ILO head calls for the greening of the world of work

The Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO), Guy Ryder, has told delegates that nothing will more clearly distinguish the first hundred years of the ILO’s history from the second “than the necessary greening of the world of work”.

“Today,  the Paris Agreement and the national commitments made under its terms, together with the 2030 Agenda, provide a unique opportunity to translate the tripartite consensus we have constructed into large scale practical ILO work with member States,” Ryder said in his remarks to the 106th session.

Introducing his report to the ILC, this year entitled: Work in a Changing climate: the Green Initiative, Ryder said it “highlights the potential for greening of production to be a powerful engine for decent work creation and strong and balanced growth and development.”

“We need the right policies to make transition happen and to make it just,” he noted. “And like any process of change at work that will require the combined efforts of governments and of employers and workers through social dialogue.”

The Director-General also highlighted that the governance of labour migration is both a constitutional responsibility of the ILO and at the top of the international policy agenda, with the adoption of a Global Compact before the UN General Assembly next year. A special Conference committee will discuss labour migration and the challenge of governance this year, and its conclusions are expected to feed in to discussions at the UN.

“But everybody is needed to build governance that makes migration safe, orderly, and regular, and our opportunity for that starts here at this Conference,” he said.