Díaz Warns of 'Dying ILO,' Pledges to Tackle $363M Deficit and Overhaul Governance

Spanish candidate Yolanda Díaz Pérez faced 16 questions from employer, worker, and government representatives in the first of three public hearings to select the next Director-General of the International Labour Organization, confronting head-on the agency's deepest financial and legitimacy crisis. In a session that ranged from budget math to a proposed new global charter of labor rights, Díaz positioned herself as a crisis manager ready to decentralize power, diversify funding, and drag a century-old institution into a new era of multilateral relevance.

• Díaz calls ILO's $363 million deficit an existential threat, proposes tapping regional investment banks for $40 million and creating governed public-private partnerships
• New global charter of labor rights proposed for 2028, covering minimum living wage, social protection floors, care, migration, and AI rights at work
• Africa Group demands concrete action on ILO democratization, pressing for ratification of the long-stalled 1986 amendment
• Employers challenge supervisory system transparency, while Díaz defends independence of the Committee of Experts as the ILO's "beating heart"
• Workers push for binding instruments on care and supply chains, as candidate pledges to revive "virtually frozen" Convention 87 ratifications

The basics: The ILO is selecting its next Director-General for 2027–2032. Three candidates — Yolanda Díaz Pérez (Spain), Gilbert Houngbo (Togo), and Javier González Olashia Franco (Peru) — each faced up to 80-minute tripartite interviews before the Governing Body. This session covered the first candidate.