Labour Law in a Globalising World
| Author | Gordon Anderson |
| Date | 01 July 2003 |
| Published date | 01 July 2003 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.6604008 |
REVIEW ARTICLE
Labour Law in a Globalising World
Gordon Anderson
n
Bob Hepple (ed), Social and Labour Rights in a Global Context: International and
Comparative Perspectives,Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002, xxi þ273 pp, hb
d45.00.
At the opening of the 21
st
century it is clear that increasing globalisation will
remain one of the most important long term influences on the evolution of the
international economy and international political structures. The controversial
nature of globalisation is self-evident from the increasing intensity of anti-
globalisation demonstrations at meetings of international bodies such as the
World Trade Organisation. While the actual nature of globalisation, the direction
in which it will take the world and the costs and benefits that will result are still
contestable, it is clear that the main, and certainly the most effective, drivers are
economic. Nations are primarily concerned to set in place structures that promote
the free movement of capital including the freedom of multinational companies to
locate and relocate around the world, and to promote free trade in goods and
services. While non-economic values such as environmental protection and social
and labour rights are not excluded from the debates setting these structures in
place, they are largely marginal to it. One symbol of this marginalisation is that
the ILO, unlike the World Bank, IMF and OECD, does not enjoy observer status
at the WTO in spite of the rhetoric of concern for such rights from member states
of the Organisation. As McCrudden and Davies explain,
1
this exclusion is the
result of a major and continuing division between developed and developing
countries within the WTO that in the 1990s prevented agreement on any tangible
measures in the Marrakesh agreements and that has continued to block
subsequent progress. The stark divisions between these groups became even more
apparent at the Singapore Ministerial meeting in 1996 when an invitation to the
head of the ILO to speak was withdrawn. The only tangible result was a weak
statement to the effect that members agreed that labour standards should be
upheld but that this should be done through the ILO and not the WTO. The
suspicion of developing countries that any link between trade and labour
standards will lead to increased protectionism is almost certainly justified.
Experience within the WTO to date provides little reason for developing countries
to have any great faith in the undertakings of the developed world. Developing
countries have seen the promises of movement toward freer trade that might
benefit them fade into the distance while at the same time the undertakings they
entered into are increasingly used to their disadvantage.
2
n
Faculty of Law, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand.
1 C. McCrudden and A. Davies, ‘A Perspective on Trade and Labour Rights’ (2000) 3 JIEL 43.
2 The disadvantages to developing countries resulting from TRIPs is one such example. For a
general discussion see Oxfam, ‘Rigged Rules and Double Standards: Trade, Globalisation and the
Fight Against Poverty’ (2002) available from: http://www.oxfam.org/eng/policy_publ.htm.
rThe Modern Law Review Limited 2003 (MLR 66:4, July). Published by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.,
9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148, USA.
640
To continue reading
Request your trial