Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2014, published 104th ILC session (2015)

Tripartite Consultation (International Labour Standards) Convention, 1976 (No. 144) - United States of America (Ratification: 1988)

Article 5 of the Convention. Effective tripartite consultations. The Committee notes the Government’s report received in August 2014. In response to the 2010 observation, the Government indicates that the President’s Committee on the ILO (PC–ILO) was renewed until 30 September 2015. The Government further reports that a meeting of the PC–ILO was convened on 15 May 2014 to consider issues related to the United States’ ratification of ILO Conventions and that the main outcome of the meeting was a set of conclusions drafted on the basis of tripartite consensus. The Committee notes with interest that, in its conclusions, the PC–ILO underscored the value of the United States’ ratification of ILO Conventions and reaffirmed support for the tripartite ground rules governing the ratification process. The PC–ILO also pledged to redouble its efforts toward the early and successful ratification process of the ILO Discrimination (Employment and Occupation) Convention, 1958 (No. 111), and called on the Tripartite Advisory Panel on International Labour Standards (TAPILS) to intensify its work of reviewing the legal feasibility of the United States’ ratification of selected ILO Conventions, which shall include the other five ILO fundamental Conventions that the United States has not ratified. Finally, the PC–ILO directed TAPILS, in conjunction with the coastguard and all other relevant US agencies, to expedite and complete its review of the Maritime Labour Convention, 2006 (MLC, 2006), and report to the PC–ILO on the feasibility of the United States’ ratification. The Committee takes note of the Government’s indication that, for the time being, the PC–ILO decided to shelve further consideration of the Seafarers’ Identity Documents Convention (Revised), 2003 (No. 185). Finally, the Committee takes note of the fact that the ILO Consultative Group met 12 times during the reporting period, primarily for the purpose of briefing the tripartite partners in advance of sessions of the ILO Governing Body and Conference. The Committee invites the Government to continue to report on the outcome of consultations relating to international labour standards and, in particular, to the progress made in the PC–ILO mechanism to re-examine the prospects of ratification of unratified Conventions.