USCIB’s Goldberg Presides at 2015 International Labor Conference

Ronnie Goldberg speaks at the closing ceremony of the 2015 ILC.

Every year, USCIB organizes the American Employers’ delegation to the International Labor Conference (ILC), the highest decision-making body of the International Labor Organization (ILO) which brings together government delegates from the organization’s 185 member states, representatives from workers’ organizations and employers’ organizations such as the International Organization of Employers (IOE). USCIB is the American affiliate of the IOE.

With this year’s ILC underway, which runs from June 1 to June 13, Ronnie Goldberg, USCIB’s senior counsel, is serving as the employer’s co-chair during the proceedings.

Noteworthy projects of the 2015 ILC include an item proposed by global employers, led by the International Organization of Employers (IOE), is the Committee on the Transition from the Informal to the Formal Economy, which will conclude its two-year work on a draft Recommendation to governments on facilitating transitions to more formal economies. In addition, the conference covered discussions on building enabling environments for small- and medium-sized enterprises and on ILO’s work on social protection, focused on labor inspection.

During his opening address to the ILC, ILO Director General Guy Ryder called for a global debate on the future of work. “The issues of jobs, equity, sustainability, human security, labor mobility, social dialogue, which need to be tackled in a future of work initiative, are almost by definition the key policy issues of our time,” said Ryder.

The proposed initiative would be structured around four conversations: work and society; the organization of work and production; decent jobs for all; and the governance of work. Subsequently, a high-level commission on the future of work would prepare a report to the ILO’s centenary Conference in 2019.

Also on June 1, Ryder, Goldberg and other ILO delegates signed a signature panel symbolizing support for the “50 for Freedom campaign” to end modern-day slavery. The campaign’s goal is to encourage 50 member states to ratify, by 2018, a protocol to the ILO Forced Labor Convention.

Read more: IOE Stresses B20 Recommendations for Skills Development and Inclusive Labor Markets

Staff Contact:   Ronnie Goldberg

Senior Counsel
Tel: 212.703.5057

Ronnie Goldberg advises USCIB’s president and CEO on strategic matters and represents American business at several high-level forums. She currently serves as the U.S. employer representative on the International Labor Organization’s Governing Body, and chairs the BIAC Employment, Labor, and Social Affairs (ELSA) Committee.
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