Title: International Labour Organization: Setback for Russia among Unionists – Le Temps
Content:
It was a close call to avoid humiliation in Moscow. On Monday, the Russian candidate for the International Labour Organization (ILO) board on behalf of the unions received 65 votes out of the 126 participants in the election. He needed 64 votes to be elected. When the result was announced, there were murmurs in the room. It was a shock. For the first time in the organization’s history, a candidate could have been rejected. The number of candidates, based on a previous agreement, corresponds to the number of positions to be filled. They are usually elected with around a hundred votes or without opposition in a secret ballot. “I don’t know what we would have done,” explains Luca Cirigliano, a member of the electoral college representing the Swiss Trade Union. “This scenario was not at all foreseen by the electoral college.”
The ILO, headquartered in Geneva, is renewing its governing bodies this week, which have the particularity of being tripartite, with representatives from states, employers, and employees. A process that highlights geopolitical tensions. The International Trade Union Confederation, which is the representative body of workers, does not include China and has suspended Russia following the aggression in Ukraine. Two countries that are known to exert significant lobbying efforts within this organization. Two “vacant” seats had been reserved for them under pressure from Southern unions.
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