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.

THE ILO AND THE SOCIAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE COVID-19

In this essay, the author gives account of how the International Labour Organization (ILO) is working to provide assistance to its members to overcome the social consequences of the pandemic in progress. The virtues of two of its tools and of their smooth interaction are successively analyzed. The Institution has first investigated the available data and published economic analyses on the disastrous consequences of the scourge on employment and therefore, on individual income. It has addressed a series of socio-economic recommendations to governments. It has secondly referred to the international legal corpus as a guide to the States in their responses to the exceptional situation. The ILO labour standards provide a threshold of minimum protection to the benefit of those who work or want to work. They constitute guarantees which appear even more important in difficult times to enable people to go through critical periods without intolerable trouble. Some could still be strengthened.

Governance Challenges and Opportunities for the International Labour Organization in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The International Labour Organization has confronted several governance challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. This article looks at the impact of the pandemic on both the internal operations of this unique tripartite UN Specialized Agency and on the ILO’s substantive work on labour market and social protection governance. It explores how international labour standards and their monitoring offer human rights pointers for addressing the crisis. The article highlights interaction (not always coherent) between the ILO and other organizations in connection with COVID-19 and economic recovery. It foreshadows initiatives on how to ‘build back better,’ with the ILO again seeking a strengthened multilateral role in support of its social justice mandate, as informed by resolutions adopted by the International Labour Conference. The article also touches on the pandemic’s impact on the functioning of the ILO Administrative Tribunal, which adjudicates employment disputes for many international organizations.

The role of labour unrest and skilled labour on outward foreign direct investment in Taiwan, Republic of China, ROC

This paper builds an estimation model to test whether improved labour standards necessarily lead firms to send work offshore to countries with lower wages and fewer employment protections; or improved labour standards influence the labour market, where with time, firms attract more skilled workers, which help deter outward foreign direct investment (FDI). When more firms comply with improved labour standards, the industrial relations climate also improves as non-compliance usually causes labour unrest. Using a model built on pooled cross-sectional time-series data from 2008–17, we studied the role of changes in labour unrest and the percentage of skilled workers in the labour force in predicting outward FDI in Taiwan. Per our estimation model, we found the percentage of skilled workers steadily increased as Taiwan maintained improved labour standards. The increase in skilled workers also increased labour costs making it challenging for firms to stay onshore. However, skilled workers helped firms improve productivity, which justified increased labour costs. As a result, firms in Taiwan that complied with labour standards found it less challenging to pay higher wages and stayed onshore. JEL Code: J28, J38, F66

Labour Rate Setting for Transport Company’s Managers Based on the Principles of Organisation Design

Analysis and labour rate setting regarding management activities is an important tool in the modern economy, used to improve the corporate efficiency by optimising existing management processes, reducing bureaucracy, and eliminating redundant processes, and, consequently, administrative elements that do not create value, and are an obstacle to normal functioning of the management system. The application of analytical methods to the work of managers is a relevant and powerful tool for increasing productivity and efficiency of corporate management.The article describes the results of a study of tools for analysis and regulation of management activities implemented in the Russian Railways holding company based on the principles of organisation design. The subject of the study is management activity as an object of application of modern methods of analysis and labour rates.The objective of the study is to show the possibility and feasibility of using modern methods of analysis and regulation of labour on the example of a large transport company. The purposes of the study, the results of which are presented in this article, comprise identification of prerequisites for adoption of methods of analysis and regulation of management activities; assessment of possibilities of using the tools of functional analysis of organisation’s entities and divisions to increase efficiency of management activities; description of technologies for labour rate setting for management activities using the example of the Russian Railways holding company.The study is based on the use of methods of process analytics, functional analysis, labour rate setting, and organisation design.The main result of the study is development of methodological approaches to analysis and standardisation of managerial work in a transport company. These approaches will make it possible to reasonably develop labour standards and rates for managers, staffing plan, and adopt modern management practices in the Russian Railways holding company.

Principles of the United Nations Global Compact

The United Nations Global Compact represents one of the biggest voluntary initiatives under the United Nations organisation. This initiative was founded in 2000. It is strongly connected with Corporate Social Responsibility and efforts in achieving sustainability as it is a call for businesses worldwide to contribute towards sustainable world development in economic, social as well as environmental areas. Until last year, when the UNGC celebrated its 20th anniversary, it already had over 11,500 participants all around the world. This fact can have significant impact on achieving its goals which were set in the form of 10 principles divided into 4 main areas, where the positive and sustainable operating of business as well as other types of organisations is much than needed today. Therefore, in the text of this subchapter, the basic information about the very Global Compact initiative is presented, as well as its 10 universal principles set in the areas of human rights, labour standards, environment and anti-corruption, through which the participants are required to take strategic actions in achieving broader societal goals, mainly current Sustainable Development Goals, the interconnection of which is also presented and highlighted. The aim is to help understand the importance of this UN initiative for creating a better and sustainable world by incorporating business and other organisations.

Southern actors and the governance of labour standards in global production networks: The case of South African fruit and wine

Recent studies highlight the emergence of standards, including multi-stakeholder initiatives developed and applied within the global South where supplier firms are usually based. This trend has created a complex ethical terrain whereby transnational standards flow through global production networks and intersect with domestic initiatives at places of production. The paper complements global production network analysis with the concepts of ‘space of flows’ and ‘space of places’ and insights from relational economic geography, to examine how some multi-stakeholder initiatives in the global South can shape the broader governance of labour standards in global production networks. The following questions are addressed: How is the governance of labour standards in global production networks shaped by dynamic spatial interactions between actors? What role have diverse Southern multi-stakeholder initiatives played in influencing the governance of South African fruit and wine? We draw on research conducted over seven years into two standards in South Africa, the Wine and Agriculture Ethical Trade Association and Sustainability Initiative of South Africa. Our analysis shows that these two Southern-based multi-stakeholder initiatives contributed to shaping the broader governance of labour standards through dynamic non-linear waves of interaction over time, involving both collaborative and contested exchanges between actors across space of flows and places. We further argue that despite the development of multi-stakeholder initiatives by Southern actors, commercial power asymmetries in global production networks limit their ability to promote significant improvements for producers and workers.

Giustizia sociale, commercio internazionale ed extraterritorialità "atipica". Il caso USMCA

L'articolo analizza alcune delle principali novità del Trattato USMCA, collocandolo nel contesto della globalizzazione economica e delle tecniche di regolazione sociale che impiegano i la-bour standards dell'OIL e le clausole sociali nei Trattati commerciali internazionali, realizzando forme "atipiche" di extraterritorialità. Il Trattato USMCA si caratterizza per alcune impor-tanti innovazioni in materia: l'impegno delle parti a rispettare gli international core labour standards, il riconoscimento del diritto di sciopero, la possibilità di sanzionare direttamente le imprese responsabili delle violazioni dei diritti del lavoro, una procedura veloce di risoluzione delle controversie. Nel complesso il Trattato rilancia la capacità della clausola sociale come principale fattore di tutela dei diritti del lavoro in un contesto di globalizzazione economica.