International Employment Law (LAWS70218)

As labour and capital markets transcend domestic borders, the objectives of labour law can no longer be confined solely to actions within the nation state. The purpose of this subject is two-fold. First, it is to identify the diverse components of international employment and labour law, the institutions, the claims and the methods for advancing social protection to workers worldwide. This enquiry spans beyond traditional instruments that are associated with labour law, and includes trade law, private international law, international human rights and corporate social responsibility. It further seeks to embed the study of legal instruments in the broader economic and sociological debates on globalisation. The second goal is to critically assess how international developments affect domestic labour law and our perception of the ethical and economic values that underscore this body of law.

Principal topics include:

• The importance of the concept of globalisation in understanding national systems of labour regulation
• The composition, powers and functioning of international organisations that regulate labour internationally, including the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the European Union (EU)
• The relevance of different theories of international regulation
• The usefulness of a comparative approach to labour law, including consideration of the major models of labour regulation like the Wagner Model in the United States and Canada
• The role of intergovernmental and corporate codes of conduct in securing international labour standards
• The emerging challenges posed by the use of migrant, contingent and precarious workers in the global economy
• The success of adopting a human rights approach to labour regulation in the face of changes to domestic and international labour law frameworks.