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“All Citizens are Equal before Law and are Entitled to Equal Protection of Law”-Article 27 of the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh



Issue No: 193
June 11, 2005

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Rights Corner

Global labour rights

A child in a Chinese sweatshop and a clerk in a US office working for the same company are subject to very different labour regulations. In the global economy global labour standards are not yet a priority of the international community. Transnational corporations (TNCs) benefit from the recent wave of trade liberalization and increasingly shift their operations to countries with low wages and limited labour rights. The lack of labour rights and trade unions along with a cheap and flexible labour force becomes an important bargaining factor in the competition for foreign direct investment. TNCs often use their power to push down wages and conditions of employment in return for investment. In particular labour-intensive and dangerous production has moved to countries where labour rights are disregarded.

As TNCs spread their operations across more and more countries, global labour rights become increasingly important. In 1998, the International Labour Organization (ILO) adopted the "Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work". The adoption of the declaration marked a renewed commitment of the member states to respect, promote and realize principles such as the freedom of association, the right to collective bargaining, elimination of all forms of forced labour, abolition of child labour, and elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation. International regulations, however, remain a weak instrument in the struggle for global labour rights as many countries do not enforce them even if they have ratified the conventions in question. Therefore, NGOs try to hold companies who ignore basic labour rights at any stage of the production process directly responsible. For example, they initiate boycott campaigns, such as the appeal to boycott Nike in response to the appoling conditions in production sites of the sportswear giant. In reaction, many corporations nowadays have adopted a Code of Conduct that deals with the rights of their employees. Multinationals, however, often outsource production and claim not to be responsible for labour standards in the factories of their subcontractors, while they still profit from the low labour costs and the disrespect for basic human rights in the workplace.

Traditionally, labour rights are the domain of trade unions and these have a long history of fighting for workers' rights, mainly within a state, although there has been international co-operation among unions since the 19th century. With the globalization of the economy, more NGOs are engaging in the struggle for global labour rights along with trade unions who increasingly co-operate across national borders and within particular industries. Until recently, trade unions in the North were mainly concerned with the loss of jobs in their countries, claiming that low labour standards in other countries represented an unfair advantage. NGOs have been more concerned about labour rights in the South, which deteriorated even further after more TNCs moved their production to developing countries. Lately, NGOs and trade unions in the North as well as in the South have improved their co-operation across national boundaries to promote global labour rights, although there are still conflicts between the different interests. This said, however, the line between trade unions and NGOs is sometimes somewhat blurred, especially in many developing countries.

Trade unions and NGOs agree on basic global labor rights, which should include, for example, the freedom of association, collective bargaining, abolition of forced labour, equal opportunities for women and men, and safe working conditions. These basic principles are often violated, for instance, in sweatshops and Export Processing Zones. In this context we can identify women and children as particular vulnerable groups, who are regularly abused and exploited. In view of the lack of commitment by TNCs regarding international legislation, labour activists engage in fair trade and other initiatives to realize global labour rights

Source: Choike- A portal on southern civil societies.

 
 
 


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