Worker Rights

Conceptual Overview

Discussions of workers' rights have a long history. They feature in the dominant texts of many major religions: For example, both the Bible and the Qur'an provide commentary on the dignity of human labor and the rights of laborers to fair contracts. Workers' rights are also derived from discussions of human rights within both secular and nonsecular theories of natural law (most notably in relation to the prohibition of forced labor and freedom from particular forms of discrimination) and more broadly from interest [Page 1629]theories. The modern debate on workers' rights, however, relates largely to their development during and following industrialization with the consequent rise of trade unionism providing the vehicle for pursuing important workplace rights and stimulating statutory intervention in the protection of workers.

Workers' rights can be differentiated by their type, source, nature of enforcement, and level. Such rights may be either protective (for example, prohibitions on child labor or health and safety protections) or enabling (such as rights to unionize and bargain collectively with employers). They emerge from individual contractual negotiations; collective agreements; national legislation and other national regulatory instruments; and international law, agreements, declarations, and protocols. Workers' rights may be upheld voluntarily, albeit underpinned by collective union strength; however the inevitable inconsistency in such an approach necessitates more formal regulation and enforcement through direct statutory intervention at both national and supranational levels. Significant concerns continue to exist, however, over both the forms and effectiveness of enforcement of workers' rights in both national and international contexts.

Basic workers rights are enshrined in international standards such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which prohibits forced labor; promotes rights to employment, favorable conditions of work and working hours, equal pay for equal work, and just and favorable remuneration; and upholds rights to form and join trade unions. More recently, the International Labor Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 1998 specifies these as (1) freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining, (2) the elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor, (3) the effective abolition of child labor, and (4) the elimination of discrimination with respect to employment and occupation. These rights are, in aspiration at least, universal.

Some workers have significantly more extensive rights that protect them, for example, against a wide range of discriminatory practices or against unfair dismissal. Other enhanced protections include rights in relation to paid holidays, maternity and parental leave, and family-friendly working and information provision and consultation. The development of these more extensive rights is, however, heavily contextspecific and is principally a feature of liberal Western democracies, most notably in European nations such as Sweden and Germany. Despite the continuing importance of national institutional configurations, economic and political union has driven the adoption of a “floor” of workers' rights within the European Union. However, even where such enhanced rights exist, both their existence and the degree of protection they afford is not static, and recent times have witnessed claims of a major assault on established workers' rights in countries such as Canada and Australia.

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