Title: Labor Rights
1Labor Rights
- PSC 354 Human Rights and Global Affairs
- Meera Alexander, Krista Flynt,
- Melissa Campagnoli, Nicole Zapata,
- Stephanie Shaw
2Thesis
- Labor rights violations are a continuing problem
despite past shaming and monitoring efforts by
TANs. Although these methods are beneficial,
there needs to be dramatic changes to them, as
well as the incorporation of new methods such as
unionization, in order to make real progress on
this issue.
3Universal Declaration of Human Rights
- Article 23.
- (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free
choice of employment, to just and favorable
conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment. - (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the
right to equal pay for equal work. - (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and
favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and
his family an existence worthy of human dignity,
and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of
social protection. - (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join
trade unions for the protection of his interests.
4International Labor Organization
- The International Labor Organization (ILO) is
the tripartite UN agency that brings together
governments, employers and workers of its member
states in common action to promote decent work
throughout the world.
5International Labor Organization
- The four fundamental labor rights -
- Freedom of Association and the Right to
Collective Bargaining - The Abolition of Forced Labor
- Equality
- The Elimination of Child Labor
6International Labor Organization
- Internationally recognized labor rights in the
sweatfree code - Maternity Leave
- Protection of Wages
- Hours of Work
- Health and Safety
- Home Work
7The ILO's Supervisory Bodies and Law
Implementation
- Committee of Experts on the Application of
Conventions and Recommendations - Conference Committee on the Application of
Standards - Committee on Freedom of Association
8Three Main Actors
- Governments
- Political elites and governmental institutions
establish laws to protect the rights of workers. - TNCs sign codes of conduct allowing for monitors
to inspect the working conditions and disclose
information about the location of their factories.
9Three Main Actors (contd)
- 2. Transnational Advocacy Networks
- Fair Labor Association
- Workers Rights Consortium
- International Organizations ILO and the World
Bank - 3. Non-Governmental Organizations
10Definition of a Sweatshop
- A sweatshop is a workplace where workers are
subject to extreme exploitation, including the
absence of a living wage or benefits, poor
working conditions, and arbitrary discipline,
such as verbal and physical abuse.
11Main Issues with Sweatshops
- Poor working conditions
- Low wages
- Monitoring issues
- http//www.youtube.com/watch?v1AwrZqUVYJo
12Whos To Blame
- Owners of the firms are primarily responsible for
the exploitation because they directly exploit
the workers in various ways in order to decrease
expenses and increase their profits. - Manufacturers should also bear part of the
responsibilities. Under the current system, the
contractors bid for the work from the
manufacturers.
13Nike Workshop
- Auditors from Nike found cases of "abusive
treatment", physical and verbal, in more than a
quarter of its South Asian plants - Between 25-50 of the factories in the region
restricted access to toilets and drinking water
during the workday - The same percentage deny workers at least one day
off in seven - In more than half of Nike's factories employees
worked more than 60 hours a week - Up to 25 of workers refusing to do overtime were
punished - Wages were below the legal minimum at up to 25
of factories
gaurdian.co.uk
14Nike Solutions to Prevent Worker Overtime
- Increase productivity per product style Fewer
lines - Expect process discipline Expect people and
teams - throughout the system adhere to the process.
- Consolidate materials less volume of diverse
materials. - Increase on-time commercialization Hand off
from the designer to factory must take place
within our agreed upon time frame so that added
pressure to deliver to market on time is not
placed on the factory. - Increase forecast accuracy for order size and
consumer demand - Reduce samples
15Nike Solutions to Underpaid Workers
- 1) To monitor that workers are paid wages owed
them for the hours worked, at the rates agreed
to, with base compensation at a level that
reflects minimum wage or above and includes a
number of benefits that are defined by factory,
collective bargaining processes or country
legislation. This is documented in our Code of
Conduct and is a core component of our factory
grading - 2 ) To explore and support the building of human
capital (worker skills) coupled with increasing
factory productivity as mechanisms that
positively impact worker compensation levels
while also assuring a competitive business model
for factory, country and buyer. This is addressed
through our targets for the next five years,
namely to - Provide tailored human resources management
training and - systems to all of our focus contract factories.
- Roll out lean manufacturing across all of our
focus contract - factories.
- Introduce freedom of association and collective
bargaining training to all of our focus contract
factories
16http//www.tagg.org/pix/nikeadbust.jpg
17Methods thus far and their setbacks
- Market regulation
- State regulation
- The rise of Transnational Advocacy Networks
(TANs) - Keck and Sikkink Accountability politics
- Monitoring
18Transnational Advocacy Networks
- The Boomerang effect
- Codes of Conduct
- Enabling Rights
- Monitoring
- Unionization