S. Labor Rights in a Global Economy

This offering meets 2 hours per week, but is worth 3 points of credit. The additional point of credit reflects the instructor's certification that the course assignments require student engagement and responsibilities beyond that found in a two hour lecture course.

One final research paper, or an equivalent project for a non-governmental organization under professor's supervision. Minor writing credit and, with professor's permission, major writing credit.

The present period is marked by increasing cross-border flows of goods, services, and capital, followed by a retreat in globalization caused by the pandemic, by economic crises, and by political backlash against the impact of globalization on workers; transformations in corporate organization; transitions in political regimes and social systems; and new patterns of labor migration and trafficking.

These changes raise many pressing questions about the regulation of workplaces and labor markets from the local to the global levels, and about the political regimes within which industrial relations systems and labor law institutions are embedded. Major themes in the Seminar include: How are global labor conditions related to the current crises of democracy and the rise of new political movements on the right and left? Which regions and social groups are the winners and losers in the global economy? What is the relationship between labor rights and economic development? What is the relationship between labor rights and political regimes? Can we design regulatory institutions to enhance democracy, equality, and compliance with labor rights at the domestic, regional, and international levels? What is the relationship between public and private enforcement of labor rights and standards?

Topics vary from year to year, but may include: Comparative models of labor politics, labor law. and labor organizations in North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia; core international labor rights; linkage of labor rights with trading systems; enforcement of cross-border labor rights by U.S. courts and executive officials; multinational corporations and codes of conduct; the "living wage" movement; transnational union organizing; cross-border networks of labor migration and trafficking; household labor and the informal sector; new strategies for transforming low-wage work in the U.S. economy.

This semester, we will also examine some of the issues raised by the pandemic, by structural racism, by sexual harassment, and by AI surveillance in global and domestic workplaces.