At its November 2008 meeting, the Committee on Legal Issues and International Labour Standards of the International Labour Organization's (ILO) Governing Body recommended that the International Labour Office prepare a study on improving the interpretation and implementation of international...

In the United States, union density continues to decline, while income inequality increases. But while union density falls we have experienced the counterintuitive rise in international framework agreements (IFAs), or agreements signed by global union federations (“global unions”) and...

This chapter discusses the provisions in the Canada-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) on the protection of labour and environmental standards and human rights. It first outlines the obligations of the parties to protect labour and environmental standards, human rights and...

The past few decades have witnessed the growth of an exciting debate in the legal academy about the tensions between economic pressures to commodify and philosophical commitments to the market inalienability of certain items. Sex, organs, babies and college athletics are among the many topics...

Harmonising Regulatory and Antitrust Regimes for International Air Transport addresses the timely and problematic issue of lack of uniformity in legal standards for international civil aviation.First, it focuses on discrepancies within the regulatory and antitrust framework and possible...

How do labor standards develop in countries after international labor conventions are ratified? Previous studies suggest that despite high ratification rates, the protection of labor rights is not enhanced. Using panel data on both de jure and de facto labor conditions for 132 countries from...

The paper addresses the limits of World Trade Organization (WTO) law in respect of protection of workers, human rights, animal welfare, and the environment. Instead, enterprises through their corporate social responsibilities (CSR) can fill in the legal gaps in providing protection of non-trade...

The chapter explores the different forms in which references to international labor standards appear in International Investment Agreements (IIAs), and provides an analytical framework to evaluate their intended purpose and potential effects. After discussing the role of international labor...

This article discusses the problem of the meaning of the term ‘worker' as used in ILO Standards, with particular reference to the principles of freedom of association, both in terms of the constitutional obligation to respect those principles, and of the core freedom of association...

In 2009, Belgium and the Netherlands announced a deal to send approximately 500 Belgian inmates to Dutch prisons, in exchange for an annual payment of £26 million. The arrangement was unprecedented, but justified as beneficial to both nations: Belgium had too many prisoners and not enough...