Tripartism In the 21st Century: Building on Bedrock

By Ian Graham

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) is a place where workers can meet on an equal footing with employers and government. Tripartism is the name of this process, which plays a crucial role in formulating labour policy, promoting social justice, and setting and monitoring labour standards worldwide.

Tripartism has helped shape national policies in the Philippines, for example, and in South Africa as it moved to democracy. It has encouraged social dialogue where this dialogue had broken down, as in the UK after the Thatcher years.

The ILO and Tripartism are also beginning to develop frameworks that will alter the term. NGOs are an increasingly active participant in social policy discussions and the ILO has recognised this.

Another international change in recent years has been the establishment and expansion of the European Union as a governing instrument. The ILO has played a role in extending tripartism to all the member states.

(ILO World of Work; no. 46, March 2003)