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Employers’ Group, International Labour Conference 14th Session, 1930 Employers’ Group, International Labour Conference 14th Session, 1930

The First Industrial Revolution transformed late 18th century manufacturing profoundly reshaping the world of work in the Western world. The change involved a shift away from decentralised work into factories and mills employing large numbers of workers. While productivity increased drastically and people’s living standards improved, the new working conditions created health risks and job insecurity.

By the end of the century, the demand for defined working conditions was supplemented by questions linked to social insurance.

This three-sided interaction between legislators, workers and employers at a level well beyond that of the individual business clearly called for structured organisations for both workers and employers.

Employers' Group First International Labour Conference
First steps before World War I

The evolution towards formal employer associations at the national level was well under way although not yet complete by the early 20th century. However, it was only a matter of time before thought would be given to international coordination of employer interests. The occasion for a first attempt was an international exhibition held in Turin in 1911.

1911

An Italian lawyer called Gino Olivetti decided to organise a congress in the margins of this trade fair, bringing together employer representatives from Austria, Belgium, France, Sweden and the United Kingdom, alongside their Italian counterparts.

Olivetti was one of the founding fathers of Confindustria, Italy’s national employer association, and was its first Secretary General from 1910 to 1934. He was also one of the original Employer Members of the ILO Governing Body. During his tenure as Member of the ILO Governing Body from 1923-1935, he declared his commitment to the organisation in the following way: “The ILO, whose development may seem too slow to some, too fast to others, has always striven to become the driving force behind the social policy of the whole world.”

Gino Olivetti, (Italy) lawyer and Secretary of the Confederation of Italian Industry and one of the organisers of a first meeting of employers in Turin in 1911
Gino Olivetti, (Italy) lawyer and Secretary of the Confederation of Italian Industry and one of the organisers of a first meeting of employers in Turin in 1911

The purpose was to gain an overview of the state of relations between employers and workers, and the stance of employers vis-à-vis social and labour legislation.

The effort required of society during the First World War, mainly in relation to wartime production, brought about links between employers and workers which would have been inconceivable just a few years earlier and prompted governments to devise a novel international system for post-War industrial peace in which the three main stakeholders would jointly shape the framework for and details of social policy.

This was to take place in the forum of the International Labour Organisation(ILO) comprising delegations of employers, workers and government representatives from member countries. Although largely absent from the peace negotiations in Versailles and initially surprised by the notion of tripartite governance, employers nevertheless came together at the First Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in Washington in October 1919.

1919

Employers’ Group First International Labour Conference, Washington DC, 1920
Employers’ Group First International Labour Conference, Washington DC, 1920

VOICES FROM THE PAST

“Although the Employers’ Group, for major reasons, was sometimes obliged to oppose him, he never doubted their wholehearted attachment to social peace, which is the very purpose of the activities of the International Labour Office.”

Hans Christian Oersted, Chairman of IOIE Executive Committee from 1929-1949, speaking at the funeral of the first ILO Director-General Albert Thomas
Hans Christian Oersted
Getting organised

Employers were struck by the level of organisation achieved by the trade unions, thanks to their experience of international conferences and associations dating back over many years. By contrast, employers were ill-prepared and conscious of their shortcomings in this new situation. Some of the ideas and projects developed at the Turin congress were dusted off and it was decided to set up a body to provide employers with support in the context of ILO conferences.

Jules Carlier
Jules Carlier 1st International Labour Conference, October 1919

This was to be headed by Jules Carlier (who was also Chairman of the ILO Employers’ Group), with Jules Lecocq acting as secretary. A working party comprising the presidents of two employer associations and three industrialists was also put in place. The International Organisation of Industrial Employers (IOIE) was formally constituted during a meeting of the ILO Governing Body on 22 March 1920, with a General Assembly convened in October of the same year in Brussels.

“What patience, and at the same time what energy, must be displayed by a President, even one so respected, in order to maintain harmony between so many discordant ideas and trends.” This is how Pierre Waline, one of the leaders of the French employer association, the Union of Metallurgical and Mining Industries (UIMM), described the negotiating and visionary talents of IOE’s first president, Jules Carlier from 1920-1921.

Jules Carlier
Jules Carlier, (Belgium) Chairman of the Executive Committee (1920-1929)

Throughout the interwar period, IOIE leadership returned repeatedly to the question of whether the organisation should expand its mandate beyond support to ILC and, if so, in which directions.

IOE Executive Committee 1926 – Prague
IOE Executive Committee 1926 – Prague

Early experience with ILO and its instruments demonstrated the limits of this tripartite international body if it sought to proclaim unduly detailed social policy aspirations without giving full consideration to the political and economic leeway for individual Governments to ratify them.

VOICES FROM THE PAST

“The leaders of the French association fully understand the usefulness of, and the need for, an understanding between employers so that they can close their ranks and plan their strategy in advance when they attend international meetings…”

Louis Guérin,French industrialist and member of Employers’ Group to First ILC
Employers’ Group, International Labour Conference 7th Session, 1925
Employers’ Group, International Labour Conference 7th Session, 1925

IOE founding members

17 employer organisations from 16 countries were the founding members of IOE.

  • The Central Industrial Council of Belgium (Belgium)
  • The Dansk Arbejdsgiverförening (Denmark)
  • The Confederación Patronal Española (Spain)
  • The Arbetsgivarnas i Finland Centralförbund (Finland)
  • The Confédération générale de la production française (France)
  • The National Confederation of Employers’ Organizations of Great Britain (UK)
  • The Confederazione Generale dell’Industria Italiana (Italy)
  • The Norsk Arbeidsgiverförening (Norway)
  • Several organisations from the Netherlands: the Vereeniging van Nederlandsche Werkgevers, and the Roomsch Katholiek Verbond van Werkgevers Vakvereenigingen
  • The Svenska Arbetsgivareförening (Sweden)
  • The Union centrale des Associations patronales suisses (Switzerland)
  • The Central Federation of the Mining Industry, Commerce and Finance of Poland (Poland)
  • The Federation of Czechoslovak Industrialists (Czechoslovakia)
  • The Chamber of Mines of Transvaal (South Africa)
  • The Unión Industrial Argentina (Argentina)
  • The Japan Cotton Spinners’ Association (Japan)
Employers' Group First International Labour Conference
A fresh start
Employers Group at Sixteenth Session of the International Labour Conference, 1932
Employers’ Group at Sixteenth Session of the International Labour Conference, 1932

Despite the horrors of war, international diplomacy on social policy was not dead but its centre of gravity moved across the Atlantic to North America. In 1941 ILC held its final session in Washington in the White House where President Roosevelt set out his vision for the post-War order, underlining the importance of tripartite social governance for the maintenance of industrial peace as a component of wider cooperation structures.

This was followed in 1944 by another session in the United States where the ILC adopted the Declaration of Pennsylvania which widened the concept of tripartism. Human rights more generally were now also brought into the frame. The future work programme might have been overambitious in the eyes of the Employers’ Group, but the tripartite system had been maintained.

Employers' Group, International Labour Conference, 25th session, 1939
Employers' Group, International Labour Conference, 25th session, 1939

IOIE’s membership grew to 25 by 1928 at which time it included organisations from almost all the major industrial countries. After the war, the then British Employers’ Confederation took the first step towards reviving the organisation by renewing contact with the federations in the 25 member countries. Shortly after this initial contact, IOE returned to planning for upcoming ILCs.