Labour Laws And Global Trade

This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the new methods of transnational labour regulation that are emerging in response to globalisation.

This book provides a set of proposals for how best to guarantee effective enforcement of labour rights worldwide. The linkage between labour standards and global trade has been recurrent for some 200 years. At a time when the world is struggling to find a way out of crisis and is striving for economic growth, more than ever there is a need for up-to-date research on how to protect and promote labour rights in the global economy. This book explores the history of the field and also provides an overview of emerging trends and opportunities. It discusses the most recent problems including: the effectiveness and the role of the International Labour Organization (ILO) in the second century of its existence, the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its potential relevance in the protection of labour rights, the effectiveness of the US and the EU Generalised System of Preferences, the impact of corporate social responsibility (CSR) instruments on labour rights, and labour provisions in the international trade agreements concluded by the US and the EU. The book argues, inter alia, that trade agreements seem to be a useful tool to help pave the way out of the crisis and that the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) can be perceived as a model agreement and a symbol of a shift in perspective from long global supply chains to a focus on regional ones, local production, jobs and a rise in wages. The book will be essential reading for academics and students in the fields of human rights law, international labour law, industrial relations law, international sustainable development law, international economic law and international trade law. It will also be of interest to practitioners, non-government organisations (NGOs) and policy makers.

This comprehensive Handbook explores the complex and volatile debate over globalisation and labour standards. It offers key insights into the impact of globalisation on workers, the obligations of corporations and international legal bodies in protecting workers’ rights and maximising the opportunities offered by international trade and investment.

"A significant contribution to current legal, political, and economic discourse on workers in the global economy."—International and Comparative Law Quarterly

Recent years have witnessed growing concern over the controversial issue of trade and labour standards. This study provides the first comprehensive analysis of these questions and reviews evidence for a large number of countries throughout the world.

How are national and international labour laws responding to the challenge of globalization as it re-shapes the workplaces of the world? This collection of essays by leading legal scholars and lawyers from Europe and the Americas was first published in 2006. It addresses the implications of globalization for the legal regulation of the workplace. It examines the role of international labour standards and the contribution of the International Labour Organization, and assesses the success of the European experiment with continental employment standards. It explores the prospects for hemispheric co-operation on labour standards in the Americas, and deals with the impact of international labour standards on the rights of women and migrant workers. As the nature and organization of work around the world is being decisively transformed, new regional and international institutions are emerging that may provide the platform for new labour standards, and for protecting existing ones.

The book examines how international economic law affects the ability of states to regulate labour. It analyses the interactions between relevant norms and explains how linkages between economic law and labour navigate between two notions: fair competition and fundamental rights.

This work categorizes and comprehensively analyzes all of the practical aspects of international labour regulation for researchers and students of human resource management (HRM). It offers realistic policy guidelines for non-academic HRM practitioners, non governmental organizations (NGOs), trade unions and governments. The book focuses primarily upon the issues, organizations and individuals in the US that influence labour regulation - NAFTA, the US GSP programme, trade unions, activists and "grass roots" movements. Major attention is also given to corresponding European Union and International Labour Organisation issues, organizations and individuals.