4 - Global Governance in the Labor Realm

Summary

The present chapter follows the evolution of global governance in the labor realm from the mid-nineteenth century to present. It first notes how governments and nongovernmental actors became involved in domestic labor issues throughout the nineteenth century. It then explains how competitive economic pressures led governments and workers’ groups to deal with labor issues at the international level. The chapter adopts a structure similar to that of Chapter 3, which discussed global health governance by highlighting the multiple changes in the main global governors and in their intergovernmental versus nongovernmental nature.

As in the health realm, global labor governance has involved many different international actors such as the Second International, the International Association for Labour Legislation (ILL), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and the International Labor Rights Fund (ILRF). I discuss all such global governors, following the example of previous historical accounts of this realm (e.g., Follows 1951; Alcock 1971; Rodgers et al. 2009).