Transmittal to Congress of Recommendations of the International Labor Conference.

To the Congress:

The congress, by a Joint Resolution approved June 19, 1934, authorized me to accept membership for the Government of the United States in the International Labor Organization. Pursuant to that authorization I accepted such membership on behalf of the Government of the United States.

Representatives of this Government and of American employers and American labor attended the Twenty-third Session of the International Labor Conference held at Geneva, June 3 to 23, 1937.

That Conference adopted four drafted conventions and seven recommendations, to wit:

The Recommendation (No. 50) concerning international cooperation in respect of public works;

The Recommendation (No. 51) concerning the national planning of public works;

The draft Convention (No. 59) fixing the minimum age for admission of children to industrial employment (revised 1927);

The draft Convention (No. 60) concerning the age for admission of children to non-industrial employment (revised 1937);

The Recommendation (No. 52) concerning the minimum age for admission of children to employment in family undertakings;

The draft Convention (No. 61) concerning the reduction of hours of work in the textile industry;

The draft Convention (No. 62) concerning safety provisions in the building industry;

The Recommendation (No. 53) concerning safety provisions in the building industry;

The Recommendation (No. 54) concerning inspection in the building industry;

The Recommendation (No. 55) concerning cooperation in accident prevention in the building industry;

The Recommendation (No. 56) concerning vocational education for the building industry.

No action by the Congress appears necessary in connection with the Recommendation (No. 50) concerning international cooperation in respect of public works. The United States Government already has indicated its readiness to cooperate in the work of an international committee and a representative of the Government will be appointed to attend its first sitting. The various branches of the Government will be prepared to communicate annually to such a committee statistical and other information concerning public works already undertaken or planned.

The United States Government has already endorsed the principle of stabilizing public works, contained in the Recommendation (No. 51) concerning the national planning of public works, and is endeavoring to put that principle into practice. The terms of the Recommendation embrace many proposals which the United States is already applying.

The standards stipulated in the draft Convention (No. 59) fixing the minimum age for admission of children to industrial employment (revised 1937), the draft Convention (No. 60) concerning the age for admission of children to non-industrial employment, and the Recommendation (No. 52) concerning the minimum age for admission of children to industrial employment in family undertakings are considerably below those generally prevailing in the United States.

The draft Convention (No. 61) concerning the reduction of hours of work in the textile industry is the subject of a separate message which I am addressing to the Senate.

The principles set forth in the draft Convention (No. 62) concerning safety provisions in the building industry, the Recommendation (No. 53) concerning safety provisions in the building industry, the Recommendation (No. 54) concerning inspection in the building industry, the Recommendation (No. 55) concerning cooperation in accident prevention in the building industry, and the Recommendation (No. 56) concerning vocational education for the building industry are presented for the consideration of the Congress in connection with its consideration of legislation now before it designed to promote safety in the building industry.

In becoming a member of the International Labor Organization and subscribing to its constitution this Government accepted the following undertaking in regard to such draft conventions and recommendations:

Each of the Members undertakes that it will, within the period of one year at most from the closing of the session of the Conference, or if it is impossible owing to exceptional circumstances to do so within the period .of one year, then at the earliest practicable moment and in no case later than eighteen months from the closing of the session of the Conference bring the recommendation or draft convention before the authority or authorities within whose competence the matter lies, for the enactment of legislation or other action. (Article 19 (405), paragraph 5, Constitution of the International Labor Organization.)

In the case of a federal State, the power of which to enter into conventions on labor matters is subject to limitations, it shall be in the discretion of that Government to treat a draft convention to which such limitations apply as a recommendation only, and the provisions of this Article with respect to recommendations shall apply in such case. (Article 19 (405), paragraph 9, Constitution of the International Labor Organization.)

In accordance with the foregoing undertaking the above named four draft conventions and seven recommendations are herewith submitted to the Congress with the accompanying report of the Secretary of State, and its enclosures, to which the attention of the Congress is invited.