committee. 

President

Senator Giuseppe de Michelis, Ambassador of H.M. the King of Italy

Vice-presidents

Mr Creswell, Government Delegate of South Africa

Mra Cort van der Linden, Employers' Delegate of the Netherlands

Mr Hayday, Workers' Delegate of the British Empire.

Source: Minutes of the First Sitting.

I. Abolition of fee-charging employment agencies;

II. Invalidity, old-age, and widows' and orphans' insurance;

III. Unemployment insurance and various forms of relief for the unemployed;

IV. Methods of providing rest and alternation of shifts in automatic sheet-glass works;

V. Reduction of hours of work: report of the Tripartite Preparatory Conference.

The Seventeenth Session of the International Labour Conference held twenty-six plenary sittings, and adopted two Recommendations and seven Draft Conventions:

  • Recommendation (No. 42) concerning employment agencies;
  • Recommendation (No. 43) concerning the general principles of invalidity, old-age and widows' and orphans' insurance;
  • Convention (No. 34) concerning fee-charing employment agencies;
  • Convention (No. 35) concerning compulsory old-age insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants;
  • Convention (No. 36) concerning compulsory old-age insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings;
  • Convention (No. 37) concerning compulsory invalidity insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants;
  • Convention (No. 38) concerning compulsory invalidity insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings;
  • Convention (No. 39) concerning compulsory widows' and orphans' insurance for persons employed in industrial or commercial undertakings, in the liberal professions, and for outworkers and domestic servants;
  • Convention (No. 40) concerning compulsory widows'and orphans'insurance for persons employed in agricultural undertakings.

18th Session - 1934 (4-23 June)

Forty-nine States Members of the Organisation were represented. The total number of delegates sent was 142, of whom 83 were Government delegates, 29 Employers' delegates, and 30 Workers' delegates. The advisers numbered 205, making the total number of persons accredited to the Conference 347.

Source: Report of the Credentials Committee. 

President

Senator Justin Godart, French Government

Vice-presidents

Dr Francisco Castillo Najera, Government Delegate of Mexico

Mr Gustave L. Gérard, Employers' delegate of Belgium

Mr. Edvard Johanson,  Workers' delegate of Sweden.

Source: Minutes of the First Sitting.

I. Reduction of hours of work;

II. Unemployment insurance and various forms of relief for the unemployed;

III. Methods of providing rest and alternation of shifts in automatic sheet-glass works;

IV. Maintenance of acquired rights and rights 'in course of acquisition under invalidity, old-age, and widows' and orphans' insurance on behalf of workers who transfer their residence from one country to another;

V. Workmen's compensation for occupational diseases: partial revision of the Convention concerning workmen's compensation for occupational diseases;

VI. Employment of women on underground work in mines of all kinds;

VII. Partial revision of the Convention concerning the employment of women during the night.

The Eighteenth Session of the International Labour Conference held twenty-five plenary sittings, and adopted one Recommendation and four Draft Conventions:

Record of Proceedings

19th Session - 1935 (4-25 June)

The number of States represented was 52: Europe 27, America 13, Asia 8, Africa 2, Oceania 2. The total number of delegates sent was 159, of whom 89 were Government delegates, 35 Employers' delegates, and 35 Workers' delegates. The number of advisers was 249. Thus, in all, 408 persons were duly accredited to attend the Conference.

Source: Report of the Credentials Committee. 

President

Colonel the Hon. Frederic Hugh Page Creswell, Government Delegate of the Union of South Africa 

Vice-presidents

Mr Paal Berg, Norwegian Government delegate

Mr Mircea, Rumanian Employers' delegate

Mr Jouhaux, French Workers' delegate

Source: Minutes of the First Sitting.

I. Maintenance of rights in course of acquisition and acquired rights under invalidity, old-age, and widows' and orphans' insurance on behalf of workers who transfer their residence from one country to another;

II. Employment of women on underground work in mines of all kinds;

III. Unemployment among young persons;

IV. The recruiting of labour in colonies and in other territories with analogous labour conditions;

V. Holidays with pay;

VI. Reduction of hours of work, with special reference to:

(a) Public works undertaken or subsidised by Governments;

(b) Iron and steel;

(c) Building and contracting;

(d) Glass-bottle manufacture;

(e) Coal mines;

VII. Partial revision of the Hours of Work (Coal Mines) Convention, 1931.

The Nineteenth Session of the International Labour Conference held thirty plenary sittings, and adopted one Recommendation and five Draft Conventions:

Record of Proceedings

20th Session - 1936 (4-24 June)

Report of the Governing Body of the International Labour Office: Upon the Working of the Convention (No. 19) Concerning Equality of Treatment for National and Foreign Workers as Regards Workmen’s Compensation for Accidents

The number of States represented was 51: Europe - 27; America - 13; Asia - 7; Africa - 2; Oceania - 2. The total number of delegates sent was 161, of whom 91 were Government delegates, 35 Employers' delegates, and 35 Workers' delegates. The number of advisers was 256. Thus, in all, 417 persons were duly accredited to attend the Conference.

Source: Report of the Credentials Committee. 

President

Dr C. V. Bramsnaes, Danish Government Delegate

Vice-presidents

Mr John G. Winant, Government delegate of the United States of America

Dr Josef Vanëk, Czechoslovak Employers' delegate

Mr Corneille Mertens, Belgian Workers' delegate

Source: Minutes of the First Sitting.

I. The regulation of certain Special systems of recruiting workers;

II. Holidays with pay;

III. Reduction of hours of work on public works undertaken or subsidised by. Governments;

IV. Reduction of hours of work in the building and civil engineering industry;

V. Reduction of hours of work in iron and steel works;

VI. Reduction of hours of work in coal mines;

VII. Reduction of hours of work in the textile industry;

VIII. Safety provisions for, workers in building construction with reference to scaffolding and hoisting machinery. 

The Twentieth Session of the International Labour Conference held twenty-five plenary sittings, and adopted two Recommendations and three Draft Conventions:

Record of Proceedings