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REPRESENTATION Thirty-nine member 1 States were represented when the Conference opened, such representation being made up as follows: Government delegates, 73; Government advisers, 110; employers' delegates, 32; employers' advisers, 67; workers' delegates, 33; workers' adyisers, 82. The number of States represented increased during the progress of the Conference to 49, who, with their advisers, brought the total number attending to nearly 500. ELECTION OF OFFICERS The first formal business was the election of a President, and M. Alexandre Parodi, Minister of Labour of France, was appointed by unanimous vote of the Conference. The undermentioned delegates were elected Vice-Presidents:— Government Group: Mr. Trujillo Gurria (Mexico). Employers' Group: Sir John Forbes Watson (United Kingdom). Workers' Group: Mr. G. Andersson (Sweden). AGENDA The subjects for discussion by the Conference were as follows: (1) Director's report. (2) The maintenance of high levels of employment during the period of industrial rehabilitation and reconversion. (3) Welfare of children and young workers (first discussion). (4) Matters arising out of the work of the Constitutional Committee. (5) Minimum standards of social policy in dependent territories (supplementary provisions). (6) Reports _ on the application of Conventions (under Article 22 of the Constitution). The preliminary discussions on the various items in the Agenda were undertaken by Committees representative of the three groups—Government, employers, and workers. The particular Committee to which I was appointed was the Committee on Minimum Standards of Social Policy in Dependent Territories. ADMISSIONS AND READMISSIONS TO MEMBERSHIP By unanimous vote of the Conference, Guatemala and Italy were readmitted to membership of the Organization. An application from Iceland for admission was also approved. A strong protest was lodged by the workers' group against the presence at the Conference of the workers' representatives from Argentina, on the grounds that Argentina, being a Fascist State—so it was alleged—the workers' delegate and adviser had not been appointed under those conditions of liberty contemplated by the International Labour Organization constitution. The objection was upheld. A protest against the presence of the Argentine Government's representatives was rejected on the grounds that Argentina was one of the signatories of the United Nations Charter of June, 1945, and as such was entitled to be represented at the Conference. A further protest was lodged against the credentials of the workers' delegate and technical adviser from Ireland, on the grounds that they were not truly representative of the workers of Ireland. It would appear that while previously the workers had been represented by the Irish Trade Union Congress, a separate body known as the Congress of Irish Unions had been set up for Ireland alone and claimed to be the central trade-union organization

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