San Francisco Frontiers - ILO names US official as number two amid grumbling over unpaid dues

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) officially announced this week that Li, a high-level official at the US Department of Labor, would fill the post left vacant eight months ago.

The Geneva-based agency said Li would head the "policy cluster", guiding and overseeing the work of five policy departrments.

The ILO had been without a deputy chief since last September, when Celeste Drake -- also a US national -- left.

In recent months, the rumoured looming appointment to the post of Nels Nordquist, a former top economic advisor to President Donald Trump, sparked outrage at the ILO, which had faced a barrage of criticism from the US administration.

In a memo published last August, the administration described the ILO as an organisation that "works to unionise foreign workers and punish US corporate interests abroad" -- although those words and a decision to cancel $107 million in funding to the agency later mysteriously vanished from the text.

- US arrears -

The ILO's deputy director post is usually held by a US national, but the agency's staff union has raised questions about following that tradition at a time when Washington -- traditionally the agency's biggest donor -- has failed to pay its 2024 and 2025 dues.

"We are still awaiting clarification regarding the reasons for this decision, particularly in light of certain unanswered questions concerning US contributions," union chief Severine Deboos told AFP.

The United States, which in recent years has covered 22 percent of ILO's funding, had as of April 24 accumulated arrears amounting to more than 173 million Swiss francs ($220 million) for the past two years, according to data on the agency website.

And it will also this year need to pay its 2026 contribution, amounting to 84 million francs.

"The US remains in arrears, as are many other member states who have yet to fulfil their financial commitments for the current biennium's regular budget," the ILO told AFP in an email Friday.

"These arrears have impacted the ILO's cash flow, and we are actively engaging with the concerned countries to encourage the earliest possible settlement," it added.

Like other UN organisations, the ILO is currently facing significant financial pressure and is undergoing major reforms as it strives to tighten its budget.

Reform plans that still need to be validated call for the slashing of around 120 positions by 2029 -- a number that could be expanded by several hundreds more if further savings are required, ILO documents show.

Already last May, ILO chief Gilbert Houngbo said the closure of some 50 US-funded projects had forced the agency to lay off around 200 staff members out of a total of around 3,500 globally.

K.Gray--SFF