Dear {name}:

As you read this, I will be on my way back to the USA after spending two weeks in Geneva, Switzerland, attending the 114th International Labour Conference at the request of our Department of Labor (DOL). The International Labour Organization (ILO) was founded in 1920 under the auspices of the League of Nations as part of the Treaty of Versailles. The Preamble to the ILO Constitution is pretty straightforward with regard to its intentions and mission:

Whereas universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice;

And whereas conditions of labour exist involving such injustice, hardship and privation to large numbers of people as to produce unrest so great that the peace and harmony of the world are imperilled; and an improvement of those conditions is urgently required; as, for example, by the regulation of the hours of work including the establishment of a maximum working day and week, the regulation of the labour supply, the prevention of unemployment, the provision of an adequate living wage, the protection of the worker against sickness, disease and injury arising out of his employment, the protection of children, young persons and women, provision for old age and injury, protection of the interests of workers when employed in countries other than their own, recognition of the principle of equal remuneration for work of equal value, recognition of the principle of freedom of association, the organization of vocational and technical education and other measures;

Moreover, the ILO is a tripartite organization composed of employer, government, and worker delegations from each of its 187 member countries. Much of the work of the conferences involves reaching agreements or conventions that signatory countries can use to promulgate and enforce (to varying degrees)  agreed-upon labor standards. Given its mission and the work our U.S. Tech Workers organization has done to save jobs and improve the pay and job security of our country's white-collar professional workers, you might think I would be a natural choice for our workers' delegation. Sadly, you would be WRONG. Bureaucrats within the ILO Worker’s Group had different thoughts about who should be representing the interests of U.S workers.

As I process my experiences of the last two weeks, I will be publishing a piece or two to our Substack page. Stay tuned.

Onward,

Kevin Lynn

Executive Director, Institute for Sound Public Policy

Founder, U.S. Tech Workers