The ILO (International Labor Organization) was set up in the year 1919, with an aim to improve the conditionsof

labors around the world.India was the founding member of ILO, which has now expanded its membershipto 145 nations. ILO through its conventions and recommendations helps nations to draw their own set of laborlaws for the better treatment of the working class, and the preservation of their rights. The principal means of action in the ILO is the setting up the International Labor Standards in the form of Conventions andRecommendations. Conventions are international treaties and are instruments, which create legally bindingobligations on the countries that ratify them. Recommendations are non-binding and set out guidelinesorienting national policies and actions. Labor Law regulates matters, such as, labor employment, remunerations, and conditions of work, tradeunions, and labor management relations. They also include social laws regulating such aspects ascompensation for accident caused to a worker at work, fixation of minimum wages, maternity benefits,sharing of the companys profit by the workers, and so on. Most of these legal instruments regulate rights andresponsibilities of the working people. The approach of India with regard to International Labor Standards has always been positive. The ILOinstruments have provided guidelines and useful framework for the evolution of legislative and administrativemeasures for the protection and advancement of the interest of labor. To that extent the influence of ILOConventions as a standard for reference for labor legislation and practices in India, rather than as a legallybinding norm, has been significant. Ratification of a Convention imposes legally binding obligations on thecountry concerned and, therefore, India has been careful in ratifying Conventions. It has always been thepractice in India that we ratify a Convention when we are fully satisfied that our laws and practices are inconformity with the relevant ILO Convention. It is now considered that a better course of action is to proceedwith progressive implementation of the standards, leave the formal ratification for consideration at a laterstage when it becomes practicable. We have so far ratified 39 Conventions of the ILO, which is much better than the position obtaining in many other countries.Even where for special reasons, India may not be in a position to ratify a Convention, India has generallyvoted in favor of the Conventions reserving its position as far as its future ratification is concerned.Core Conventions of the ILO: - The eight Core Conventions of the ILO (also called fundamental/human rightsconventions) are:Forced Labor Convention (No. 29)Abolition of Forced Labor Convention (No.105)Equal Remuneration Convention (No.100)Discrimination (Employment Occupation) Convention (No.111)(The above four have been ratified by India).Freedom of Association and Protection of Right to Organized Convention (No.87)Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining Convention (No.98)Minimum Age Convention (No.138) Worst forms of Child Labor Convention (No.182)(These four are yet to be ratified by India)Consequent to the World Summit for Social Development in 1995, the abovementioned Conventions (Sl.No.1to 7) were categorized as the Fundamental Human Rights Conventions or Core Conventions by the ILO. Lateron, Convention No.182 (Sl.No.8) was added to the list.As per the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work and its Follow-up, each Member State of the ILO is expected to give effect to the principles

contained in the Core Conventions of the ILO, irrespectiveof whether or not the Core Conventions have been ratified by them.Under the reporting procedure of the ILO, detailed reports are due from the member States that have ratifiedthe priority Conventions and the Core Conventions every two years. Under the Follow-up to the ILODeclaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, a report is to be made by each Member Stateevery year on those Core Conventions that it has not yet ratified.Active partnership policy & multi-disciplinary teamOne of the major reforms initiated recently is the launching of the Active Partnership Policy whose aim is tobring ILO closer to its constituents. The main instrument for implementation of the policy is the multi-disciplinary team, which will help identify special areas of concern and provide technical advisory services tomember States to translate ILOs core mandate into action. The multi-disciplinary team for SouthAsia isbased in New Delhi. It consists of specialists on employment, industrial relations, workers and employersactivity, small-scale enterprises and International Labor Standards.Child Labor LegislationsILOs interest in child labor, young persons and their problems is well known. It has adopted a number of Conventions and Recommendations in this regard. In India, within a framework of the Child Labor (Prohibitionand Regulations) Act, 1986 and through the National Policy on Child Labor, ILO has funded the preparation of certain local and industry specific projects. In two projects, viz. Child Labor Action and Support Programmes(CLASP) and International Programme on Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC), the ILO is playing a vital role. The implementation of IPEC programmes in India has certainly created a very positive impact towardsunderstanding the problem of child labor and in highlighting the need to elimination child labor asexpeditiously as possible. A major contribution of the IPEC programme in India is that it has generated acritical consciousness among all the 3 social partners for taking corrective measures to eliminate child labor. The effect of ILO on Labor legislation in IndiaWith the growth and expansion of factories and industries in the subcontinent beginning in the mid-nineteenth century, new avenues for employment were created, resulting in a gradual migration of the laborforce from rural areas to mills and factories located primarily in urban areas. At that time, in the absence of any state control or organization of the workers, the employers were less concerned about the needs of theiremployees; the work hours were too long, wages much below the subsistence level, and the workersemployment conditions were unsatisfactory. The situation led to the enactment of a number of legislationsbeginning from the year 1881. These include, inter alia, the Factories Act (1881), Workmens CompensationAct (1923), Trade Unions Act (1926), Trade Disputes Act (1929), Payment of Wages Act (1936), MaternityBenefit Act (1939), and the Employment of Children Act The Factories Act 1881 is the basis of all labor and industrial laws of the country. It contained provisions evenfor hours of work of women and workers including that of minimum age for employment of children. After theInternational Labor Organization (ILO) was formed in 1919, this Act was amended and thereafter repealed,resulting in the promulgation of the Factories Act 1934. It makes provision for safety, health and hygiene of the workers and special provision for women and juvenile workers. It also prohibits child

labor. It limits work of a child in factories, including the seasonal ones.Under the Mines Act 1923 which applies to workers employed in mines, the hours of work for personsemployed on surface are limited to ten per day and fifty four per week. The periods of work including restinterval shall not spread over more than 12 hours in any day. For workers employed underground, the dailylimit is nine hours per day. The Act does not contain provisions as to overtime work. No worker is to work in amine for more than six days a week. The Act does not provide for wages for the weekly rest day. The government of India set up an enquiry committee in 1926 to ascertain the loophole for irregularity of payment of wages to industrial workers. The Royal Commission on Labor appointed in 1929 considered thereports and suggestions of the aforesaid enquiry committee and recommended for enactment for preventionof maladies relating to payment of wages resulting in the promulgation of the Payment of Wages Act in 1936.It aimed, firstly, at disbursement of actual distributable wages to workers within the prescribed period and,secondly, to ensure that the employees get their full wages without any deduction. The Act was passed toregulate the payment of wages to certain classes of persons employed in industry. The object of the Actobviously was to provide a cheap and speedy remedy for employees to whom the Act applied inter alia, torecover wages due to them, and for that purpose, a special tribunal was subsequently created, but due tosome inherent defects in the statute the recovery of decree able wages remained difficult. The Weekly Holidays Act of 1942 prescribes one paid holiday a week for persons employed in any shop,restaurant or theatre (excepting those employed in a confidential capacity or in a position of management). The government is empowered to grant additional half-day holiday with pay in a week The Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 came into being on the 1st day of April 1947. The Act provided forestablishment of industrial tribunals by the appropriate government in British India. It established a full-fledged industrial tribunal for adjudication of industrial disputes for the first time The Industrial Employment (Standing Orders) Act, 1946 came into operation for the first time requiringemployers in industrial establishments employing 100 or more workmen to define the terms of employmentof workmen in the form of standing orders which should be in general conformity with the model standingorders incorporated in the Act. The Merchant Shipping Act, 1923 provided for an agreement between aseaman and the master of the ship regarding terms of serviceConclusion:Labor class is indeed one of the classes most vulnerable to exploitation if not the most. Most of the laborlegislations in India are pre constitutional. The concept of Fundamental Rights was introduced theConstitution. Although most of the pre constitutional legislations have been repealed or curtailed followingthe Doctrine of Eclipse and Doctrine of Severability, not a lot of changes have had to be made to the laborlaws that were well passed before the Constitution. The success of these labor legislations must be attributedto the ILO, as the guidelines issued by the ILO were formed the principles on which these legislations weredrawn. By observing the passage of Labor Legislations in India, through the various amendments andenactments, it is evident that the ILO did have a great impact on the Labor Laws in India. Many new laws