No one will deny that labour standards comprise a necessary framework for balanced economic and social development. Yet on a global level such balanced development has not occurred, despite the existence of a rigorous body of international labour law that has been active and growing for almost one hundred years. The implementation of this law devolves upon states; yet many states have failed to honour it. If we are to take serious steps toward a remedy for this situation, there is no better place to start than a thorough, well-researched survey and analysis of existing international labour law - its sources, its content, its historical development, and an informed consideration of the barriers to its full effectiveness. This book is exactly such a resource. It provides in-depth interpretation of the crucial International Labour Organisation (ILO) instruments - Constitution, conventions, declarations, resolutions, and recommendations - as well as such other sources of law as the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and various model and actual corporate codes of conduct. Among the substantive areas of labour law covered in this book are the following: • the relationship between international labour law and economic competition • standards on industrial relations • collective bargaining and dispute settlement procedures • protection of trade unions • prohibitions on enforced and child labour • promotion of equal opportunity and treatment • time and rest provisions • wage determination and protection • occupational health and safety provisions • special issues on non-standard forms of employment • foreign and migrant workers • social security provisions • privacy protection The presentation demonstrates that these rules and standards offer invaluable benchmarks to governments, judiciaries, employers, and trade unions. The book's combination of detailed commentary and an overarching social policy will make it especially valuable to legislators, human resources managers, employers ́ organizations, trade unions, jurists, and academics concerned with the role of work in our globalized social system. This fifth edition of the book by Jean-Michel Servais analyses the potential of those standards in a globalized world, and the necessary evolution. It examines the actual implementation of those rules in the national context, comparing different experiences. It integrates the latest instruments. It examines the most recent public debates on labour regulation (dealing with health and security at work, personal data, minimum wages, social security, strikes, etc.), updates the bibliography and opens some perspectives for the future work of the global institutions.

An insightful survey of the legal issues, both national and international, that affect the cross-border employment relationship today. Essays by practitioners from North America and Europe offer prudent procedures-and warn of pitfalls-in such areas as hiring and firing, expatriate employment issues, the extraterritorial effect of domestic employment laws, corporate codes of conduct, employee benefits in the multinational corporation, and employment issues in international business transactions and trade agreements. Published under the Transnational Publishers imprint.

Labour law has traditionally aimed to protect the employee under a hierarchy built on constitutional provisions, statutory law, collective agreements at various levels, and the employment contract, in that order. However, in employment regulation in recent years, ‘flexibility’ has come to dominate the world of work – a set of policies that reshuffle the relationship among the fundamental pillars of labour law and inevitably lead to degrading the protection of employees. This book, the first-ever to consider the sources of labour law from a comparative perspective, details the ways in which the traditional hierarchy of sources has been altered, presenting an international view on major cross-cutting issues followed by fifteen country reports. The authors’ analysis of the changing hierarchy of labour law sources in the light of recent trends includes such elements as the following: the constitutional dimension of labour rights; the normative intervention by the State; the regulatory function of collective bargaining and agreements; the hierarchical organization of labour law sources and the ‘principle of favour’; the role played by case law in both common law and civil law countries; the impact of the European Economic Governance; decentralization of collective bargaining; employment conditions as key components of global competitive strategies; statutory schemes that allow employees to sign away their rights. National reports – Australia, Brazil, China, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Russia, Spain, Sweden, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States – describe the structure of labour law regulations in each legal system with emphasis on the current state of affairs. The authors, all distinguished labour law scholars in their countries, thus collectively provide a thorough and comprehensive commentary on labour law regulation and recent tendencies in national labour laws in various corners of the globe. With its definitive analysis of such crucial matters as the decentralization of collective bargaining and how individual employment contracts can deviate from collective agreements and statutory law, and its comparison of representative national labour law systems, this highly informative book will prove of inestimable value to all professionals concerned with employment relations, labour disputes, or labour market policy, especially in the context of multinational workforces.

The first casebook covering both international and comparative labor and employment law is characterized by its authorship by prolific, respected scholars, all of whom have taught law outside the United States. A solid conceptual framework compares national laws dealing with individual collective employment rights, including antidiscrimination law and privacy law, and considers the systems used to resolve labor and employment disputes in the context of international labor law. A sweeping coverage of international labor law considers the International Labour Organization, NAFTA and other bilateral trade agreements that include labor standards, and the European Union. In addition, The Global Workplace explores transnational corporations' self-regulatory efforts (or codes of conduct,) and the mechanisms for pursuing international labor standards in United States courts. Comparisons are drawn among the laws of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Japan and India. Exploring the similarities and the differences among various approaches to the employment relationship allows students to better understand and evaluate the approach each country takes, and helps them develop a normative approach to labor and employment law. National legal materials are presented within historical and cultural context. Hallmark features of The Global Workplace: International and Comparative Employment Law: First casebook covering both international and comparative labor and employment law Authorship o prolific, respected scholars o all of the authors have taught law outside the United States Conceptual framework o compares national laws dealing with individual collective employment rights o including antidiscrimination law and privacy law o considers the systems used to resolve labor and employment disputes in the context of international labor law Broad coverage of international labor law o International Labour Organization o NAFTA and other bilateral trade agreements that include labor standards o the European Union o comparison of the laws of the United States, Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Japan and India o transnational corporations' self-regulatory efforts (or codes of conduct) o mechanisms for pursuing international labor standards in United States courts Explores the similarities and the differences among various approaches to the employment relationship o allows students to better understand and evaluate the approach each country takes o helps develop a normative approach to labor and employment law o national legal materials are contextualized with historical and cultural issues

How are national and international labour laws responding to the challenge of globalization as it re-shapes the workplaces of the world? This collection of essays by leading legal scholars and lawyers from Europe and the Americas was first published in 2006. It addresses the implications of globalization for the legal regulation of the workplace. It examines the role of international labour standards and the contribution of the International Labour Organization, and assesses the success of the European experiment with continental employment standards. It explores the prospects for hemispheric co-operation on labour standards in the Americas, and deals with the impact of international labour standards on the rights of women and migrant workers. As the nature and organization of work around the world is being decisively transformed, new regional and international institutions are emerging that may provide the platform for new labour standards, and for protecting existing ones.