The 2012 ILO Annual Conference is under way in Geneva, Switzerland, and representatives of employers have blocked discussion of some of the worst cases of workers' rights violations. The conference usually brings up the most serious cases from the annual report of the ILO’s Committee of Experts, a 17-member committee of eminent international jurists and legal scholars. But this year, the Employers Group has used procedural maneuvers to block discussion of any cases, including:

• Violations of workers’ rights in Guatemala and Colombia, where workers have been murdered for exercising their right to freedom of association.
• Attacks on collective bargaining rights on workers in Spain and Greece in the wake of an economic crisis caused by the excesses of bankers and financiers.
• Repression of independent democratic unions by governments and employers in Mexico and Georgia.

Employers have hijacked the process based on a misplaced ideological conviction that the right to strike, guaranteed under numerous laws, domestic constitutions and international instruments, poses a threat to corporate greed.

In many cases, the Conference Committee draws up conclusions recommending that governments take specific steps to remedy a problem or to invite ILO missions or technical assistance. The committee hearings at the ILO Conference have helped bring an end to many instances of severe abuse over the years, as governments are called to account for labor rights abuses taking place in their jurisdiction.

International labor standards protect and promote good jobs—and the process of assessing the application of such standards is important to protect and promote decent and productive work. The refusal of employer representatives to discuss the worst cases of workers' rights violations undermines the ILO process and the much-needed world-wide process of creating good jobs. 

Employers’ tactics at the ILO echo the corporate assault on collective bargaining and the living standards of working Americans—from the attacks on public employees in Wisconsin and other states, to the ongoing efforts by Republicans in Congress to undermine the National Labor Relations Board and prevent the enforcement of worker protections.