Impact of the ILO on National Laws — Labour Law II Notes

Impact of the ILO on National Laws

After the First World War the peace-makers at Versailles decided that lasting peace needed social justice, not just borders. So in 1919 they created the International Labour Organisation — and India was a founder member, in the room from day one. A century later the eight-hour day, weekly rest, maternity leave and workmen’s compensation you study in this subject all trace back to ILO standards.

What the ILO is and how it reaches Indian law

The ILO is the United Nations’ specialised agency for the world of work. Its one unusual feature — worth a mark — is that it is tripartite: every member country sends governments, employers and workers together, so standards are not dictated from the top. It produces two kinds of instrument:

• a Convention, which is a treaty a country may ratify and is then bound to implement; and

• a Recommendation, which is only guidance.

Here is the point students miss: a ratified Convention does not automatically become Indian law. Under our Constitution a treaty must be turned into a statute by Parliament (Article 253) before it binds courts. So the ILO’s influence is indirect but powerful — it sets the standard, and India legislates to meet it.

Concrete influences you can name:

• the Employees’ (Workmen’s) Compensation scheme mirrors early ILO conventions on workmen’s compensation for accidents;

• the ESI and maternity-benefit schemes reflect ILO social-insurance and maternity-protection conventions;

• the eight-hour day and weekly rest in the Factories/OSH regime follow the very first ILO Convention (Hours of Work, 1919);

• Convention No. 102 (Social Security Minimum Standards, 1952) is the model behind the branches of social security the 2020 Codes now cover.

Preamble, ILO Constitution (1919): “universal and lasting peace can be established only if it is based upon social justice.”

In Simple Terms: The ILO does not police Indian factories. It agrees a world standard, India promises to meet it, and Parliament then passes a law — so the ILO is the source of the idea behind almost every statute in this subject.

flowchart LR
    ILO["ILO (1919, tripartite)"]:::root
    ILO --> CONV["Convention (binding if ratified)"]:::leaf
    ILO --> REC["Recommendation (guidance)"]:::leaf
    CONV --> PARL["Parliament legislates (Art 253)"]:::leaf
    PARL --> ACTS["Indian statutes<br/>Compensation, ESI, Maternity, Hours"]:::leaf
    classDef root fill:#FFF8DC,stroke:#000,stroke-width:1px,color:#000;
    classDef leaf fill:#E6F3FF,stroke:#1E3A8A,color:#000;
    linkStyle default stroke:#888,stroke-width:1px;

Case Laws

• Gramophone Co. of India v Birendra Bahadur Pandey (1984) — an international norm can be read into Indian law only so far as it is not inconsistent with a domestic statute; treaties need legislative adoption to bind courts.
• People’s Union for Democratic Rights v Union of India (1982) — used ILO norms as an aid to interpret labour guarantees under the Constitution.

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