Monitoring International Labor Standards National Legal Frameworks: Summary of a Workshop (2003) / Chapter Skim
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2. International Labor Standards in the National Context: Legal Frameworks and Monitoring
2. International Labor Standards in the National Context: Legal Frameworks and Monitoring
Pages 4-16
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From page 4... ...
in examining legal aspects of labor standards compliance, the two presenters, Arturo Bronstein (International Labour Office) and Marley Weiss (University of Maryland)
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reorganization of their labor legislation so that it is consistent with a different pattern of economy; 1"The International Labour Office is the permanent secretariat of the International Labour Organization and focal point for the overall activities that it prepares under the scrutiny of the Governing Body and under the leadership of a Director-General, who is elected for a five-year renewable term. The Of lice employs some 1,900 of ficials of over 110 nationalities at the Geneva headquarters and in 40 field offices around the world.
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creation of labor law "from scratch."
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Bronstein added that Recommendations "are not second-class instruments, they are firstclass guidelines for countries to help them address labor law issues."3 In addition to referencing international standards, ILO guidance also considers aspects of comparative labor law. On this issue, Mr.
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From page 8... ...
Within the realm of industrial relations, Mr. Bronstein said, it is "clear that the most important issues are those of freedom of association, collec4"Atypical forms of employment" generally refers to those forms that may not be covered by labor laws, collective bargaining agreements, and social security systems.
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Bronstein said that, in addition to advice on the content of national labor laws, the ILO provides assistance to member states on the enforcement of national law. This involves several key institutions.
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Marley Weiss Professor, University ofMaryland(SchoolofLaw Professor Weiss began her presentation by polling the workshop audience to determine how many were lawyers or economists. Finding that most of the audience fell into one or the other of these categories, she said that the issues of concern in assessing national compliance with international labor standards are at the intersection of law and economics with a "little dash of politics and sociology." It is this combination that makes the task so complicated.
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While the law may look okay as written, do the procedures, remedies, or context render it ineffective or in conflict with another regulation? Professor Weiss cautioned, "If all you do is read the words on paper and say 'oh, this all looks good,' and there isn't anything conflicting, you 6 Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin.
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However, in federal court or in the general jurisdiction Maryland Circuit Court, where workers' cases often address wrongful discharge and discrimination, the court is more accustomed to viewing the worker "in the posture of someone challenging the employer's need for efficiency, economy, productivity, and so on." Because of this, Professor Weiss said, "the exact same norm, even with the same formal remedies and procedures, will get very different treatment in those different forums." This example highlights the difficulty that an external assessor faces in Grist. Duke Power Co., 401 u.s.
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Professor Weiss emphasized the need to recruit experts who are knowledgeable about the domestic body of law in question. This expertise must extend beyond the statutory scheme to knowledge of the procedural and remedial structure of the courts as well as the industrial relations context in which these laws and institutions operate.
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Bronstein added that if member states exclude certain organizations from their delegations to the ILO, the Governing Body might still appoint a representative from that organization.9 Mr. Srinivasan asked how well the ILO represents workers in the informal economy a large share of the workforce in developing countriesand how this impacts advice to governments if labor laws may cover only 10 percent or less of the workforce.
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Professor Weiss added that many international norms, including ILO Conventions, "are in the form that says we will specify the ends to be accomplished, the moral principle to be observed. And we will leave it up to you, the member states, to figure out the right way, the means, to make that work in your system." While "ILO Conventions are frequently relatively precise," like other international norms, they must "leave a lot of room to accommodate the different needs of countries that in good faith and with vigorous efforts wish to implement the standard." Thus, as Professor Weiss said at the beginning of her presentation, it is a complicated task to determine whether a member state's chosen means within its legal, economic, and political context are compatible with a norm that defines ends.
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If you can buttress that in away by developing a core of people with real comparative law expertise, then you have an inside domestic source and you can actually get some good information" on the cases that warrant further attention after an initial screening of national laws and data.
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