The New Politics of Linkage: India\u27s Opposition to the Worker\u27s Rights Clause

This article examines why India has opposed a World Trade Organization (WTO) workers\u27 rights clause, and calls for a new way of thinking about international institutions and the link between trade and labor rights. Many labor rights supporters argue that labor rights principles should be integrated into the WTO, either via the addition of a workers\u27 rights clause or through a \u27judicial reading of labor rights values into the existing WTO framework. But India has led a large block of developing countries in opposing any link between labor rights and the WTO. This opposition has been based primarily on economic arguments that suggest linkage is motivated by protectionism, concerns about political sovereignty and neocolonialism, and structural arguments about the proper institutional roles of the ILO and WTO. These arguments, it is suggested, must be understood in both a contemporary and historical context. In light of this opposition by developing countries, the article proposes a transition from a WTO-centered view of trade and labor linkage o a paradigm based on bilateral and regional market-based agreements that utilize the ILO\u27s model that would engage more dynamically with the concerns presented by India and other stakeholders in the developing world. Globalization and the New Politics of Labor, Symposium. Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, February 11-12, 2005

The Consumer Imaginary: Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Citizen-Consumers in the Global Supply Chain

Consumers are increasingly demanding that the goods and services they consume be produced in a way that meets their social expectations. By extension, they are exhibiting greater willingness to pay more at the cash register for products made in good working conditions, and they are willing to punish companies that do not satisfy these expectations. Driving these citizen-consumers is what this Article terms the consumer imaginary, which is defined as the narratives that consumers tell themselves about the people that make their things--people whom consumers will likely never meet, and whose lived experiences are distant from their own. Policymakers have attempted to extraterritorially improve working conditions in the global supply chain through public law in at least two ways: (1) incorporating labor standards into trade law and free trade agreements, and (2) corporate transparency laws. Using these two examples as case studies, this Article argues that both of these tools could be better tailored to beneficially exploit the consumer imaginary and mobilize citizen-consumers to compel lead firms to improve labor and human rights in their supply chains

Dialogic Labor Regulation in the Global Supply Chain

In May 2006, the government of Jordan was facing a crisis. A small U.S. labor-rights activist group had just released a damning report documenting extensive labor abuses in Jordan’s fledgling garment industry. Adding fuel to the fire, the New York Times published a front-page story about the report with its own field work that corroborated some of the allegations, such as long and abusive working hours, the confiscation of passports of foreign workers, horrendous living conditions, and sexual harassment. Although garment manufacturing was new to Jordan, after just several years of existence it already constituted an important part of Jordan’s total exports, and the country could not afford to lose the industry. Consumers and global activists took note of the report and mobilized to put pressure on companies sourcing from Jordan. The United States government also became involved, because the U.S. market was the primary destination of Jordanian garments and had extensive economic and political ties with the country. What resulted was a two-track strategy pursued by the Jordanian government. On the one hand, Jordan committed to improve its own public institutions of labor law enforcement. On the other, it agreed to implement a novel labor assessment and advising program called Better Work Jordan (BWJ), which operates more or less independently of the Jordanian government and has the participation of many large transnational garment corporations seeking to avoid more exposés of working conditions in their Jordanian supply chains

Dialogic Labor Regulation in the Global Supply Chain

In May 2006, the government of Jordan was facing a crisis. A small U.S. labor-rights activist group had just released a damning report documenting extensive labor abuses in Jordan’s fledgling garment industry. Adding fuel to the fire, the New York Times published a front-page story about the report with its own field work that corroborated some of the allegations, such as long and abusive working hours, the confiscation of passports of foreign workers, horrendous living conditions, and sexual harassment. Although garment manufacturing was new to Jordan, after just several years of existence it already constituted an important part of Jordan’s total exports, and the country could not afford to lose the industry. Consumers and global activists took note of the report and mobilized to put pressure on companies sourcing from Jordan. The United States government also became involved, because the U.S. market was the primary destination of Jordanian garments and had extensive economic and political ties with the country. What resulted was a two-track strategy pursued by the Jordanian government. On the one hand, Jordan committed to improve its own public institutions of labor law enforcement. On the other, it agreed to implement a novel labor assessment and advising program called Better Work Jordan (BWJ), which operates more or less independently of the Jordanian government and has the participation of many large transnational garment corporations seeking to avoid more exposés of working conditions in their Jordanian supply chains

The New Politics of Linkage: India\u27s Opposition to the Worker\u27s Rights Clause

This article examines why India has opposed a World Trade Organization (WTO) workers\u27 rights clause, and calls for a new way of thinking about international institutions and the link between trade and labor rights. Many labor rights supporters argue that labor rights principles should be integrated into the WTO, either via the addition of a workers\u27 rights clause or through a \u27judicial reading of labor rights values into the existing WTO framework. But India has led a large block of developing countries in opposing any link between labor rights and the WTO. This opposition has been based primarily on economic arguments that suggest linkage is motivated by protectionism, concerns about political sovereignty and neocolonialism, and structural arguments about the proper institutional roles of the ILO and WTO. These arguments, it is suggested, must be understood in both a contemporary and historical context. In light of this opposition by developing countries, the article proposes a transition from a WTO-centered view of trade and labor linkage o a paradigm based on bilateral and regional market-based agreements that utilize the ILO\u27s model that would engage more dynamically with the concerns presented by India and other stakeholders in the developing world. Globalization and the New Politics of Labor, Symposium. Indiana University School of Law-Bloomington, February 11-12, 2005

The ‘integrative approach’ and labour regulation and Indonesia: prospects and challenges

In contrast to theories of regulation which bypass the state and cede regulatory authority to private regimes, the scholar Kevin Kolben makes a cogent argument for the state to be brought back to centre stage in labour regulation, but envisages that private actors can develop and strengthen its capacity. This article considers the utility of what he terms an integrative approach for Indonesia. In line with what the approach advocates, the article examines the relationships between private actors and the state and considers the extent to which the former can communicate, interact with and incentivise the latter in ways which strengthen its regulatory capacity. Several challenges are identified. Finally, the potential of the Better Work Programme in Indonesia to further the goals of the approach is assessed

Local Resection of Primary Tumor in Upfront Stage IV Breast Cancer

Background: This study aimed to identify the association of local surgery of the primary tumor in metastatic breast cancer (MBC) patients with overall survival (OS) and prognostic factors. Patients and Methods: Patients with primary MBC (1990-2006) were included in our retrospective analysis (n = 236). 83.1% had surgery for the primary tumor. OS was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier estimates. Predictive factors for OS were determined. Results: Median follow-up was 123 months for all patients still alive at the time of analysis. In univariate analysis, patients with surgery of the primary tumor had significantly prolonged OS (28.9 vs. 23.9 months). Within the surgery group, patients with MBC limited to 1 organ system had a better outcome (39.3 vs. 24.9 months), as did asymptomatic patients. Independent risk factors for shorter OS were hormone receptor negativity, symptoms, and involvement of > 1 organ system. Conclusion: Patient selection for local therapy was confounded by a more favorable profile and a lesser tumor burden before surgery, which might implicate a bias. Nevertheless, our univariate results indicate that local surgery of the primary tumor in MBC patients could be considered as part of the therapeutic regimen in selected patients. However, larger patient numbers are needed to prove these findings in the multivariate model. (C) 2016 S. Karger GmbH, Freibur