Publisher Description

Faced with the economic pressures of globalization, many countries have sought to curb the fundamental right of workers to join trade unions and engage in collective action. In response, trade unions in developed countries have strategically used their own governments' commitments to human rights as a basis for resistance. Since the protection of human rights remains an important normative principle in global affairs, democratic countries cannot merely ignore their human rights obligations and must balance their international commitments with their desire to remain economically competitive and attractive to investors.
Human Rights and Labor Solidarity analyzes trade unions' campaigns to link local labor rights disputes to international human rights frameworks, thereby creating external scrutiny of governments. As a result of these campaigns, states engage in what political scientist Susan L. Kang terms a normative negotiation process, in which governments, trade unions, and international organizations construct and challenge a broader understanding of international labor rights norms to determine whether the conditions underlying these disputes constitute human rights violations. In three empirically rich case studies covering South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Canada, Kang demonstrates that this normative negotiation process was more successful in creating stronger protections for trade unions' rights when such changes complemented a government's other political interests. She finds that states tend not to respect stronger economically oriented human rights obligations due to the normative power of such rights alone. Instead, trade union transnational activism, coupled with sufficient political motivations, such as direct economic costs or strong rule of law obligations, contributed to changes in favor of workers' rights.

Author Biography

Susan L. Kang teaches political science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Preface
List of Abbreviations
Chapter 1. The Precarious Position of Trade Union Rights in the Global Political Economy
Chapter 2. Negotiations and Norms: The Development of Trade Union Rights in International Law and Institutions
Chapter 3. International Institutions and Their Protections of Trade Union Rights
Chapter 4. South Korea: International Ambitions and the Postdevelopmental State
Chapter 5. United Kingdom: New Labour and New Labor Rights?
Chapter 6. Canada: Federalism and Stalled Compliance
Conclusion. International Norms, Trade Union Rights, and Countering Neoliberalism
Appendices
I. Kucera's Measure of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
II. Number of Unions/Unionization Rate in Korea: 1987-2003
Percentage of GPD Growth in Korea, 1961-2006
III. British Columbia Annual Growth, in Percentage of Provincial GDP
IV. Case Disputes and U.S. Law
Notes
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments

Review

"Whether international human and labor rights instruments have any 'teeth' or influence is an important question in debates on globalization, labor policy, and economic development strategies. Susan L. Kang provides a solid account of the ways they do and the ways they don't through instructive case studies from countries on three continents. A valuable addition to the human rights, labor rights, and globalization literature." * Lance Compa, Cornell University *
"The declining power of trade unions in developed market economies is a well-recognized trend. The purpose of this book is to assess the usefulness of international human rights law as a means of slowing or reversing this trend. The author's conclusion, based on three well-researched and carefully analyzed case studies, is that the invocation by trade unions of the limited enforcement mechanisms available to them under international human rights instruments can materially assist their efforts to protect the rights recognized in those instruments, but this strategy is likely to succeed only when domestic political considerations outside the unions' control put pressure on a government to comply with the obligations in question." * Philip L. Harvey, Rutgers School of Law-Camden *

Promotional

Susan L. Kang analyzes comparative case studies of campaigns by trade unions to link local labor rights disputes to international human rights frameworks. She finds that contingent political incentives, rather than normative arguments, compel governments to make reforms to better protect these fundamental human rights.

Long Description

Faced with the economic pressures of globalization, many countries have sought to curb the fundamental right of workers to join trade unions and engage in collective action. In response, trade unions in developed countries have strategically used their own governments' commitments to human rights as a basis for resistance. Since the protection of human rights remains an important normative principle in global affairs, democratic countries cannot merely ignore their human rights obligations and must balance their international commitments with their desire to remain economically competitive and attractive to investors. Human Rights and Labor Solidarity analyzes trade unions' campaigns to link local labor rights disputes to international human rights frameworks, thereby creating external scrutiny of governments. As a result of these campaigns, states engage in what political scientist Susan L. Kang terms a normative negotiation process, in which governments, trade unions, and international organizations construct and challenge a broader understanding of international labor rights norms to determine whether the conditions underlying these disputes constitute human rights violations. In three empirically rich case studies covering South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Canada, Kang demonstrates that this normative negotiation process was more successful in creating stronger protections for trade unions' rights when such changes complemented a government's other political interests. She finds that states tend not to respect stronger economically oriented human rights obligations due to the normative power of such rights alone. Instead, trade union transnational activism, coupled with sufficient political motivations, such as direct economic costs or strong rule of law obligations, contributed to changes in favor of workers' rights.

Review Quote

"Whether international human and labor rights instruments have any 'teeth' or influence is an important question in debates on globalization, labor policy, and economic development strategies. Susan L. Kang provides a solid account of the ways they do and the ways they don't through instructive case studies from countries on three continents. A valuable addition to the human rights, labor rights, and globalization literature."-Lance Compa, Cornell University

Promotional "Headline"

Susan L. Kang analyzes comparative case studies of campaigns by trade unions to link local labor rights disputes to international human rights frameworks. She finds that contingent political incentives, rather than normative arguments, compel governments to make reforms to better protect these fundamental human rights.

Excerpt from Book

Preface This project was inspired by my brief personal participation in the United States labor movement. Through an internship with the Service Employees International Union in college and later activism and volunteer work with a local AFSCME and Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees (HERE), I first encountered the everyday challenges that workers face as they attempt to exercise their basic rights to form, join, and act within their unions. During my participation in the AFL-CIO''s Union Summer program in Seattle in 2001, fellow interns and I worked on a ballot initiative campaign that sought to guarantee legal collective bargaining rightsfor public home-care workers. Although this campaign to support a ballot initiative was eventually successful, I realized how precarious workers'' positions truly were. While volunteering with a HERE local, I saw an International Labour Organization poster declaring that "Workers'' Rights Are Human Rights." For the first time I recognized the connection between the difficulties of American trade union rights and larger struggles for human rights transnationally, which I had learned about through the 1990s anti-sweatshop movement. This connection with U.S. workers'' situation led to my exploration of various international legal instruments to protect labor rights, especially the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association. Although this book focuses on cases outside the United States, my research and interests have always kept the U.S. comparison close by. Problems with trade union rights in the United States are largely marginalized; however, recent events have brought more attention to drastic shortcomings of U.S. law vis-

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