Dare to be different : a celebration of freedom in association with Amnesty International.

Los poemas y relatos de esta antología ponen de manifiesto que los principios justicia, libertad, igualdad, entre todas las personas, inspirándose en la labor de Amnistía Internacional, deben aplicarse en nuestra vida cotidiana y no sólo en la política, si queremos un mundo mejor.

An appraisal of the implementation of freedom of association as a labour right: Nigerian perspective

No abstract available.

Codes de conduite et droit d'association : une étude exploratoire du secteur du textile

Avec la globalisation de l’économie, l’entreprise traditionnelle est devenue un réseau global de producteurs liés par des contrats. À la suite de certains abus commis par les entreprises multinationales, notamment en ce qui concerne les droits fondamentaux des travailleurs, les entreprises et la société civile ont développé des mécanismes de régulation privés dont les codes de conduite privés. La présente étude cherche à déterminer quels pouvaient être les véritables destinataires des codes de conduite : les travailleurs du pays d’origine de l’entreprise (généralement situés dans un pays développé) ou les travailleurs des pays de production (généralement situés dans des pays en développement). À cette fin, le mémoire compare le contenu des codes de conduite de Nike, de Gap et de Levi-Strauss sur ce sujet avec les observations de l’Organisation internationale du travail pour les travailleurs des États-Unis, de l’Inde et du Bangladesh. Certains écarts entre les protections accordées par les codes et les besoins des travailleurs sont ainsi identifiés. Dans la dernière partie du mémoire, la question d’étude est élargie afin d’examiner si les codes ne seraient pas destinés à des personnes autres que les travailleurs, soient les consommateurs, les actionnaires ou l’entreprise elle-même.

L'évolution de la protection de la liberté d'association des travailleurs agricoles salariés en droit international et en droit canadien

Cette étude traite des difficultés que rencontrent les travailleurs agricoles salariés dans l’exercice de leur droit à la liberté d’association et à la négociation collective. Ils sont souvent exclus des régimes législatifs nationaux de protection des droits syndicaux ou restreints dans leur capacité de les exercer en dépit du fait qu’ils sont parmi les plus pauvres et mal nourris de la planète et donc requerraient une protection accrue. Quelles sont les causes historiques de ce traitement discriminatoire (première partie) ? Comment le droit international du travail contribue-t-il à remédier à cette situation (deuxième partie) ? En quoi est-ce que le droit international du travail a-t-il influencé le droit interne canadien pour la protection des travailleurs agricoles salariés (troisième partie) ? Les causes du traitement singulier accordé à ces travailleurs remontent aux origines mêmes de l’agriculture. Consciente des caractéristiques particulières de cette activité, l’Organisation internationale du travail affirmera dès le début du 20e siècle qu’il est injustifié d’empêcher les travailleurs agricoles salariés de se syndiquer. Elle insiste sur la valeur fondamentale des droits syndicaux devant différents forums onusiens et favorise leur promotion à travers l’élaboration de normes du travail mais également d’instruments de soft law, considérés mieux adaptés dans un contexte contemporain de mondialisation. Ce droit international du travail influencera ensuite l’interprétation de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés par les tribunaux canadiens dans leur analyse de la constitutionnalité de l’exclusion totale ou partielle des travailleurs agricoles salariés des régimes législatifs de protection des droits syndicaux.

Did the cooperative start life as a Joint-Stock company? business law and cooperatives in Spain, 1869–1931

Studies of Spanish cooperatives date their spread from the Law on Agrarian Syndicates of 1906. But the first legislative appearance of cooperatives is an 1869 measure that permitted general incorporation for lending companies. The 1931 general law on cooperatives, which was the first act permitting the formation of cooperatives in any activity, reflects the gradual disappearance of the cooperative’s "business" characteristics. In this paper we trace the Spanish cooperative’s legal roots in business law and its connections to broader questions of the freedom of association, the formation of joint-stock enterprises, and the liability of investors in business and cooperative entities. Our account underscores the similarities of the organizational problems approach by cooperatives and business firms, while at the same time respecting the distinctive purposes cooperatives served.

Transnational private authority and the participation of workers' organizations in the regulatory space surrounding the employment relationship

Most corporate codes of conduct and multi-stakeholder sustainability standards guarantee workers' rights to freedom of association and collective bargaining, but many authors are sceptical about the concrete impact of codes and standards of this kind. In this paper we use Hancher and Moran's (1998) concept of 'regulatory space' to assess the potential of private transnational regulation to support the growth of trade union membership and collective bargaining relationships, drawing on some preliminary case study results from a project on the impact of the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) social conditionality on worker organization and social dialogue. One of the major effects of neoliberal economic and industrial policy has been the routine exclusion of workers' organizations from regulatory processes on the grounds that they introduce inappropriate 'political' motives into what ought to be technical decision-making processes. This, rather than any direct attack on their capacity to take action, is what seems best to explain the global decline in union influence (Cradden 2004; Howell 2007; Howe 2012). The evidence we present in the paper suggests that private labour regulation may under certain conditions contribute to a reversal of this tendency, re-establishing the legitimacy of workers' organizations within regulatory processes and by extension the legitimacy of their use of economic and social power. We argue that guarantees of freedom of association and bargaining rights within private regulation schemes are effective to the extent that they can be used by workers' organizations in support of a claim for access to the regulatory space within which the terms and conditions of the employment relationship are determined. Our case study evidence shows that certain trade unions in East Africa have indeed been able to use IFC and other private regulation schemes as levers to win recognition from employers and to establish collective bargaining relationships. Although they did not attempt to use formal procedures to make a claim for the enforcement of freedom of association rights on behalf of their members, the unions did use enterprises' adherence to private regulation schemes as a normative point of reference in argument and political exchange about worker representation. For these unions, the regulation was a useful addition to the range of arguments that they could deploy as means to justify their demand for recognition by employers. By contrast, the private regulation that helps workers' organizations to win access to regulatory processes does little to ensure that they are able to participate meaningfully, whether in terms of technical capacity or of their ability to mobilize social power as a counterweight to the economic power of employers. To the extent that our East African unions were able to make an impact on terms and conditions of employment via their participation in regulatory space it was solely on the basis of their own capacities and resources and the application of national labour law.

Governance by Contract? The impact of the International Finance Corporation's Social Conditionality on Worker Organization and Social Dialogue

This study considers the question of the relationship between private labour regulation and workers' capacity to take collective action through the lens of an empirical study of the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) 'performance standards' system of social and environmental conditionality. The study covered some 150 IFC client businesses in four world regions, drawing on data made public by the IFC as well as the results of a dedicated field survey that gathered information directly from workers, managers and union representatives. The study found that the application of the performance standards system has had remarkably little impact on union membership and social dialogue. In those few cases where change could be causally linked to the standards, the effect depended on the presence of workers' organizations that already had the capacity to take effective action on behalf of their members. The study also uncovered some prima facie evidence of breaches of freedom of association rights occurring with no reaction from IFC. The study concludes that the lack of impact is largely due to the private contractual structure that supposedly guarantees standards compliance.

Transnational private authority, regulatory space and workers' collective competences: Bringing local contexts and worker agency back in

The impact of transnational private regulation on labour standards remains in dispute. While studies have provided some limited evidence of positive effects on 'outcome standards' such as wages or occupational health and safety, the literature gives little reason to believe that there has been any significant effect on 'process rights' relating primarily to collective workers' voice and social dialogue. This paper probes this assumption by bringing local contexts and worker agency more fully into the picture. It outlines an analytical framework that emphasizes workers' potential to act collectively for change in the regulatory space surrounding the employment relationship. It argues that while transnational private regulation on labour standards may marginally improve workers access to regulatory spaces and their capacity to require the inclusion of enterprises in them, it does little to increase union leverage. The findings are based on empirical research work conducted in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A rationalist perspective on the autonomy of international sport governing bodies : towards a pragmatic autonomy in the steering of sports

International sport governing bodies (ISGBs) are built on the foundations of freedom of association and traditionally enjoy a large degree of autonomy in their decision-making. Their autonomy is increasingly confined, however, and their hierarchical self-governance is giving way to a more networked governance, in which different stakeholders exert power in different ways and in different contexts in a complex web of interrelationships. Taking a rationalist perspective on the autonomy of ISGBs, this article demonstrates that ISGBs are deploying strategies to safeguard their waning governing monopoly over international sport. Opting for an inductive approach, the authors present four possible conceptualizations of autonomy as applied to ISGBs, namely political autonomy, legal autonomy, financial autonomy and pyramidal autonomy. For each dimension, they describe the different strategies ISGBs wield in order to safeguard different dimensions of their autonomy. This article uses governance theories to hypothesize that the autonomy of ISGBs can be understood as 'pragmatic autonomy' since ISGBs only cede certain aspects of their autonomy under particular circumstances and when being subject to specific threats. Acting in a rationalist manner, they are able to keep control over governance developments in sport by using indirect and more subtle forms of governance.

La constitutionnalisation du droit de négociation collective : ses effets sur les régimes législatifs de représentation collective

Dans un important arrêt rendu en 2007 dans l’affaire Health Services and Support, la Cour suprême du Canada a reconnu pour la première fois que la liberté d’association énoncée à la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés protégeait la «capacité des syndiqués d’engager des négociations collectives sur des problèmes reliés au milieu de travail». Pour conclure ainsi, la Cour trouve appui dans le droit international du travail. Avec cette décision, la Cour renverse sa position établie une vingtaine d’années plus tôt voulant que la négociation collective ne soit pas une activité bénéficiant d’une protection à titre de droit fondamental. Suite à ce changement de paradigme, nombre d’auteurs ont été d’avis que la constitutionnalisation du droit de négociation collective pourrait avoir des effets sur la validité de différentes mesures législatives et sur l’interprétation des lois encadrant les régimes de relations de travail. De plus, la négociation collective étant historiquement indissociable de la grève, il y avait tout lieu de croire que la protection de la Charte pourrait être étendue au droit de grève. Par la suite, en 2011, la Cour suprême a rendu la décision Fraser portant sur l’accès à un régime de représentation collective, précisant la portée du droit de négociation collective tel qu’envisagé dans Health Services. Le présent mémoire recense la jurisprudence qui a abordé la protection constitutionnelle de la négociation collective en droit public canadien et en droit privé québécois depuis l’arrêt Health Services afin d’identifier ses effets sur la validité des restrictions au droit de grève, sur la validité des restrictions au contenu des négociations et sur l’imposition de conditions de travail, sur la validité des exclusions de certaines catégories de travailleurs des régimes de représentation collective, et sur l’interprétation des dispositions de ces régimes. Les résultats de la recherche nous permettent de conclure que la constitutionnalisation du droit de négociation collective a engendré un certain volume de contestations de la part d’organisations syndicales. Ces procédures ont porté fruit dans des situations où l’atteinte aux droits était similaire aux précédents de la Cour suprême ainsi que dans un cas lié au droit de grève. Les effets plus vastes envisagés dans la recension de la littérature ne se sont pas matérialisés. Par ailleurs, nos résultats en droit privé indiquent que la constitutionnalisation du droit de grève n’a pas eu d’impact sur l’interprétation des régimes de relations industrielles. Enfin, le recours ou non au droit international par les tribunaux n’a pas d’effet sur nos résultats.

La responsabilité sociale des entreprises transnationales : études de cas sur les audits sociaux et les droits des travailleurs en Chine

À l’heure actuelle, la régulation des chaines mondiales de production dépend principalement de mécanismes non étatiques tels que les codes de conduite et les audits sociaux implantés par les entreprises, les ONG et les organisations internationales. Dans cette recherche, nous évaluons si les audits menés par Nike, Adidas et Puma peuvent contribuer à renforcer les droits des travailleurs chinois. À l’aide d’entrevues réalisées sur le terrain auprès d’auditeurs et d’ONG, nous avons conceptualisé quatre conditions de base, lesquelles concernent la participation directe des travailleurs, le développement de capacités locales, le respect de la liberté d’association et la professionnalisation du travail d’auditeur social. Notre étude conclut que des étapes restent à franchir afin que les audits deviennent des outils d’avancement des droits fondamentaux. L’enjeu prioritaire demeure le développement de structures démocratiques afin de permettre aux ouvriers de former des syndicats libres et de négocier leurs propres conventions de travail.

China's Labor Question

The Honda workers’ strike in 2010 attracted world wide attention. It was one of thousands of labor disputes that happen every year in China, but it was the first major calling for the right of workers to represent themselves in collective bargaining. The question of representation is therefore the main topic of the book. The various contributors to this volume share the view that the Chinese party-state takes the protest against social inequality seriously. It has enacted many laws aimed at channeling dissatisfaction into safe channels. The implementation of these laws, however, lags behind and these laws do not include the right of freedom of association. Without this right, super-exploitation will persist and the system of labor relations will remain prone to eruptive forms of protest. The first part of the book provides an overview of the economic context of Chinese labor relations, the transformation of class-relations, the evolution of labor law, and government policies intended to set a wage floor. Based on extensive field research, the second part looks at the evolution of labor relations at the industry level. In the third part, the focus shifts to the Corporate Social Responsibility agenda in China. The final part looks at the connection between land reform and social inequality.

Liberdade de associação e os desafios das organizações da sociedade civil no Brasil

O presente estudo tem por objetivo identificar de que forma o direito de liberdade de associação vem sendo aplicado com relação às organizações da sociedade civil no Brasil. A partir da análise das diferentes dimensões da liberdade de associação e das normas que tratam das organizações da sociedade civil no Brasil pós Constituição Federal de 1988, apresentamos os principais desafios a serem superados para que as organizações da sociedade civil sejam tratadas de forma a melhor garantir o direito de liberdade de associação e um marco regulatório mais adequado ao seu desenvolvimento.

Apuntes para el estudio del proyecto de ley regulando el ejercicio del derecho de asociación /

Mode of access: Internet.

Migrant domestic workers, vulnerability and the law: immigration and employment laws in Cyprus and Spain

The intersection of gender, welfare and immigration regimes has been one of the main focus of a rich scholarship on paid domestic work in Europe. This article brings into the discussion the nexus of employment and immigration law regimes to reflect on the role of legal regulation in structuring and reducing the vulnerability of domestic workers. I analyse this nexus by looking at the cases of Cyprus and Spain, two states falling under the cluster of Southern Mediterranean welfare regimes, that share certain characteristics in terms of immigration regimes, but have substantially different employment law regulation models. The first part sketches the debate on the employment law regulation of domestic work. The second part starts by giving an overview of the immigration regimes of Cyprus and Spain in relation to migrant domestic workers and then proceeds to analyse the two countries’ models and substance of employment law regulation in domestic work. The comparison of these two divergent approaches informs the debate on how the legal regulation of domestic work should be best structured. In Spain there have been recent dynamic legislative changes in the employment law regulation of domestic work. The final part of the article traces these changes and reflects on why such processes have not taken place in Cyprus.