The League of Nations

The International Labour Conference, 1929

ThE Twelfth Session of the International Labour Conference happened to open on the day of the General Election in this country, and it would be idle to deny that the result of the Election had some effect at Geneva.

• The coincidence of dates made the new Government's welcome declaration of its intention to ratify the Washington Hours Convention its first executive action, and together with the telegram of good wishes sent by the Prime Minister was naturally taken as an earnest of its general policy of support of the League and I.L.O. To accuse the Prime Minister of making a " dramatic gesture " is to forget that internationally the Conference was the proper place and time at which to make the declaration.

NEW QUESTIONS DEBATED.

No fewer than fifty countries were represented at the Session. This unprecedented attendance is attributable to the fact that " Forced Labour " was on the agenda (though it must be noted with regret that in a number of instances the delegations were representative only of the Governments and not of employers and workers). A previous article in the Spectator has ably reviewed the steps which led to this first Native Labour " question coming before the Conference. It must be repeated, however, that the task of the delegates was only to agree upon the terms of a questionnaire to be sent to the Governments, the replies to which will furnish the basis for a final and formal decision—Draft Convention or Re- commendation—to be adopted in 1930. This is in accordance with the existing procedure of the Conference, but it may perhaps be alleged that delegates are still inclined to confound the questions with the conjectured answers and to indulge in detailed debates which might come more fittingly at the later stage.

In the case of Forced Labour, the workers' members of the Committee, to which the I.L.O. Report on the subject was referred, presented a Minority Report, which urged the atiop- tion of several new questions, notably relating to Trade Union Liberty, to Hours of Work, to the creating of a permanent Native Labour Committee to perform duties not dissimilar (in a different field) from those of the Mandates Commission, and to the propriety of imposing taxation as an indirect means of compelling labour. Although the discussions pro- duced some rather outspoken remarks, it may be said that the general result is satisfactory ; the Conference decided that the questionnaire should cover the first three of the Minority amendments mentioned above, but it does not necessarily follow that the ultimate Convention will do so. However meritorious in themselves, they seem to go too far for many of the Governments, and it would be a pity to carry dislike of the half-loaf to the extremity of starvation.

The second item in the same preliminary stage was that of " Hours of Work of Salaried Employees." A very large Conunittee examined the draft questionnaire ; the chief feature of 'its work was perhaps the efforts of the British delegates (the Government and workers seemed to find here that they had something in common, though the employers continued to the end to maintain that the subject is not ripe for international action) so to frame the questions that points which have given difficulty in connexion with the Washington Hours Convention (which, of course, refers only to industry), at least shall not be overlooked in the case of salaried employees. Perhaps it is not unreasonable to foretell that the replies of the Governments will lead next year to the adoption of a Convention limited to certain specific categories, such as shops and warehouses.

The question of " Prevention of industrial accidents " was discussed a first time in 1928, and therefore was this year in its final stage. Two Recommendations, a Resolution, and a Draft Convention were adopted. The main Recommendation is 'of a general character (to which &mist be attributed the fact that the decision did not take the more imperative form of a Con- vention) and is in three parts, dealing respectively with research into the causes of accidents, co-operation between the State, employers and workers, and the legal obligations to be imposed on employers and workers. The discussions in

Committee revealed considerable differences of. view ; the British Government in particular proposed a number of amendments intended to strengthen the Draft submitted by the Office, some of which the Committee was not prepared to accept. In plenary Session the Conference decided that the scope of the Recommendation should extend to agricultural and maritime workers. In the case of a Convention this might have led to a failure, but in the case of a Recommendation is, of course, a less serious obstacle to effective action. The second Recommendation deals with responsibility for the pro- tection of power-driven machinery, and the Resolution pro.. poses the convening of a Conference of experts in accident prevention and accident statistics.

" Prevention of Accidents in the loading and unloading of ships " was also in the final stage, and here perhaps the Con- ference achieved its most remarkable result. The Draft Con- vention on the subject is almost as detailed as existing British regulations and very closely follows them. It is a notable step in the work of " levelling up " the backward countries, for which a major share of the credit goes to the British workers' representative, Mr. Bevin. The British employer in this case abstained from the formal vote. The text is not one which can be summarized, and the layman' may fmd much in it which he will not understand ; in other words, it is a detailed technical document, perhaps unique amongst international treaties. Two Recommendations also were adopted.

TUE REPORT ON UNEMPLOYMENT.

A fourth Committee studied the I.L.O. Report on Unem• ployment, which recently was reviewed in the Spectator. A lengthy resolution was passed, laying down the lines which the I.L.O. should follow in its future research, but also includ- ing, a more positive proposal—namely, the inclusion in the Agenda of the Conference (preferably in 1930) of the question of Unemployment in the Coal Industry.

Something should be said of the efforts made to improve the machinery of Conference. " Standing Orders " is not a subject to arouse popular interest, and it must therefore suffice to say that new proposals have been adopted which are intended to remove the complications of the present pro- cedure without diminishing the care taken to prevent hasty or ill-considered decisions. A more spectacular side of the science of Conference is the well-known " telephonic inter- pretation " system. This has been extended and improved, and further refinements have also been introduced, such as a screen upon which the texts of amendments, &e., are pro- jected during debate. Nothing impresses the onlooker more than the effort which the I.L.O is making to eliminate Babel ; no institution which has to hold or organize international Conference can afford to-day to be ignorant of the work of the I.L.O. in this field.

THE PROGRESS OF INTERNATIONALISM.

The scrutiny of the Reports made annually by the Govern- ments upon their enforcement of Conventions which they have ratified is part of the machinery not of Conference but of internationalism itself. The Committee has grown in strength and authority, and the Governments seem to find that their dignity does not suffer from frankness; The system in fact now offers a very, real guarantee against the failure of States to fulfil their accepted obligations, and it is a pity that this important development receives comparatively little notice in this country. The workers may suspect that the work of the Committee is too circumscribed by diplomatic reticence ; if so, one may wonder why the Trade Unions do not increase their use of their own international opportunities to study the degree of enforcement in the different countries.

The Director's Report as usual gave rise to an interesting discussion, in which over fifty speakers took part. Here, too, is a deyelopment which often escapes notice ; the Conference has imperceptibly come to be not merely a machine for creating international instruments but also an international parliament, where ideas find expression, and thought and speech are the seeds of future action. M. K.