The Role of Labour Standards in Sustainable Development: Theory in Practice?

Abstract

RESEARCH□ LABOURSTANDARDSANDSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT The Role of Labour Standards in Sustainable Development: Theory in Practice? ■ Tonia Usa Novitz Torteli and Usa Torteli I literature development landscape relationship sustainable assess and standards academic between on labour the the of landscape of academic literature on the relationship between sustainable development and labour standards TONIA NOVITZ isProfessor of Labour Law at the University of Bristol, UK The both narily language exceptionally influential. of'sustainable In malleable thisarticle development' and we extraordiexamine is bothexceptionally malleableand extraordinarily influential. In thisarticle we examine significant changesin how thistermhas been understood and applied,withspecific reference toitsapplication tothepromotion oflabourstandards .Ouraimis notso muchtoreachdefinitive conclusions, butto raiseissueswhichmerit furtherexploration . We seek to ask whetherthe objectiveof sustainabledevelopmentis one which should be linkedto the promotion of labourstandards, and,ifso, through whatmechanismsmight we achievethisgoal. DavidTrubekand AlvaroSantos,in their edited collectionon The New Law and Economic Development,have identified threesignificant 'Moments' intheevolution of'sustainable development '.Theynote that,originally, duringthe 1950s and 1960s,thistermwas verynarrowly definedwithreference to public provisionfor poverty alleviation. International policywas orientedtowards 'the Developmental State',such thatemphasiswas placed on public law as a meansto achievereform. In particular, institutionssuchas theIMFandtheWorld Banksought to transplant regulatory laws and publicinstitutionsfrom Western States. Theyobservea second Momentduringthe 1980s,when a neo-liberal market agendatookprecedencein thedevelopmentfield .Thispolicyframe, commonly termed 'theWashington consensus',soughtto achieve economicgrowththrough the deregulation of markets, including thelabourmarket (see Stiglitz, Globalisation and itsDiscontents). The emphasis was on giving primacy to private law to protect property andfacilitate commercial transactions. It was in such a context that the Law and EconomicsMovement soughtto minimise state intervention protecting labourstandards, arguing forregulation of the employment relationship through contract andtort. However, Trubekand Santossuggestthatwe maynow be reaching a third Moment in which we are confronted witha new 'emerging paradigm ' of developmentthat has at least two dimensions. The first is an acknowledgement of thepotential for market failure, suchthat thestate maybe consideredto have a viableregulatory roleafter all.Thesecondis,perhapsmoresignificantly , a redefinition of 'development', witha fresh emphasis on humanrights. Inparticular, the workofAmartya Senhasprovedtobe extraordinarily influential inthiscontext. ByreconceptualisingDevelopment as Freedom , Sen has argued thatdevelopment is aboutmorethaneconomic regeneration, but shouldbe orientated towards thepromotion of humanagencythrough 'capabilities '. Thisis an approachconsistent withthe text of the UN Declarationon the Rightto Development 1986,whichstates that'thehuman personis thecentral subjectofdevelopment and shouldbe theactiveparticipant and beneficiary of the right to development (Article 2(1)) and even goes so faras to treatdevelopment as a human rightitself,'by virtueof which every humanpersonandallpeoplesareentitled toparticipatein , contribute to, and enjoyeconomic, social, culturaland politicaldevelopment, in whichall humanrights and fundamental freedoms can be fullyrealised'(Article 1(1)). The EuropeanConsensuson Developmentof 2005 has reinforced thisview through itsconclusion that 'sustainable development includes goodgovernance ,humanrights and political, economic, socialand environmental aspects'. The open questionis whether and how the promotion oflabourstandards can be linkedto development. Thisis a liveissue,giventhatthe International LabourOrganisation (ILO), under the leadershipof current Director-General Juan Somavia,has initiated a 'DecentWorkAgenda', whichhas been explicitly linkedto sustainable development. The aim is to place an explicit emphasis on thewelfare ofworkers whilepursuingsocialas wellas economicdevelopment. The ILO has also adopted a GreenJobs Initiative, aimed at achievingan environmentally sustainableprocessofdevelopment , inconjunction with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)and other UN agencies. The DecentWork Agendaconsists ofessentially fourlimbs: the protection of fundamental rights, employment promotion, socialprotection andsocialdialogue(Thelatter beingan objective in itself, but also instrumental to the effective achievementof the three other objectives). Attention to genderhas also cut across these overlapping aspectsof the ILO's project, all of whichare emphatically linkedto development objectives. The protection offundamental rights has cometobe associated withthepromotion of compliancewith'core labour standards' (CLS) identified intheILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights atWork1998: (a) freedom ofassociation andtheeffective recognition oftheright tocollective bargaining ; (b) theelimination ofallforms offorced or compulsory labour; (c) theeffective abolition ofchildlabour;and (d) theelimination ofdiscrimination inrespect ofemployment and occupation. These are labour standardsdrawnfromwhat havecometobe knownas the'fundamental' ILO conventions. However,whereascomplianceof ratifying states withILO conventions is subject to INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 16 Volume 16Issue 12009 RESEARCH□ LABOURSTANDARDSANDSUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT strict legalscrutiny, compliance withCLSis subjecttoa softer follow-up procedure and dedicated programmes ofassistance, as indeedareother aspectsofDecentWork. A World Commission on theSocialDimension ofGlobalisation, established bytheILO butconsistingof independentexperts,published its reportendorsing 'Decent Work'as an internationalagendain 2004.However, thereport also stressed thelackofpolicycoherence, suchthat DecentWorkhas yetto be integrated intothe development-orientated activities of otherinternational UNagenciesand regional organisations. Thesefindings havesincebeen endorsedbythe UNGeneral Assembly. The findings of the...