“It is fundamentally important that we confront these challenges from the conviction that the future of work is not decided for us in advance,” said Guy Ryder, Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO) at the launch of the Global Commission on the Future of Work.

According to ILO, the global body is expected to undertake an in-depth examination of the future of work that can provide the analytical basis for the delivery of social justice in the 21st century. It will in particular on the relationship between work and society, the challenge of creating decent jobs for all, the organization of work and production, and the governance of work.

Ryder reminded the audience attending the launch ceremony in Geneva that these are key issues of our time, which increasingly occupy political life and define hopes, and sometimes fears, of families across the world.

“It is a future that we must make according to the values and preferences that we choose and through policies that we design and implement,” he added.

Co-chairs Ameenah Gurib-Fakim, the President of Mauritius, and Stefan Löfven, the Prime Minister of Sweden, announced the 20 members of the Commission, as the ILO chief underscored that the membership “reflects a balance of geographical regions, of different disciplines. There is gender balance and there is representation of workers and employers.”

The Commission was set up under the ILO's Future of Work Centenary Initiative launched in 2013 by Ryder.

Over the past 18 months, in the run-up to the launch of the Global Commission, the ILO's tripartite constituents – governments, employer and worker organizations – have held national dialogues in over 110 countries. Their outcome will feed into the independent report that will be submitted to the Centenary Conference of the ILO in 2019.