PLENARY SESSION OF TRIPARTITE LABOUR CONFERENCE 191
the Employers’ Federation of India and the All-India Organisation of Industrial Employers are fully representative of the employer class in India and that therefore the provision for appointing more employers’ representatives by nomination is unnecessary. The method of representation of labour is also said to suffer from one defect, namely, that among those who represent labour there is none who belongs actually to the labouring classes.
“You would naturally want me to tell you what action Government is prepared to take in this connection. I am anxious on my part to do whatever is possible to see that the Labour Conference functions properly and does not suffer in its working by reason of any serious fault in its mechanism. You will, however, realise that these are matters which require exploration and examination before any definite conclusion can be arrived at. Of these weaknesses some have been examined by Government and decisions have been arrived at. There are some which have not been examined as yet. I will first refer to those about which Government have after consideration come to a decision. They include the question of separate Secretariat, Agenda and Representation.
Only An Advisory Body
“The demand for a separate Secretariat for the Labour Conference is, I think, based on the analogy of the I.L.O. Government think that there is a fundamental difference between the I.L.O. and our Tripartite Organisation. It lies in the fact that the I.L.O. is an idependent organisation created by the Peace Treaty of Versailles. Its conventions and recommendations place definite obligations on all State-Members and failure to fulfill those obligations involves certain definite international liabilities. It is regulated by its own constitution and if is not subject to any outside authority. In addition to this the I.L.O. has its own finances and is not dependent upon any other state or Department for meeting its liabilities when it chooses to undertake any new function.
“Our Tripartite Organisation is not independent in the same sense as the I.L.O. is. It has no independent finances and it cannot have any. It is only an advisory body which is constituted to advise the Government of India on such matters as are referred to it for advice. It cannot take decision. To allow it to do so would be to permit it to