Employmentweb_low

policies and interventions
power relations (changing power relations between political
and economic actors in society)
entry point a pertains to those policies and interventions that
change power relations between the leading political and economic
actors. The repercussions of this change affect employment
conditions. here we refer to power relations in a broad sense, not
limited to the interaction of tradition political forces (for example,
political parties), but including any actor that is essential for
understanding the social context in a country. We include these
actors because they are part of a pattern in which neo-liberal labour
policies marginalise worker safeguards.
Global growth in the levels of under-employment/disguised
unemployment, precarious employment,
informal work and child and bonded labour
has both reflected and reinforced the
disempowerment of workers and their
industrial and political representatives
(where these exist). even within the
european Union (eU), the dominant neoliberal
discourse underpinning integration,
economic development and eU enlargement
has progressively marginalised the role of
unions and collective regulation (visser,
2005; Woolfson, 2007). neo-liberalism, both
as an ideology and as a set of policies, is
antithetical to a strong collective voice in
Trade unions demonstrate unity at a march in annecy on the occasion
economic and social affairs on the behalf of
of the nationwide strike on october 4, 2005 (France).
workers and through which they can source: © ilo/M. crozet (2005)
effectively articulate their interests.
Weakened unions (visser, 2006) cannot safeguard workers in
many countries, and the policies of social democratic/labour
parties have been met with decreasing success. Workers’ rights
centres (including those catering to immigrants, see cho et al.,
2006), community groups, and broader social alliances (local,
national and trans-national) provide a fulcrum for change. even
when fragmented, their achievements include consumer boycotts
and supply chain regulation in pursuit of improved labour
standards and working conditions.
yet policy frameworks fail to address the important role played by
these organisations for the sake of preserving competition. at the
international level, there is a double standard in terms of the
enforceability of “investor” and “worker” rights (Taylor, 2000) as well
as undue corporate influence on labour law standards in poor
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