As global power relations increasingly favour international capital, it becomes crucial for labour and employment lawyers to center their field in a supranational context. As long as wages, social security, and taxes remain national matters, states compete at this level in order to attract foreign investment. This does not bode well for employees or the self-employed. Most ameliorative measures come in the form of unenforceable ‘soft law’ guidelines and recommendations.
The conference recorded in this vitally important book confronts this losing battle of local responses to global challenges. The book reprints the papers submitted to that conference by twenty-three outstanding scholars from fourteen countries. Among the many critical issues they expose and discuss are the following:
• the proliferation of varieties of non-standard employment;
• protection of migrant workers’ rights by regional organizations;
• global and regional trends in the human resources function;
• work training and education policy;
• effectiveness of equality and non-discrimination standards;
• involvement of employees in workplace decisionmaking; and
• the need for an equitable social safety net.
In the course of the discussion the authors examine cases from many countries, including not only EU Member States (both West and East) and the U.S., but also Japan, Chile, South Africa, and Indonesia.
With a focus on the nexus of multinational enterprises and international standards, the book provides both a sharp image of where labour law stands in today’s world—revealing serious social problems in a clearer light than is usually encountered—and a very valuable guide to directions to pursue and potential solutions, offered by some of the most engaged and committed minds in the field. It is an indispensable resource for legal workers in this ‘eye of the storm’ of globalization.
