Human Rights in Labour and Employment Relations: International and Domestic Perspectives, Edited By JAMES A. GROSS & LANCE COMPA, LABOUR AND EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS ASSOCIATION, CHAMPAIGN - ILLINOIS, 2009, ISBN 978-0-913447-98-7. 237PP

Abstract

 The need to protect workers’ rights as human rights was initiated by human rights activists in the early 1990s. For about half a century, after the United Nations (UN) recognition of the rights, there were no or less concerns on pursuit of workers’ rights as human rights. The pursuit of the labour rights as human rights was a result of the feeling that the conventional approach in protecting them had not been successful, as the respect for such rights by employers and other stakeholders had tremendously fallen (accelerated by among other factors globalisation). The book is a resource for various groups engaged with labour and human rights issues (including researchers, activists and academicians). It contributes on critical labour rights and their protection as human rights. The discussion takes aboard the human rights of vulnerable workers and prohibited labour practices. Reference is made to international human rights instruments, International Labour Standards (ILS) and domestic labour law and policy of the United States (U.S.) and other selected countries. Even though the book has left out the right to collective bargaining and its focus on the domestic law is narrow, its contribution to human rights at a workplace is immense particularly in the era of globalisation and advancement in science and technology. The book provides not only understanding of the critical human rights of the workers and ILS but also the practical approaches to their protection. Besides, it is a significant literature for theories and practices on human rights at work.