* Briton defeats former conservative French minister
* Says agency must make helping poor prime task
* Supports growth as way out of economic crisis
By Robert Evans
GENEVA, May 28 (Reuters) – Former global trade union leader
Guy Ryder, a strong proponent of growth as a way out of the
European and world economic crisis, was elected on Monday as
next Director General of the United Nations’ International
Labour Organisation (ILO).
In a final ballot after seven people had been eliminated,
Ryder, a Briton, defeated French candidate Gilles de Robien, a
government minister under former president Nicolas Sarkozy, by
30 votes to 26 in the ILO’s 56-member Governing Council.
Ryder, 55, will be the first ILO head with a background as a
labour union activist and will take up the post in October.
He will replace Chilean Juan Somavia, who has served two
5-year terms at the head of the tripartite body, linking
governments, unions and employers, which sets the rules for
labour and employment practices around the globe.
The director general has no substantive role in drawing up
these rules but can strongly influence the direction the ILO
takes, and attends key meetings like those of the G20, the
world’s major economic powers.
“There are millions of working people who need this
organisation. Our duty is to the poorest and most vulnerable.
The fight for social justice must come first,” Ryder told
delegates and ILO staff in a speech after the vote.
As general secretary of the Brussels-based International
Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) from 2006 to 2010, Ryder
campaigned strongly against efforts by right-wing governments to
reduce unions’ strength.
He also fought for the protection of workers’ rights, which
he argued were being eroded by many Western governments and
authoritarian regimes, and the raising of living standards at a
time when the influence of labour unions was on the wane.
Ryder, 55, had close links with the United States’ AFL-CIO
labour organisation at the ITUC, and diplomats and council
sources said the United States and China both backed him.
De Robien lost out when votes for a Colombian swung to the
Briton in the final ballot. A minister under Sarkozy, he had the
support of new socialist President Francois Hollande.
In his speech, Ryder recognised that his labour union
background “may give rise to questions in some quarters,” but
promised to represent “all partners in this organisation.”
Those eliminated in the first five rounds of voting were
from the Netherlands, Malaysia, Niger, Senegal, Sweden and
Benin.
(Reporting by Robert Evans, editing by Tim Pearce)
