Social dialogue at 50: Lessons for the future

For 50 years, Convention No. 144 on Tripartite Consultation has promoted a simple idea: labour policies are stronger when governments, employers and workers help shape them together. Since its adoption in 1976, the Convention has been ratified by 159 countries and has helped establish social dialogue as a cornerstone of labour governance around the world.

But as economies and labour markets are transformed by digitalization, demographic change, climate action and geopolitical uncertainty, can tripartite consultation keep pace? Representatives of governments, employers and workers, alongside the European Union, reflect on what social dialogue has achieved and whether it can continue to help shape the future of work.