This article outlines how features of the International Labour Organisation's (ILO) tribrid configuration have led to tensions around its perceived legitimacy. I claim that the ILO's structure is the most democratic but at the same time also quite problematic for a UN agency. To support this claim, I look at relations between the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DfID) and the ILO, and DfID's recently introduced 2011 Multilateral Aid Review auditing tools. Those are demonstrated to align better with employers' interests than with the interests of the other members of the ILO configuration. The article asks how decent work can continue to be prioritised when marketised principles provide the rationale for governance. Trade unions' responses to this ?legitimacy storm? show that the ILO has not lost legitimacy. On the contrary, the organisation's emphasis on decent and in particular, a renewed emphasis on dignified work is more important than ever due to recession and the rolling back of social protection in global and local governance.