Fundamental Rights At Work
As Wisconsin public employees reorganize for a long fight in the wake of the state GOP’s “midnight strike” at collective bargaining rights, it brought to my mind one of guest blogger Heba El-Shazli’s posts on Egypt. In it, she notes that Egypt’s new, independent unions are demanding reformed labor laws that incorporate the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
For many people, this reference probably begs the question: What the heck is actually in the Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work? The startlingly intense loathing of collective bargaining rights by Gov. Scott Walker, the Wisconsin GOP, and their supporters, is incentive enough to elaborate on this document.
Adopted in 1998, the Declaration commits ILO members “ to respect and promote workers’ rights and principles” in four categories: freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; the elimination of forced or compulsory labor; the abolition of child labor; and the elimination of discrimination in respect to employment and occupation. These are the “core” principles of the ILO, and are incorporated into its “conventions” – an expression of the ILO labor standards. This is the heart of this venerable, tripartite organization, in which
