Labor Relations Commons^™

Failed Policy As Seen In The Solar Trade War, Emma Weirich

Economics Theses

Increasing protectionist policies in the United States have attempted to protect solar manufacturing jobs; however, they have created negative repercussions for the majority of the industry. This paper aims to analyze the 2018 30% US tariff on all imported photovoltaic cells and modules and whether or not it has been an effective policy to protect and encourage the solar industry. To do so, the paper will analyze similar tariffs enacted in 2012 and 2014 by the United States to understand how the tariffs have been impacting the solar energy’s labor market and photovoltaic module and cell price fluctuations. By researching …

Making Free Trade More Fair: Developments In Protecting Labor Rights, Maria Lorena Cook, Morley Gunderson, Mark Thompson, Anil Verma

Maria Lorena Cook

[Excerpt] The IRRA-NAFTA Committee was first appointed in 1995 by then president, Walter Gershenfeld, to make a report to the membership on the industrial relations implications of NAFTA and other trade-related developments. The Committee's mandate was renewed in 1996 by president Hoyt Wheeler. In this year's report the committee focused on some of the attempts that are underway to improve protection of labor interests under free trade conditions. This is a summary of the longer full report available upon request from the IRRA National Office.

Integración Regional Y Políticas Transnacionales: Eitlc Y Las Estrategias Del Sector Popular En México, Maria Lorena Cook

Maria Lorena Cook

En la era del TLC se han creado nuevos intereses, recursos, aliados y arenas para la acción estratégica tanto de actors gubernamentales como no gubernamentales. Si muchas organizaciones populares vieron en el TLC una continuación de la desigualdad, sin embargo también encontraron una coyuntura para la emergencia de coaliciones transnacionales de corte popular. Así se formaron redes de apoyo entre trabajadores mexicanos y estadounidenses. Muchas organizaciones no gubermentales vencieron su desconfianza hacia los vecinos del norte. Hubo apoyo mutuo para presionar al Congreso de Estados Unidos. Con el debate en torno al TLC cambió no tanto el desarrollo institucional ni …

Convergence And Diversity In International And Comparative Industrial Relations, Lowell Turner, John P. Windmuller

Lowell Turner

[Excerpt] In this essay, we reexamine a critical paradox in international and comparative industrial relations, a paradox that already decades ago demonstrated its ability to intrigue scholarly curiosity (Galenson, 1952,1963; Kerr et al, 1960). As we see it, convergence along a number of important dimensions, such as labor law and organizational and bargaining structure, is occurring simultaneously with widespread cross-national and local divergence, or diversity, in industrial relations practices and outcomes. Along with economic and political interdependence and with intensifications of market competition, convergence and diversity both appear to be product of an increasing spread of markets and ideas sometimes …

Industrialization And Employment In Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, And Taiwan, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] What are the links between macroeconomic growth and microeconomic development objectives? The initial view held by many economists, especially Latin America specialists, was that the goals of growth, employment, and income distribution are mutually incompatible and that the pursuit of all these objectives at once is bound to be futile. But in the last few years, studies of the economies of the Asian Newly Industrializing Countries (NICs), Hong Kong, Korea, Singapore, and Taiwan—the so-called "Group of Four"—have emerged, and they point to very rapid aggregate growth and marked improvements in labor market conditions and in income distribution. This chapter …

Trade Strategies And The Poor: Adjusting To New Realities, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] The major policy issue examined in this paper is that of a country's choice of a trade strategy in the context of helping the poor. As the end of the 1980s approaches, developing countries face a much more difficult economic situation than that which they confronted at the end of the 1970s. The paper begins by reviewing these new realities and the need for adjusting to them. After mentioning some non-policies, I proceed to consider both successful and unsuccessful country experiences and draw lessons from them. One policy singled out for special attention is wage policy and its interaction …

Employment Generation And Poverty Alleviation In Developing Economies, Gary S. Fields

Gary S Fields

[Excerpt] We know well that the East Asian economies have achieved higher economic growth rates than those in any other region of the world and that production for world markets has featured as a hallmark of the East Asian successes. This paper has three purposes: first, to present comparative data showing that the rates at which employment opportunities improve and poverty is reduced mirror countries' differential growth experiences; second, to examine differences in labour market institutions, demonstrating that those in East Asia have similarities more likely to lead to higher output performance and shared improvements in living conditions; and third, …

[Review Of The Book Advancing Theory In Labour Law And Industrial Relations In A Global Context], Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt] The ideas and insights in Advancing Theory are an important contribution to the on-the-ground social justice movement challenging corporate rule in the global economy. It can even help rescue labor law and industrial relations as intellectual disciplines and career trajectories for a new generation of students and practitioners excited about thinking globally and acting locally.

International Trade And Social Welfare: The New Agenda (Remarks), Lance A. Compa

Lance A Compa

This document is a transcript of Professor Lance Compa’s remarks at the January 7, 1995 meeting of the Section on International Law of the American Association of Law Schools.

[Excerpt] The fact that the International Law Section put this topic on its agenda at this annual meeting is an indication that the "linkage" between labor rights and international trade is an idea whose time has come. I don't want to overstate its novelty. There's a certain cycle to this dynamic, and in fact the post-World War II period and the early years of the GATT saw a flurry of interest …

Labor Rights In The Generalized System Of Preferences: A 20-Year Review, Lance A. Compa, Jeffrey S. Vogt

Lance A Compa

[Excerpt]In the fall of 1982, a small group of labor, religious, and human rights activists began charting a new course for human rights and workers' rights in American trade policy. The principles of these labor rights advocates were straightforward: 1. No country should attract investment or gain an edge in international trade by violating workers' rights; 2. No company operating in global trade should gain a competitive edge by violating workers' rights; and, 3. Workers have a right to demand protection for labor rights in the international trade system, and to have laws to accomplish it. The coalition that took …

International Labor Standards, Soft Regulation, And National Government Roles, Sarosh C. Kuruvilla, Anil Verma

Sarosh Kuruvilla

[Excerpt] In this article, we briefly describe the different approaches to the regulation of international labor standards, and then argue for a new role for national governments based on soft rather than hard regulation approaches. We argue that this new role shows potential for significantly enhancing progress in international labor standards, since it enables governments to articulate a position without having to deal with the enforcement issues that hard regulation mandates. We justify this new role for governments based on the increasing use of soft regulation in the international arena. Of course, this approach is not without its own problems, …

General Agreement On Tariffs And Trade (Gaff) And The World Trade Organisation (Wto): The Major Provisions And The Implication For Nigeria, O. A. Ogunlana

CBN Occasional Papers

This paper shall review the major provisions of the GATT with respect to the Multilateral Agreements on Trade in Goods only and the likely implications for Nigeria. The review of the General Agreement on Trade in Services and the Agreement on Trade - Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights shall be covered in another exercise. The rest of the paper is, therefore, organised into five parts. Part I discusses the GATT’s basic principles and the major agreements of the latest multilateral trade negotiations otherwise known as the Uruguay Round. The World Trade Organization, its major functions, structure and the decision-making …