The conference is composed of representatives of governments, business and workers. Employer and worker delegates are expected to act and vote independently of one another and, in democratic countries, delegations vote independently from their governments. Representatives from the Departments of Labor and State make up the government delegation. The ILO currently has representatives from 152 independent nations and is open to all countries that are members of the United Nations. Nations not belonging to the UN may apply to the ILC for admission as long as they are willing to abide by the ILO Constitution.
Member states pay an annual contribution based on their population and Gross National Product.
The ILO is facing a program decrease of 2.3 percent from its 1987-88 budget. Officials at the ILO envision similar program rollbacks for the next budget, currently under consideration at its 76th annual ILO Conference in Geneva. Since the end of World War II the relationship between the United States and the ILO has been strained. The United States became disenchanted when the ILO's agenda shifted away from the West in the 1960s and 1970s. David Morse, director-general of the ILO from 1948 to 1970, says the organization was simply responding to the changing world order brought on by the collapse of the colonial empires which gave rise to the newly independent Third World countries.