Enforcement Of Labour Standards Research Articles

CSR and the Constitutive Role of Law: Harnessing Social Norms for Labour Law Enforcement

Abstract This article explores how international labour law can harness social norms for the enforcement of international labour standards within private companies. By doing so, it provides a particular take on the ‘constitutive’ role of the law in shaping societal norms and economic activities. Such reliance on societal enforcement mechanisms gains particular relevance in the realm of global labour governance. With the dominance of private compliance initiatives, the law can regain influence by internalising its norms as social norms within companies, even when, strictly speaking, international law is not intended to oblige these actors. Accordingly, the article argues that international labour law holds unique cognitive and normative capacities that can shape actors’ beliefs and expectations, promoting a universal understanding of what shall be considered as the appropriate behaviour in the realm of labour. Once international labour standards become the social benchmark for evaluating companies’ codes of conduct, compliance with these norms becomes key to companies’ reputation and market access. At the same time, the transmission of legal norms to the company level is not straightforward. The article thus puts forward an evolutionary path where international labour law can induce desirable learning processes towards the gradual emergence of a social norm among companies on compliance with its legal requirements.

Domestic workers' organizations and participatory approaches to labour standards enforcement: The case of Jamaica

Focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean, this article explores the role of domestic workers' organizations in labour standards enforcement. Drawing on qualitative data, we examine the case of the Jamaica Household Workers' Union in the wake of Jamaica's ratification of the ILO Domestic Workers Convention, 2011 (No. 189). Findings indicate that the Union participates directly and indirectly in enforcement. While not a substitute for state‐led enforcement, the case study illustrates the potential of a worker‐centred, participatory approach to enforcement in the domestic work sector and suggests that worker voice and collective representation through organizing is key to fulfilling the promise of the Convention.

Transgovernmental Labour Standards Enforcement in a Pan‐European Labour Market: An Arms Race Between Institutional Alignment and Regulatory Arbitrage

AbstractTransgovernmental co‐operation is an important European Union (EU) regulatory method, but it imposes transaction costs on the organizations involved. Regulatory requirements under conditions of European free movement drive transgovernmentalism, but transaction costs also shape transgovernmental regulation and regulatory outcomes. We investigate co‐operation around labour standards regulation for posted construction workers, focusing on bilateral co‐operation of labour inspectorates between Estonia and Finland and comparing it with co‐operation efforts between Poland and Finland, and Ukraine via Poland to Finland. The shifting patterns of labour mobility and employer efforts to recruit from less regulated sources mean that investment in bilateral relations can be undermined by the dynamic character of the pan‐European labour market. This article contributes to debates on EU regulatory governance by showing how transaction costs from co‐operation can decrease the effectiveness of transgovernmental network‐based governance; in the case of labour regulation, employers exploit this to undermine the effectiveness of labour inspection co‐operation.

International Labor Relations

International Labor Relations (ILR) encapsulates the multifaceted interactions and dynamics shaping the global workforce's landscape. In an increasingly interconnected world, characterized by globalization, technological advancements, and economic interdependence, labor relations extend beyond national boundaries, influencing and being influenced by various factors. This abstract provides a succinct overview of the key themes, challenges, and opportunities within the realm of International Labor Relations. The study of ILR encompasses diverse aspects, including cross-border labor migration, multinational corporations' employment practices, labor standards, and international trade agreements' impact on employment. Central to ILR is the examination of the interactions between governments, employers, workers, and international organizations, as they navigate complex socio-economic and political contexts. Globalization has profoundly shaped ILR, fostering the integration of economies and labor markets across countries. As a result, labor issues increasingly transcend national borders, posing both opportunities and challenges for workers, employers, and policymakers. Technological advancements, such as automation and digitalization, further complicate labor dynamics, influencing employment patterns and skills requirements on a global scale. Challenges within ILR include ensuring decent work conditions, protecting workers' rights, and addressing inequalities in labor markets. Issues such as informal employment, gender disparities, and the informalization of labor pose significant hurdles to achieving inclusive and sustainable growth. Moreover, the rise of global supply chains has raised concerns about labor exploitation and the enforcement of labor standards across borders. International organizations play a crucial role in shaping ILR through the development and implementation of labor standards, conventions, and guidelines. Institutions like the International Labour Organization (ILO) provide platforms for dialogue and cooperation among governments, employers, and workers to address labor-related challenges and promote social justice. In conclusion, International Labor Relations are complex and dynamic, influenced by globalization, technological advancements, and economic forces. Addressing the diverse challenges within ILR requires collaborative efforts from governments, employers, workers, and international organizations to ensure fair and inclusive labor practices and promote sustainable development globally. Received: 25 December 2023 / Accepted: 25 February 2024 / Published: 23 April 2024

Labour geography and the state: Exploring labour's role in working against, with and through the state to improve labour standards

State labour inspection has been relatively underresearched in economic and labour geography, despite its prospective role in tackling worker exploitation as part of national state regulatory strategies. This paper seeks to address this gap by critically examining state labour inspection as a government function capable of upholding labour standards within and across economic space. A key contribution of the paper is to make stronger connections between workers’ spatial strategies and their ability to shape how labour inspection and standards enforcement is carried out. Focusing upon the UK and Ireland, we examine different ways in which some labour-friendly groups have sought to contest but also to support state labour inspection efforts with a view to protecting workers.

Labor Standards Enforcement Program and Code of Ethics of Labor Inspectors in Region XII

The study focused on the labor standards enforcement program and code of ethics practices among the labor inspectors of the Department of Labor and Employment in Region 12. The study utilized primary data through one-on-one interviews coming from the Labor Inspectors of the Department of Labor and Employment Region 12, specifically in areas of South Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, North Cotabato, Sarangani, General Santos City, Regional Office, and TSI. A total of twenty-two participants, which are Region 12 Labor Inspectors, answered the qualitative questionnaire, with the data gathered to be analyzed through thematic analysis. The results show that the Labor Standard Enforcement Program under the Department of Labor and Employment is an effective program and tool in the enforcement of Labor Standards laws, statutes, and orders through Proper Implementation and actual Inspection; however, they have an insufficient workforce. In terms of Labor Inspectors’ performance, they adhere to norms and conduct, yet they also commit violations. Lastly, the norms of conduct that are commonly ignored by the Labor Inspectors are they become biased, receive gifts in exchange for a favor, and they are more into “sarili muna” than “bayan muna”.

LABOUR STANDARDS AND INTERNATIONAL TRADE REGULATION – A NEW ERA OF ENFORCEMENT?

Although the ILO has been in existence for over a century, it is not equipped with international mechanisms for enforcement of the labour standards that it promotes. Globalization and trade liberalization have exposed a strong relationship between labour rights and trade regulation, leading to attempts to regulate labour provisions in a trade context, initially through the WTO and, more recently, through labour clauses in bilateral and regional free trade agreements (FTAs). This contribution provides a historical overview of these attempts and presents most recent developments, which reflect a new policy of the United States and the European Union to use their FTAs as a stronger instrument of labour standards enforcement.

From ‘Protecting Indigenous Workers’ towards Protecting Labour Standards?

AbstractThe article examines how the Austrian trade union movement has responded to increased cross-border mobility in the context of labour market opening in 2011. Instead of opting for restrictions, an unrealistic policy in any case, the main emphasis now is on the enforcement of labour standards. Unions pursued this issue primarily through the Austrian social partnership, which fostered a comprehensive re-regulatory response. However, under the radar of inclusive bargaining institutions, incidents of non-compliance remain a challenge, especially involving cross-border subcontracting. Thus, a nationally-bounded enforcement strategy reaches its limits in transnational labour markets. This is increasingly acknowledged by unions who are complementing their partnership approach with more emphasis on transnational cooperation and initiatives that are geared towards the inclusion of mobile workers.

Establishing Operational Norms for Labor Rights Standards Implementation in Low-Cost Apparel Production

Low-cost production has driven many global apparel brands and retailers to source apparel from less developed countries. However, low-cost apparel production is often accompanied by labor rights violations. A persistent pattern of labor rights violations exists in the global apparel supply chains, including minimum wage violations, unpaid overtime, forced overtime, worker abuse, restricting workers’ unions, and many other violations. Research suggests that low-cost pressures restrict factory level resources, which often leads to labor rights violations in global apparel supply chains. To date, academics and practitioners remain unaware of the actual cost of implementing labor rights standards in factories. We sought to establish a baseline taxonomy of the fundamental cost-bearing activities required to provide a safe and ethical factory workplace. A Delphi survey was adopted to capture data from an expert group of experienced factory compliance auditors in Asian apparel production. The research provides practical insights for factory adoption of actions that can improve enforcement of multiple labor standards, as well as specific actions required to enforce unique requirements that arose in our analysis.

The international governance of refugee work: reflections on the Jordan compact

For the past 70 years, separate international regimes have governed the economic lives of refugees and labor migrants. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) oversees all aspects of refugee resettlement, including livelihoods, while the International Labor Organization (ILO) is charged with addressing the labor rights of migrants. This division has become increasingly problematic as international actors have sought to move refugees into employment arenas from which they have been largely excluded since the end of WWII. This article uses a case study of the 2016 EU-Jordan Compact to illustrate the risks inherent in positioning refugees as workers in the absence of a commitment to a rights-based approach. The Compact was negotiated between the European Commission, the World Bank, and the Government of Jordan, in consultation with the UNHCR; the ILO played no role in crafting the agreement. It sought to place 150,000 Syrians in Jordanian garment export manufacturing jobs, replacing an existing migrant workforce in an industry notorious for low pay and poor conditions. This effort quickly foundered. Instead, large numbers of Syrian refugees have been channeled into informal employment in construction and agriculture in Jordan, where they and migrant co-workers face pervasive violations of labor standards. Without decent work as a central goal, the Compact ultimately concentrated some of the world’s most vulnerable workers in some of its least desirable jobs. To protect refugees and others alongside whom they labor, the article argues, refugee employment initiatives must be accompanied by attention to decent work from the outset. At the international level, this should include a critical role for the ILO, in recognition of its extensive expertise with the establishment and enforcement of labor standards for all workers.

A Model Regulator? Investigating Reactive and Proactive Labour Standards Enforcement in Canada’s Federally Regulated Private Sector

This article examines labour standards violations and enforcement activities in Canada’s federally regulated private sector (FRPS) between 2006 and 2018. Drawing on an administrative data set (known as the Labour Application 2000 (LA2K)) from the federal Labour Program of Employment and Social Development Canada – we illustrate the dominance of a complianceoriented approach to labour standards enforcement in the federal labour inspectorate. This compliance- oriented model of enforcement assumes that most labour standards violations result from lack of knowledge on the part of employers, and that violations are exceptional rather than a regular feature of contemporary business practices geared to cost-containment. Further, the dominance of a compliance-based enforcement strategy is rooted in the historically unique working conditions, industrial composition, and social demographics of the FRPS. In short, the sector has been characterized historically by a disproportionate number of large firms, and a highly male-dominated workforce, engaged in full-time permanent employment. However, numerous labour standards violations are evident in growing pockets of precarious employment, particularly among small firms in the trucking sector. We argue that the litmus test for the regime’s efficacy should be the degree to which it serves employees in the most precarious employment situations. The inspectorate devotes relatively little time to proactive workplace inspections. Those violations that inspectors do uncover through proactive inspections are principally non-monetary and are rectified primarily on the basis of securing employers’ written commitments to bring their practices into compliance with minimum standards. By way of conclusion, the article outlines the ways in which reliance on a compliance model of enforcement in the FRPS may be contributing to the erosion of labour standards, particularly for those workers in industries where small firms dominate and precarious employment is concentrated, and calls for a more deterrence-oriented approach. Labour Standards, Enforcement, Compliance, Violations, Workplace Inspections, Federal Jurisdiction, Canada

Wage Theft in a Recession: Unemployment, Labour Violations, and Enforcement Strategies for Difficult Times

During the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying recession, millions of low-wage workers have become increasingly vulnerable to exploitation. Limited scholarly attention, however, has been paid to the relationship between rising unemployment, labour standards violations, and government enforcement capacities during periods of economic recession. In this article, we begin to draw out these connections. First, we turn to the case of the Great Recession of 2008-2010 in the United States to examine the relationship between rising unemployment and minimum wage violations, using Current Population Survey (CPS) data to estimate minimum wage violation rates by industry and demographic group. We find that minimum wage violations rose in tandem with rising unemployment, and were shouldered by some groups of low-wage workers more than others, and that they were unexpectedly affected certain industries more than others. We then use an analysis of internal complaint data filed with the San Francisco Office of Labour Standards Enforcement (OLSE) to illustrate that even during non-recession periods, the number of complaints received by industry are in some cases wildly disproportionate to the estimated violation rates by industry. This underscores the shortcomings of the complaint-based enforcement model, which is by far the most common mode of workplace regulation in the United States. Finally, we discuss how this empirical evidence points to the importance of developing alternatives to complaint-based models of enforcement – in particular, strategic enforcement and co-enforcement – especially during periods of high unemployment. Strategic Enforcement, Co-Enforcement, Great Recession, Wage Theft, Minimum Wage Violations

The International Governance of Refugee Work: Reflections on the Jordan Compact

For the past seventy years, separate international regimes have governed the economic lives of refugees and labor migrants. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) oversees all aspects of refugee resettlement, including livelihoods, while the International Labor Organization (ILO) is charged with addressing the labor rights of migrants. This division has become increasingly problematic as international actors have sought to move refugees into employment arenas from which they have been largely excluded since the end of WWII. This article uses a case study of the 2016 EU-Jordan Compact to illustrate the risks inherent in positioning refugees as workers in the absence of a commitment to a rights-based approach. The Compact was negotiated between the European Commission, the World Bank, and the Government of Jordan, in consultation with the UNHCR; the ILO played no role in crafting the agreement. It sought to place 150,000 Syrians in Jordanian garment export manufacturing jobs, replacing an existing migrant workforce in an industry notorious for low pay and poor conditions. This effort quickly foundered. Instead, large numbers of Syrian refugees have been channeled into informal employment in construction and agriculture in Jordan, where they and migrant co-workers face pervasive violations of labor standards. Without decent work as a central goal, the Compact ultimately concentrated some of the world’s most vulnerable workers in some of its least desirable jobs. To protect refugees and others alongside whom they labor, the article argues, refugee employment initiatives must be accompanied by attention to decent work from the outset. At the international level, this should include a critical role for the ILO, in recognition of its extensive expertise with the establishment and enforcement of labor standards for all workers.

Beyond “Legal Equality” vs. “Difference” Feminism: Leah F. Vosko Interviews Eileen Boris on Women and the ILO

Beyond “Legal Equality” vs. “Difference” Feminism: Leah F. Vosko Interviews Eileen Boris on Women and the ILO

Informal employment and the earnings of home‐based home care workers in the United States

ABSTRACTInformal employment continues to exist in parallel with formal employment among the US home‐based home care workers and undermines the workers' economic security. This study examines the extent to which the earnings of the US home‐based home care workers are affected by informal employment arrangements and state labour policies designed to benefit low‐wage home care workers. Using a sample of 1,318 home‐based home care workers from the 2017 and 2018 Annual Social and Economic Supplement of the Current Population Survey, this study found that (i) informally employed home‐based home care workers had a 9% reduction in annual earnings and that (ii) their earnings were not improved by generous state minimum wages and Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights while the earnings of agency employees were. The findings highlight the importance of strong enforcement of labour standards for informally employed home care workers in the United States.

Dialogue and Coordination: How Hybrid Models Can Strengthen Labor Standards Enforcement

This article examines the factors that limit and support the capacity of developing states to regulate labor in the public and private spheres, as well as the role of international parties in strengthening that capacity. The purpose is to better understand the potential for a more coordinated approach informed by hybrid models of enforcement, which can contribute to closing regulatory gaps. Fieldwork was carried out in the garment sectors in South Africa and Lesotho during 2018, including 20 semi-structured interviews with industry stakeholders representing government, business, and labor. Findings indicate that the developing state has an important role to play in facilitating a more coordinated approach between systems of enforcement, including public and private enforcement agencies, national development agencies, manufacturers, buyers, and unions. The case studies indicate the potential of such an approach to, for example, improve inspection quality, accountability, and transparency. The state can play an active role in facilitating a hybrid approach to regulation that involves both state and non-state actors, with dialogue and coordination at the core of addressing broader challenges for enforcement.

4 Migration research and analysis: Growth, reach and recent contributions

4 Migration research and analysis: Growth, reach and recent contributions

Slicing and Dicing Work in the Australian Horticulture Industry: Labour Market Segmentation within the Temporary Migrant Workforce

This article exposes how disparity in the immigration rules of different visas combines with poor enforcement of labour standards to produce a segmented labour market in the Australian horticulture industry. We argue that the precarious work norms of the horticulture industry result in a ‘demand’ on the part of employers for harvest workers to perform precarious jobs. Such demand has been met by the workers supplied through different segments of temporary migrant labour who may be a particularly attractive form of precarious labour because of the conditionalities they experience as a result of their visa class. Our analysis demonstrates that not only do growers make preferences between local and temporary migrant workers, but they also make preferences between different types of temporary migrant workers. In identifying segmentation between temporary migrant workers on different visa categories, the article makes a significant contribution to the labour market segmentation literature, which hitherto has focused on segmentation between migrant workers and non-migrant workers.

Taking the enforcement of labour standards in the EU’s free trade agreements seriously

The EU is extremely active in negotiating bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) with preferred trading partners (such as Canada, Colombia, Japan, Korea, Mercosur, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam). All these FTAs contain a sustainability chapter, also covering labour standards. They lack sanctions, however, and their enforcement has proven to be weak. In response to increasing calls notably from the European Parliament and civil society, the incoming von der Leyen Commission has promised improvements. This article sets forth a four-pronged proposal: tightening up the standards, upgrading an existing private complaints procedure in the EU as well as FTA dispute settlement, while introducing various sanctions.

Recalibrating Contract Law: Choses in Action, Global Value Chains and the Enforcement of Obligations Outside of Privity

Commerce, in its pre-industrial form, consisted overwhelmingly of one-to-one relationships. Throughout the latter half of the twentieth century, however, technological and political advances led to the outsourcing and offshoring of many of the activities necessary for the production of goods. The formerly one-to-one relationships expanded exponentially, and global supply chains were born. In today’s world, global supply chains have stretched even further into what are now commonly called global value chains, sometimes comprising hundreds and even thousands of firms. Historically, contract law has struggled with the rise of global supply chains. This struggle has stemmed from the privity doctrine, which holds that normally only the parties to a contract can enforce it. In global supply and value chains — where multiple contracts link together — privity imposes obstacles in at least two significant ways. This Article examines how firms can enforce obligations against members of a value chain outside of the restrictions of privity in order to increase commercial efficiency and facilitate the enforcement of higher labor and environmental standards. In particular, the article focuses on choses in action, a form of incorporeal property in common law jurisdictions such as the United States, Canada, Australia, and England. Basic rules of property law and equity provide that under appropriate circumstances, a chose in action can be assigned. Once this occurs, the assignee can proceed against the defendant and obtain, on its own behalf, whatever recovery would have been available to the assignor. The Article explains choses in action and illustrates the potential significant impact of this system upon the operation of global commerce.