Labor Rights as Human Rights
Raymond Saner, Lichia Yiu
Abstract
This chapter introduces the reader to the various guiding frameworks for responsible business conduct and how they relate to labor practices and labor rights within and across countries and cultures. The authors explain how and why the global community has found it necessary to address these issues as part of the movement to steer national and transnational corporations to uphold human rights and contribute to social development around the world. Key international instruments are introduced and discussed, such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Responsible Business Conduct (RBC) guidelines, the UN Guidelines on Business and Human Rights, and the ILO Tripartite Declaration of Principles Concerning Multinational Enterprise and Social Policy. An example is given that provides a concrete example of how the OECD guidelines are applied to a case of reported human rights abuse. The authors capture the significant components of the OECD RBC and associated guidelines from both social and organizational psychology perspectives and show how psychological knowledge and competence can strengthen the application of these international instruments for the protection of human rights and labor rights.