Eduardo González
The Government announced this Thursday the candidacy of the Second Vice President of the Government and Minister of Labor and Social Economy, Yolanda Díaz, for the position of Director-General of the International Labour Organization (ILO).
Since the opening of the nomination period, which took place on April 15 and will close on August 31, only Yolanda Díaz’s candidacy has been submitted to challenge the current Director-General of the ILO, Gilbert F. Houngbo of Togo, who has held the position since 2022.
The official presentation of candidacies will take place on September 23, and the election will be held on November 16, during the 358th session of the ILO Governing Body (comprised of 28 Governments, fourteen representatives of trade unions, and fourteen representatives of employers). The person elected will hold the position from 2027 to 2032, beginning on October 1, 2027. On February 25, Yolanda Díaz announced that she would not run again in a general election.
“It is an honor to announce Yolanda Díaz’s candidacy to lead the ILO. For the first time, a woman and our country would be at the helm of this fundamental institution for the defense of decent work and social justice,” Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez posted on social media this Thursday.
“Yolanda has demonstrated through her policies and results her commitment to labor rights, social dialogue, and the prosperity of Spain,” he continued. “Her experience, her track record, and her dedication to consensus make her an excellent candidate to lead the ILO,” he added.
For her part, Yolanda Díaz posted on the social network BlueSky that “the ILO is the common home of work worldwide, the best representative of decent work and social dialogue between workers and businesses,” and therefore, “it is an enormous honor and responsibility to represent Spain, Europe, the Global South, and the entire international community with this candidacy.”
“We need a strong, modern ILO, on the side of workers and businesses, that promotes women’s rights and passionately defends multilateralism and major agreements for the 21st century; an ILO that considers social dialogue a fundamental pillar and that always includes those who strengthen the business fabric across the globe, to guarantee a future of quality jobs and sustainable and productive businesses,” she continued. “Let’s do it together,” she concluded.
On July 9, during her address at the 114th International Labour Conference, held at the ILO in Geneva, Yolanda Díaz warned that “the ILO’s mandate is in crisis, but if labor is not a commodity, neither can the organization that represents labor.”
She added that the ILO “is going through financial turbulence that we cannot ignore,” but that it cannot overcome it by jeopardizing its founding values. This was in reference to some controversial decisions made by Gilbert F. Houngbo to compensate for the withdrawal of financial support from the United States, such as the attempt to appoint Nels Nordquist, an economic advisor to President Donald Trump, to lead the organization politically. “Ensuring the ILO’s mandate is our true mission: we will do so with more or fewer resources, but the sentiments of justice, peace, and security are not for sale,” she concluded.
