SOCIETÀ ITALIANA DI DIRITTO ED ECONOMIA
Setsen (yifei) Kiyoutes (xiao) (University of Trento)
Danqing Wang (Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University.)
Abstract
The International Labor Organization (ILO), established in 1919, has played a crucial role in promoting social justice and improving labor conditions worldwide. Among its core conventions, the ILO has emphasized the significance of freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining, recognizing the right to strike as an essential component of these rights. Despite the absence of explicit references to the right to strike in Conventions C087 and C098, the ILO's supervisory bodies have progressively affirmed this right through interpretation and case law, This is controversial in academia, with proponents arguing that the right to strike is an important means of achieving social justice, while opponents are concerned about its impact on economic and social stability. In recent years, ILO has made some progress in promoting the international recognition and protection of the right to strike, but still faces challenges.
In recent years. On the one hand, globalization and economic uncertainty have increased the complexity of labour relations, and the implementation of the right to strike has varied considerably from country to country and region to region. The pressure of economic competition brought about by globalization has led to an increasingly cautious attitude towards the right to strike in some countries, and some countries have passed legislation to restrict the right to strike, believing that this helps to maintain economic stability and social order. However, this practice has also triggered strong opposition from workers and trade union organizations, who see it as a violation of basic labour rights. Technological advances and changes in the labour market have also had an impact on the exercise of the right to strike, with the rise of telecommuting and non-traditional forms of employment making it more difficult for workers to organize and act collectively.
International core labor standards are far from having the intended effect of legislation in practice and are insufficient to have the deterrent effect they should have. Despite the large number of ILO member States, there is a huge gap between ratification and implementation due to the inconsistency of certain conventions with their domestic laws and practices. Especially in countries where the right to strike has no constitutional basis. Unlike the EU, which recognizes the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has also stated that the right to collective action is a fundamental right. Its 28 member states are bound by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, which incorporates the right, as well as state/federal level legal provisions such as Article 28 of the Japanese Constitution and the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 in the United States.
such as Venezuela, where in 2015, a complaint was filed with the International Labour Organization (ILO) by 33 employers' representatives alleging that the Venezuelan government had failed to comply with the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organize Convention (Convention No. 87), the Minimum Wage Fixing Machinery Convention (Convention No. 26), and the Tripartite Consultation Convention (Convention No. 144). The complaint states that the government has attacked, harassed and interfered with the employers' organization Venezuelan Federation of Chambers of Commerce and its leaders and members, specifically including acts of violence, arbitrary detentions and unfair trials. However, the report of a commission of inquiry set up by the ILO could only call for the immediate cessation of all such attacks against trade unions and employers' organizations and for measures to be taken to ensure that similar incidents do not recur in the
Another example is China's failure to ratify Conventions Nos. 87 and 98, has led to problems in protecting freedom of association and the right to collective bargaining. For example, the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) reported incidents of workers in Guangdong Province being arrested and charged for their union activities.
Against this trend, this paper explores alternative solutions to make labor standards more truly enforceable. By analyzing and comparing the U.S. Trade Act of 1974,the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act 2021, and the U.K. Anti-Modern Slavery Act of 2015, which promote labor standards by means of unilateral trade regulations and by linking bilateral, regional, and multilateral trade agreements to forced labor standards, this paper ponders whether legislation affecting the global value chain can also have a positive impact on the establishment of the right to strike by means of legislation that affects global value chains.