Statement by the President Upon Transmitting to the Senate the International Labor Organization's Convention 122 Relating to Employment Policy.

I HAVE today transmitted to the Senate, with the request for the advice and consent of that body for its ratification, Convention 122 of the International Labor Organization concerning employment policy. This convention, adopted at the International Labor Conference in 1964, is thoroughly in accord with this Nation's economic and legislative goals.

ILO Convention 122 provides that each member state shall declare and pursue, as a major national goal, an active policy designed to promote full and productive and freely chosen employment.

A major aim of this policy, as enunciated in the convention, is the fullest possible opportunity for suitable employment irrespective of race, color, sex, religion, political opinion, national abstraction, or social origin.

The Government of the United States can and does wholeheartedly associate itself with the philosophy and intent of Convention 122.

The convention parallels our own Employment Act of 1946. That act declared the continuing policy and responsibility of the Federal Government to be the use of all practical means to foster and promote conditions under which there will be afforded useful employment opportunities--including self-employment--for all those able, willing, and seeking to work, and to promote maximum employment.

This policy has been strengthened by a number of our country's statutory and administrative actions. The 1964 Manpower Report declared the aim of the Government to insure all men the self-respect and economic security that flows from full use of their talents.

This aim, reiterated in the 1965 Manpower Report, has been given much impetus in recent legislation. The Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with its equal employment provisions, and the Public Works and Economic Development Act of 1965--all are directed toward the goal of affording all our workers the opportunity of participating in our economic life on a full and nondiscriminatory basis.

It is in the spirit of this philosophic and legislative history that I express the hope that the Senate of the United States will, in its wisdom, give favorable consideration to ratification by our Government of Convention 122 of the International Labor Organization.