Ryder re-elected ILO DG

The Governing Body of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) has re-elected Guy Ryder as Director-General for a second five year-term to start on October 1, 2017.

Guy Ryder received 54 of the 56 votes cast by the titular members of the ILO’s Governing Body. The vote was conducted at the ILO’s headquarters in Geneva. He was the only candidate.

“I thank the Governing Body members for their renewed confidence. My second term will start as the world of work is undergoing unprecedented and transformative change. One asset that we have to master this change is our unique tripartite structure: government, employer and worker representatives will play a key role in shaping the future of work and reasserting social justice as the pole star of international policy making,” Ryder said after his re-election.

Warning that “the denial of social justice on a deeply disturbing scale constituted a real threat to stability and eventually peace in our societies.”

The head of the ILO called on its members to make the Organization a leader in delivering the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development  through decent work.

Guy Ryder, who is the 10th ILO Director-General – has some thirty-five years of experience in the world of work, most of it at the international level.

He was first elected as ILO Director-General in May 2012 and took over from Juan Somavia in September 2012.

Since his election, Ryder has strengthened the role of the ILO in the G20, with the BRICS and the g7+ group of fragile and conflict-affected countries. The ILO has also developed new initiatives with the World Bank and moved its Decent Work Agenda  to the centre-stage of the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

Guy Ryder started his career at the International Department of the Trade Union Congress in London. In 1998, he joined the ILO in Geneva, as Director of the Bureau for Workers’ Activities. In 2010, he was named Executive Director responsible for International Labour Standards and Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work before becoming ILO Director-General in 2012.

Born in Liverpool (UK) in 1956, he was educated at the universities of Cambridge and Liverpool.