International Labor Organization

The Building, Civil Engineering and Public Works Committee of the International Labor Organization held its fourth session in Geneva from October 26 through November 6, 1953, under the chairmanship of M. Kaufmann (Switzerland), a government member of the Governing Body. Reports had been submitted by the International Labor Office on the three items on the meeting's agenda: 1) a general report dealing particularly with action taken by ILO members and the Governing Body in the light of previous committee conclusions; 2) methods of facilitating the progressive application in the construction industry of the principle of a guaranteed wage; and 3) factors affecting the productivity of the construction industry. After the delegates – which represented 24 countries on a tripartite basis – analyzed the problems and progress which the construction industry faced in their countries, the committee approved a series of resolutions which covered such subjects as: 1) action by engineers and architects with a view to raising productivity in the industry, 2) contract practices, 3) vocational training, 4) mechanization, 5) the psychologicàl factor involved in raising productivity, and 5) sharing the benefits of in-creased productivity. A memorandum concerning a guaranteed wage was approved without opposition which endorsed the principle of a guaranteed wage, either by agreeing to provide a specified period of work at ordinary rate of pay or by paying a minimum sum during the specified period regardless of whether or not the workers could be kept employed in customary or reasonably alternate work. In a further resolution, the committee stressed the role which the construction industries could play in implementing policies of full employment. By a vote of 60 to 39 with 24 abstentions it decided to place on the agenda of its next session the questions of protection of conditions of employment and living conditions of young workers, prevention of industrial accidents, reduction of hours of work, and practical measures for securing and maintaining full employment in the construction industry.