This dissertation analyzes the effects of the ILO’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, taking as a case study ILO’s promotion of freedom of association in Brazil. It suggests that the 1998 Declaration’s promotional approach offers mechanisms that have the capacity to change a country's behaviour. In the case of Brazil, this change would involve reform of a corporativist trade union law that violates the principle of freedom of association. The peculiarities of compliance with the freedom-of-association principle represent a significant challenge to the ILO, especially when a country lacks the political will to comply with the principle. This dissertation shows that the 1998 Declaration provides mechanisms − information, qualification of the bureaucracy and support of independent actors − that can be used in these situations even outside the scope of a cooperation program to reform the law and modify public policy.

The present thesis is a logical outgrowth of the author's realization that rapid market globalization, spearheaded by faceless multinational corporations, is at the root of widespread abuse of the developing world's labour force. The situation clearly calls for corrective action in the form of a normative framework of effective regulations. Such a regulatory framework must needs to be enforced by a respected and dynamic international organization. Our research on this topic leads us to believe that the International Labour Organization (ILO) would be in an excellent position to supervise a proactive strategy of this kind, directly or indirectly, as it has the political clout and history to compel multinational corporations to respect their workers' most basic rights. In order to establish our case, we examine the legal questions at stake in this case study. In particular, we address the key attributes of multinational corporations, the issue of territorial sovereignty, the tripartite system, and the need for national legislation in any strategy involving workers' rights vis-a-vis multinational corporations. Next, we summarize the current level of accountability that multinational corporations have to their cross-border labour force. We then go on to discuss the ILO, the organization at the core of our reflections on multinational corporations' current (lack of) workplace accountability. Our research leads us to conclude that the ILO has not only the power to play that role, but also the duty to do so.

In this paper I delve into the connection between trade policy and labour rights as probably one of the most controversial issues, which the international trading system is faced with today. Labour laws differ from country to country and of course it is a cause for concern where some countries have higher standards than others, it becomes problematic for these countries with high standards to compete with countries with lower standards. Even though there is a definite link between trade and labour, my argument is that incorporating labour standards into the international trading system is not the best way forward to deal with the problem of abuse of labour standards.<br /> <br /> I further investigate the two organizations at the forefront of this debate, being the WTO and the ILO. In an attempt to ascertain which of the two is the best forum to deal with the issue I further look at the relationship between these two organizations. Compliance with international labour standards is a growing concern as worldwide standards are deteriorating and nothing is being done to alleviate the problem. Accordingly, I explore the causes for the abuse of labour standards and seek to find the better alternative, by looking at the respective positions of the parties who are for and against the linkage of trade with labour standards. Here the views and concerns of the developed world are weighed up against those of the developing world and looking at possible alternatives concludes the paper.

Univ., Diss.--St. Gallen, 2003.

The author's thesis, Université de Montréal. / "Bibliographie": p. 263-270.

Thesis (tesis de grado)--Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, 1982. / At head of title: República de Colombia, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Socioeconómicas. Includes bibliographical references (p. 147-148).

Late in 1931, the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that worldwide unemployment had reached 20-25 million. The ILO was also mindful that the consequences of unemployment were borne by dependents and concluded that the number of people directly affected by unemployment was therefore probably in the region of 50-60 million. The thesis revisits this old theme of the 'Hungry Thirties' but considers it in a new and different way. Most histories of unemployment during the Great Depression have been presented in national terms but this study examines unemployment from an international perspective by utilizing the League of Nations and ILO as sites through which to explore how debates about unemployment and how to respond to it were being internationalized. Utilizing the vast archives of the League of Nations and ILO, the thesis focuses on a series of interconnected themes - public works and economic policy, migration, housing, and nutrition - themes that the League and ILO identified as being the 'fallout' from unemployment. It builds on recent research of the League and ILO that has revealed more complex histories of these two international organizations and that has recognized that the 'technical' agencies were core functions that consumed significant resources of personnel and money. Crucially, this work not only continued during the 1930s but thrived even as the political atmosphere darkened; it is, therefore, a history that offers another side to the autarky and nationalism of the 1930s. The thesis also connects the technical agencies of the League of Nations to the ILO and, in contrast to the customary treatment of the interaction of these two organizations that emphasizes inter-agency tension, it identifies how the collaboration was an important step in the rediscovery of the fundamental connection between economy and society by linking economic policy to social and physical welfare.

Depuis ces vingt dernières années, la représentativité des organisations internationales est au cœur du débat politique sur la réforme des institutions de la gouvernance mondiale. Considérée comme un enjeu clé de leur légitimité, la représentativité apparaît à la fois comme une qualité liée au fait de « bien représenter » mais aussi comme un objet dont se saisissent les institutions pour permettre à certains acteurs d’en représenter d’autres. À partir d’une recherche menée dans le cadre de l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT) sur une période s’étendant de 1919 à 2014, nous proposons de recourir à la notion de « valeur pratique » pour aborder cette notion polysémique et ambivalente qu’est la représentativité dans le cadre d’une organisation internationale à la fois particulière et emblématique des enjeux soulevés aujourd’hui par le problème de la représentativité. Créée en 1919, l’OIT est en effet, à la différence de toutes les autres organisations internationales du système des Nations unies et de Bretton Woods, la seule à être composée non seulement des représentants des gouvernements mais aussi des représentants des organisations syndicales de travailleurs et d’employeurs (représentation tripartite). L’OIT constitue donc un cas particulièrement intéressant pour étudier la représentativité sur le long terme à la fois au niveau des États et des acteurs non étatiques. Sur le plan méthodologique, nous défendons l’intérêt d’une démarche socio-historique qui accorde une place importante aux représentations des acteurs, sans pour autant faire l’économie de l’analyse des pratiques de représentation objectivables à travers le temps. / In the past two decades, the representativeness of international organisations has been at the heart of political debates on the reform of world governance institutions. Representativeness is key to the legitimacy of international organizations. It entails the fact of "representing well" but also constitutes a tool which the institutions use in order to make certain actors represent others. Building on empirical research on the International Labour Organisation (ILO) from 1919 to 2014, this work develops the concept of "practical value" to address the polysemous and ambivalent notion of representativeness. The case of the ILO is both particular and emblematic of the problems that representativeness poses today. Indeed, unlike the United Nations or Bretton Woods systems, the ILO, created in 1919, is the sole international organisation composed of government representatives and representatives from workers’ and employers’ unions (tripartite representation). Hence, the ILO is a particularly interesting case to study representativeness over the long term at the level of states and non-state actors. Methodologically, this work defends a socio-historical approach that gives a central place to actors’ conceptions about representativeness, while also analysing the way representational practices are objectivised through time.

Magister Legum - LLM / This mini thesis provides a comparative study on two Member States of the ILO. These are, namely: South Africa and Zimbabwe. The purpose of this research is to find out whether Zimbabwe and South Africa are complying with the standards set by the ILO regarding the issue of compensation for occupational injuries and diseases. The terms workers compensation and employment injury benefits are frequently used interchangeably.¹³ Workers compensation is the older term, generally used originally to refer to schemes which provide benefits in the case of death and incapacity due to accidents at work and, later, due to prescribed occupational diseases as well. These benefits could be temporary or permanent, total or partial. In these ILO instruments, the term employment injury is used to cover both accidents at work and occupational diseases.¹⁴ This mini-thesis determines whether South Africa and Zimbabwe are complying with or failing to meet the standards set by the ILO. The research further provides recommendations regarding the shortfalls that South Africa and Zimbabwe are facing so that they will get in line with the standards of ILO, because this is essential to the lives of millions of workers working in these two countries.

Magister Legum - LLM