each other for imbalances in mail delivery); and to introduce some flexibility for updating rates during the 5-year span between congresses. The Congress adopted 1991-1995 annual budget ceilings representing 4 to 6 percent real growth per year. The U.S. Delegation argued for zero real growth in deliberations in the Second Committee (Finance) and during the Congress plenary, and disassociated itself from the plenary consensus decision on the 1991–1995 ceilings. The United States, by virtue of its hosting of the 20th UPU Congress, will chair the Executive Council in the period 1990-1994. The Congress accepted the nomination of Assistant Postmaster General Thomas E. Leavey as Chairman of the Executive Council until the 21st Congress. The United States was also reelected to the CCPS by the Congress for the same period.* The Congress reelected by acclamation UPU Director General Adwaldo C. Botto de Barros (Brazil), and elected Jaime Ascandoni (Spain) as the new Deputy Director General. Both will serve 5-year terms of office expiring December 31, 1994. The Congress also unanimously accepted the invitation of the Republic of Korea to host the 21st Congress of the UPU, which will be held in Seoul in late 1994. International Labor Organization (ILO) The International Labor Organization, whose headquarters is in Geneva, has 150 members, each represented by government, worker and employer delegations. In 1989, as usual, the Governing Body, which has 28 government, 14 worker, and 14 employer delegates, met in Geneva three times. The annual International Labor Conference, the organization's general assembly, in which all member states are represented by two government delegates, one workers' delegate and one employers' delegate, was held in June also in Geneva. GOVERNING BODY Financial Issues As the executive organ of the International Labor Organization, the governing body deals with administrative, program and budget issues. After 5 days of * The 20th UPU Congress elected the following to 1990-1994 terms: Executive Council: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Benin, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ethiopia, Federal Republic of Germany, Hungary, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Korea, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mongolia, Morocco, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Togo, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States (Chairman), Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. CCPS: Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kenya, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States and U.S.S.R. deliberation at the February-March session, the Program, Financial and Administrative Committee approved by consensus a 1990–1991 biennium provisional program and budget of $349,879,000, calculated at an exchange rate of 1.60 Swiss francs per U.S. dollar. The Governing Body plenary gave its formal approval March 2. For the first time in memory, discussions were devoid of rancor and focused almost exclusively on technical activities. Informed observers attributed the success to ILO acceptance of the new system, recommended by the United States, to establish broad agreement on budget levels the year before the actual program and budget discussion. The United States also urged the ILO to continue to review and set priorities so that future consideration of programs and budgets could also begin with a broad measure of general support and an agreement on estimated levels. As anticipated, the adjustments to the program and budget proposed by the Director-General following the committee discussions were minor-totaling less than $500,000. Further, within the adjustments, the ILO took into account a U.S. recommendation to reduce the number of technical meetings and redistribute resources to increase technical activities, including child labor safety and health risks, rural structural adjustment, and work on reforming labor legislation in Namibia in preparation for eventual independence. The total additions were $471,972 and total reductions were $470,844, resulting in a net addition of $1,238. The United States gave strong support to administrative reforms and welcomed internal transfer of resources to technical activites. In the technical field, the United States singled out the major program in international labor standards and human rights as the core activity of the ILO and led support for it. We opposed, however, the newly merged equality of rights program, which contains a provision for an apartheid monitoring group. Election of Director General On February 13 the Governing Body formally elected Michel Hansenne of Belguim as Director General to succeed Francis Blanchard of France who had held the position for 15 years. Hansenne, whose 5-year term began February 27, was previously Minister of Civil Service in the Belgian Cabinet. The new Director General received 38 votes (U.S.), with 18 delegates not voting. ILO ANNUAL CONFERENCE The 76th International Labor Conference was held at Geneva June 7-28. More than 1,750 government, employer and worker delegates as well as advisors participated. The United States succeeded in its major objectives. For the second successive year an unacceptable Arab resolution on the situation of workers and employers in the Israeli occupied territories was bottled up in the resolutions committee (as was an unacceptable resolution on foreign debt). The Organization's important human and worker rights supervisory machinery produced a credible report, highlighting deficiencies in Turkey, Romania, the Central African Republic, Ecuador, the Dominican Republic and Colombia. Iran and Nicaragua were omitted, however, from special censure. Secretary of Labor Dole's ILO debut was highly successful and her plenary address well received. Despite unsatisfactory elements in the Apartheid Committee's report, we were able to join a consensus in adopting its conclusions, whereas, in previous years, we have had to call for votes in committee to register our disapproval. The Conference adopted by consensus a zero growth budget for the 1990-1991 biennium. - The Conference completed a satisfactory revision of Convention 107 on indigenous populations. Six members of Poland's Solidarity Trade Union were included in the Polish delegation, marking the organization's first appearance as part of the Polish workers delegation since 1981, when Lech Walesa was the workers' representative. The Conference plenary was relatively free of the excessive anti-U.S. rhetoric that has marked other years. Expected criticism from Nicaragua, Panama and Iran did not materialize. Secretary of Labor Elizabeth H. Dole attended the Conference June 22 and 23. In her extremely well received plenary address, the Secretary praised the ILO's commitment to human rights and stressed that the organization's moral force results from "strict adherence" to its founding principles and its continued impartial role in supervising the application of international labor standards. In a review of domestic economic developments, the Secretary noted the strength of the U.S. economy (and its creation of over 20 million new jobs since 1981) but also referred to the "troubling national deficit." She said a major factor in our success was labor and capital market flexibility. The Secretary also stated that growth was not the only goal of U.S. policy. She explained that she has initiated a policy of "growth plus," which was aimed at helping minorities and immigrants, the disadvantaged and the disabled acquire the education and training necessary for employment. The Secretary noted that a global growth plus strategy-which would mean investing in growth, the work force and the protection of workers-had possible applications for countries and organizations striving to cope with the complex problems of structural adjustment. In this regard, the Secretary welcomed the ILO's efforts to ensure that labor and social aspects of structural adjustment are taken fully into account. The Secretary concluded by announcing that the Department of Labor would be funding three new ILO projects. One study will deal with drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace. Secretary Dole announced that, in addition, Labor intended to host an international symposium in Washington to discuss the study's results and to promote national and international action to deal with the problem. The U.S. Government Delegation was chaired by Ambassador Shellyn McCaffrey, Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs, U.S. Department of Labor. Mr. James Mattson, Office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Coordinator for International Labor Affairs, Department of State, served as the other government delegate. Ambassador Joseph Petrone, U.S. Permanent Representative, Geneva, and Dr. David Peterson, U.S. Department of Commerce, were alternate delegates. Mr. Brian Glade, Director for International Labor Affairs, U.S. Council for International Business (acting for Mr. Charles H. Smith, Jr., Chairman of the Board, SIFCO Industries, Inc.) and Mr. James Baker, European Representative, AFL-CIO, headed the U.S. employer and worker delegations, respectively. Former ILO Director General Francis Blanchard was honored in a special program on June 15 for his service to the ILO. Noting that the ILO was celebrating its 70th anniversary, President JeanPascal Delamuraz of Switzerland praised the accomplishments of the tripartite organization, crediting it with putting the social dimension of human existence on the agenda of political life nationally and internationally. Financial Issues Financial questions before the ILC included two major issues: adoption of the ILO's proposed new long-term strategy on exchange rates and the 1990-1991 program and budget. Despite a few allusions to the U.S. Government arrears and several pointed pleas for punctual payment of assessed contributions by the "major contributors," ILC consideration of all financial issues in 1989 proceeded with exceptional harmony and dispatch. In fact, the mandatory plenary record vote on the resolution concerning the adoption of the 1990-1991 program and budget and allocation of expenses among member states saw an unprecedented 394 delegates vote for its adoption, 3 against, with no abstentions. At the June 13 market rate of 1.75 Swiss francs per U.S. dollar, the biennial budget would be Swiss francs 578,270,000, or U.S. $330,440,000 and would remain in real terms at the same level as the previous biennium. At the 1.75 rate, U.S. assessed contributions to the ILO for 1990-1991 would total U.S. $82,610,000. In the Finance Committee's discussion of the proposed 1990-1991 program and budget, a number of other governments also welcomed the zero real growth level of the budget. On June 13, to capitalize on the weakening Swiss franc/U.S. dollar exchange rate, the Committee approved the Office's request to "forward purchase" U.S. dollars immediately at the market rate, not to exceed 1.77 Swiss francs per dollar. The resulting forward exchange contracts produced 1990-1991 biennial budget levels that eventually were adopted by the Conference. This was expected to yield as well a gross premium of some 6 1/2 million Swiss francs. Technical Committees Indigenous and Tribal Peoples. The Conference revised the 1957 version of this convention. The United States supported the redraft, which updates the original convention's integrationist approach so as to reflect respect for the cultures, traditions and unique circumstances of indigenous peoples. One of the main issues was the proposed substitution of the word "people" for "populations." The question of land rights was another salient issue. The final vote-328 (U.S.) for and one against-was significant for the number of abstentions (49), just over one-half of which came from Latin America, where there was a great deal of concern about the provisions dealing with land rights and national resources. Night Work. The Committee held the first discussion of a proposed protocol that would (1) set new standards applying to all employed persons regardless of sex and (2) partially revise Convention 89 on night work for women in industry. Taking a position between the workers' view that night work was detrimental to health and disturbing to workers' social and family life and the employers' view that this contention did not hold true in all cases, the committee recognized that night work was indispensable in some cases but that specific measures should be taken to reduce its drawbacks, eliminate its hazards and properly compensate employees. Use of Chemicals. A convention and recommendation will be proposed in 1990 concerning the use of chemicals at work. The main objective will be to reduce the incidence of chemically induced illnesses and injuries by ensuring that chemicals are evaluated to determine their potential hazards and that employers and workers are provided with the information. The Conference adopted a resolution asking |