The International Labour Organization: The next 100 years1

The International Labour Organization (ILO) has a highly contemporary and relevant mandate: a mandate for the promotion of social justice. The ILO has for a long time stood out among the community of international organizations because of that mandate along with its enabling structure of tripartism and its distinctive means of action, through discussion and Conventions, to drive change. Whilst this mandate and history are important, they are not sufficient in themselves to guarantee the ILO's future relevance. The organization has to develop policies which will enable it to prosecute its mandate in a world of work which is facing extremely difficult challenges. Surveying the origins of the ILO and four contemporary crises - in jobs and unemployment, social justice, values and multilateralism - this address offers a set of specific centenary initiatives' for the ILO and calls for not just the ILO tripartite constituents, but research centres, universities and others to contribute to a discussion about the future of work.