LABOR'S NEW OPENING TO INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS

Lance Compa (March 2008) "LABOR'S NEW OPENING TO INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS STANDARDS"
WorkingUSA 11 (1) , 99–123

Most trade unionists were oblivious to international human rights movement in the last half of the twentieth century. For their part, human rights advocates did not include workers' rights on their agenda. But in the late 1990s, labor and human rights advocates came together to reframe workers' collective action as a human rights mission rather than a self-interested syndical action. A new labor–human rights alliance built a wide-ranging discourse of workers' rights as human rights. The expertise and knowledge attributable to human rights actors gave their critique of workers' rights violations in the U.S. a high measure of authoritativeness compared with trade unionists making the same claims.

Critics suggest that a human rights frame moves away from a class analysis, de-emphasizing principles of industrial democracy and mass action in favor of individual rights. This article argues that a human rights argument can help win needed labor law reform to protect workers' rights.



WorkingUSA, The Journal of Labor and Society is an important forum for new ideas on the work experience. Addressing the range of concerns of working people, the journal covers workers both employed and unemployed, union and non-union, both in the marketplace and at home. A wide range of respected contributors examine the economic, political and social means to achieving a democratic worklife.