Achieving Better Labour Law Enforcement: Social Product Labelling as a Regulatory Tool

Abstract

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has faced significant criticism for failing to secure compliance with its labour laws and successfully protect the world’s worst ill-treated labourers. Although the ILO has successfully developed nearly universal labour standards due to a lack of effective enforcement it has failed to play a significant role in alleviating worker exploitation in the modern global economy despite an international presence spanning ninety years. In the face of un-abating labour law abuses, even by its own member states, how can the ILO overcome what has been referred to as its “enforcement crisis” and successfully protect the rights of the world’s most vulnerable workers. Many authors have suggested various tactics for improving the ILO’s enforcement track record, from increasing voluntary compliance through ILO funding of non-government organisations (NGOs) to effectively linking labour to trade and utilising the World Trade Organisation’s enforcement mechanisms. This paper will suggest that part of the answer lies in the use of ‘social labelling’ to support ‘ethical consumerism’ and use the market to encourage adherence to core ILO conventions. The paper will begin with an analysis of the “enforcement crisis” in international labour law, looking at the primary challenges facing enforcement by key labour law actors including employers, employees and national governments and stressing the need for new initiatives. The paper will then introduce social labelling as an enforcement initiative, explaining its potential for stimulating the political function of consumers and encouraging ‘ethical consumerism’. This will be followed by a critical analysis of the usefulness of social labelling and its limitations. Finally the paper will conclude that as a tool for enforcement, social labelling has the potential to effectively reduce the use of child, slave and forced labour in the production of consumer goods.