The Ilo Standard Setting And Globalization

Master's Thesis from the year 2011 in the subject Law - Civil / Private / Trade / Anti Trust Law / Business Law, King s College London (School of Law), course: International Labour Law, language: English, abstract: The phenomenon of globalisation has triggered various trends and changes world-wide, affecting almost every part of life. One of the most heavily influenced realms has been labour and its legal framework. Globalisation has transformed the nature of work as well as the organisation and way in which work is performed nowadays. Due to the technical progress, Multinational Corporations have been equipped with an immense ability to relocate their business wherever and whenever they want to any part of the world, powerful enough to dictate their demands to national governments. National governments have, simultaneously, been weakened and especially developing countries are competing with each other in order to attract MNCs, often by adopting and maintaining low labour standards with the result of a feared "race to the bottom". Additionally, the International Labour Organisation, historically the main standard-setting institution, has experienced enormous problems in the implementation process and has therefore undergone a paradigm shift. Moreover, other actors have entered the arena of "standard-setting" such as NGOs etc. This essay tries to analyse the challenges of globalisation posed to international labour standards, especially experienced by the ILO. It then continues by examining the various private measures, which have been used so far, covering both public and private measures, and reaching from e.g. codes of conducts to international framework agreements. It is argued that public and private implementation have become increasingly interdependent, and that developing and fostering this interdependency will be crucial for the prospective success and effectiveness of international labour standards in an ongoing globalising world.

"The 1994 International Labor Conference, convened in Geneva in the 75th anniversary year of the International labor organization (ILO), was a watershed. As the "world labor parliament" met in June, the community of nations faced what many within the organization consider the worst employment crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930's. Shortly before assembly opened, the ILO reported that nearly one-third of the global work force - 820 million people - were either unemployed or underemployed. With that somber jobs picture and the impact of swift economic globalization as a backdrop, a record 2,000 delegates - representing workers, employers, and governments from 158 of the ILO's 171 member nations - weighed and acted on a variety of issues influenced by seismic economic, social, and political change rocking the world."

The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization was established as an independent body by the International Labour Organization in February 2002, in light of the unprecedented socio-economic changes implemented by globalisation trends. This report explores how the ILO can help promote the objective that decent work should become a global goal. It examines six broad policy themes related to: national policies to address globalisation; decent work in global production systems; growth, investment and employment; constructing a socio-economic floor; the global economy and the cross-border movement of people; and strengthening the international labour standards system. The report also discusses how the ILO can respond to the Commission's call for the multilateral system to enhance participation and accountability and to make a full contribution to the building of a social dimension for globalisation.

This open access book explores the role of the ILO (International Labour Organization) in building global social governance from multiple and mutually complementary perspectives. It explores the impact of this UN ́s oldest agency, founded in 1919, on the transforming world of work in a global setting, providing insights into the unique history and functions of the ILO as an organization and the evolution of workers’ rights through international labour standards stemming from its regulatory mechanism. The book examines the persistent dilemma of balancing the benefits of globalization with the protection of workers. It critically assesses the challenges that emerge when international labour standards are implemented and enforced in highly diverse regulatory frameworks in international, regional, national and local contexts. The book also identifies feasible ways to achieve more inclusive labour protection, putting into perspective the tension between the economic and the social in the ILO’s second century of operation. It includes reflections on the work of the ILO World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalisation by Tarja Halonen, who as President of Finland co-chaired the Commission with Benjamin William Mkapa, President of Tanzania. Written by distinguished experts and scholars in the fields of international labour law and international law, the book provides an insightful and in-depth analysis of the role of the ILO as an international organization devoted to decent work and social justice. It also sheds light on tripartism and its particular role in the work of the ILO, examining the challenges that a profoundly changing working life presents in terms of labour protection and social justice, and examining the transnational dimension of labour law. Lastly, the book includes a postscript by Nobel economics laureate Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz.