347th session of the International Labour Organization Governing Body: outcomes and conclusions

On 23 March 2023, The Governing Body (GB) of the International Labour Organization (ILO) concluded its 347th session.
This particularly challenging session included topic issues for the world of work, from decent work in the platform economy and supply chains to the Russian aggression against Ukraine and the situations in Myanmar, Belarus, and Venezuela.

It ended with a Decision concerning the update on the Global Coalition for Social Justice aimed at allowing a high-level event on Social Justice to take place in the framework of the World of Work Summit during the 2023 International Labour Conference (ILC).

A normative gap analysis on decent work in the platform economy was one of the most critical items on the agenda. As a result, the GB decided to include the discussion on the agenda of the International Labour Conferences in 2025 and 2026. The Employers’ statement on the issue can be found here, while the decision point is available here.

Decent work in supply chains was also debated, and delegates requested the Office implement a comprehensive strategy to equip the Organization and tripartite constituents with the tools and guidance and promote national and international mandatory and voluntary measures to optimise the impact of the ILO’s work in this direction.

The GB recommended the Director-General´s proposal for the Programme and Budget 2024-2025 for adoption by the International Labour Conference at its 111th Session in June.

While reiterating its profound concern at the continuing aggression by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and the impact this aggression is having on tripartite constituents, it also urged once again the Russian Federation to meet all its obligations following its ratification of ILO Conventions.

The GB discussed four country cases (Venezuela, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Belarus), requesting the Government to accelerate the implementation of the commitments adopted in the action plan as updated by the Social Dialogue Forum in February 2023.

Finally, one of the most critical topics discussed for the first time in a session was the longstanding issue of the right to strike and the Committee of Experts’ extensive interpretation of ILO Convention 87. Workers, Employers, and Governments expressed their opposite views, the Chair called for a vote, and Sweden, on behalf of the EU, accepted the initial request of Employers and a large number of Governments and asked to postpone the discussion to a future GB session. This motion was widely approved, and this item will be further discussed in the following November GB session.

Here you can find the full IOE Report on the session.