Human Rights at Work: Perspectives on Law and Regulation

Description

Concerns associated with globalisation of markets, exacerbated by the 'credit crunch', have placed pressure on many nation states to make their labour markets more 'flexible'. In so doing, many states have sought to reduce labour standards and to diminish the influence of trade unions as the advocates of such standards. One response to this development, both nationally and internationally, has been to emphasise that workers' rights are fundamental human rights. This collection of essays examines whether this is an appropriate or effective strategy. The book begins by considering the translation of human rights discourse into labour standards, namely how theory might be put into practice. The remainder of the book tests hypotheses posited in the first chapter and is divided into three parts. The first part investigates, through a number of national case studies, how, in practice, workers' rights are treated as human rights in the domestic legal context. These ten chapters cover African, American, Asian, European, and Pacific countries. The second part consists of essays which analyse the operation of regional or international systems for human rights promotion, and their particular relevance to the treatment of workers' rights as human rights. The final part consists of chapters which explore regulatory alternatives to the traditional use of human rights law. The book concludes by considering the merits of various regulatory approaches.

Colin Fenwick is an Associate Professor, and a member of the Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law, at Melbourne Law School. Tonia Novitz is Professor of Labour Law at the University of Bristol.

Each national case study contains an outline of the country's labor laws and systems for implementing those laws. As on essayist commented, these outlines cannot capture the depth and complexity of these laws and their administration. They do provide, however, not only excellent starting points for those learning about labor regulation in those countries but also perceptive insights into the state of workers' human rights in each country studied. This excellent volume makes it clear that human rights, particularly human rights in the workplace, are not of primary concern at either the macro or micro level anywhere in the world. This book goes beyond that, however, to explain why that is and also to begin an exploration of what to do to achieve human rights in the workplace. -- James A. Gross * Comparative Labour Law and Policy Journal, Volume 33: 187 * This is a text that will undoubtedly become a key resource for future discussions and debates on the utility of human rights discourse in addressing the many social and economic challenges of this age. Fenwick and Novitz have organized and edited a fine collection of essays that make important contributions to our thinking on the contradictions within capitalism and regulation and that raise critical questions of the usefulness of human rights law discourse to advance workers' interests in a globalized world. ...this is an outstanding text - challenging, critical and scholarly - and one that is sure to become an important reference. -- Peter Waring * Journal of Industrial Relations *