Freedom of Association and the Right to Contest: Getting Back to Basics
As worker participation through trade unions has declined across much of the developed world, especially in the US, the UK and Canada, scholars and activists have turned to the concept of "freedom of association" (FOA) -- defined in international labour law as the fundamental right of workers to form and join trade unions of their own choosing -- as a basis for reclaiming a voice for workers in economic governance. Much of this work pursues what we call a strategy of ascent: to what extent does the existing FOA as defined in international and national labour law encompass constitutionalised rights to collective bargaining and to strike, for example? This chapter adopts instead a strategy of descent: does FOA both rest on and help to support more basic rights of concerted protest in the workplace as a prelude to, or even a substitute for, trade union organisation? Drawing upon Philip Pettit's philosophical work on freedom as non-domination, the chapter contends for the recognition of an individual right to contest employer power, free from both state and employer interference. This fundamental labour right, coupled with an associational right or freedom to do jointly with others what one has the right or freedom to do as individuals, provides a normative foundation for protecting informal concerted activity as well as the more familiar trade union forms of FOA. This chapter maps the specific configuration of labour rights in Canada, the UK and the US from this perspective, and identifies some newly-apparent gaps in both the law and the scholarly literature regarding fundamental labour rights.
The ILO and Transformation of Labour Law
The article explores some of the biggest challenges to the ILO caused by globalization and altering of the collective labour rights scene. It examines the recent transformation of collective bargaining regimes at national and transnational level and the consequences for normativities that characterize the relationship between labour law and the system of international labour standards. Domestic bargaining regimes are influenced by decentralization whereas in a transnational setting, with the phenomena of contractual arrangements between multinational enterprises and trade unions or other employee representatives, transnational collectivization of labour law is occurring. The process of transnationalization of labour law affects the traditional labour law paradigm with profound consequences for our understanding of the purpose and role of labour law. The transformation of labour law highlights regulatory developments that require reinforcement of the role of fundamental labour rights. Building a perspective on major global challenges to the ILO at the beginning of its second centenary requires an assessment of the labour question in terms of flexibility and vulnerabilities. This raises the question of inclusivity, calling for the ILO decent work agenda, employment creation, social protection, rights at work and social dialogue, all to be more firmly integrated in global regulatory approaches to work.
Solidarity. Reflections on an Emerging Concept in Bioethics. Summary
1. References to solidarity are currently on the increase in public discourse. In the UK and beyond, during economic crises and in a political climate where many feel that mutual assistance has lost currency, calls for a new and forceful emphasis on the meaning of solidarity are increasingly heard. Such appeals to solidarity are inevitably linked to ideas about how societies function, and about how and where the boundary between individual, familial, communal and societal spheres of responsibilities should be drawn.