NEWLETTERS

Vol 1, Issue 1, August 1998

Chair's comments

SPHRE, The Society for the Promotion of Human Rights in Employment, is now
eight months old and a lot has happened in that short period. The Society
officially came into being in December 1997 when its constitution and
bylaws were approved by an internet vote. A steering committee and
organizational strategy was approved at an organizational meeting held in
Chicago in January 1997 in conjunction with the annual meeting of the
Industrial Relations Research Association.

A key SPHRE strategy has been to enhance awareness and understanding of
the existence and implications of human rights in employment among
relevant organizations. A major tactic in the implementation of that
strategy has been to ask organizations dealing with employment issues to
consider changing their constitutions to affirm support for a set of core
labour standards considered internationally to be fundamental human
rights, or, if a constitutional change is too awkward or difficult in the
short run to have the executive committee or annual meeting of the
organization vote on a proposition affirming support for core human rights
in employment. The proposition that has been recommended is:

"The Association strongly affirms its support for the following core labor
standards which are internationally recognized to be fundamental human
rights:
1. Freedom of Association
2. Right to organize and bargaining collectively
3. Prohibition of forced labor
4. Elimination of exploitative forms of child labor
5. Non-discrimination in employment or occupation"

Organizations that have approved some variant of that statement include
the Canadian Industrial Relations Association, The Society for the Study
of Social Problems, The Association of Industrial Relations Academics of
Australia and New Zealand, the Canadian Association of Labour Lawyers, The
Campaign for Labour Rights, Scholars, Artists and Writers for Social
Justice, RC 44, The Research Committee on Trade Unions of the
International Sociological Association, The Eastern (U.S.) Academy of
Management and the International Employment Relations Association. It is
on the agenda of the University and College Labor Education Association,
the Canadian Labour Education and Research Association and the Critical
Management Studies Group of the Academy of Management.

The only organization that has considered but failed to affirm support for
the statement is the Industrial Relations Research Association. It did,
however, include a statement in its revised constitution affirming general
support for human rights without reference to the specifics in the
statement above.

SPHRE has also been active in opposing actions considered to be contrary
to the core human rights in employment. SPHRE steering committee member
and head of the Society's activities in Australia and New Zealand, Keri
Spooner, put together a petition protesting the action of the government
and Patrick's Stevedores in the dramatic Australian dock dispute of the
spring. Patrick's, with the approval and assistance of the federal
government, fired all of their unionized workers and announced the
intention of hiring only non-union workers in their stead. Keri's petition
was part of the uproar that led to that initiative collapsing.

SPHRE took the lead to organize protest against the Canadian Province of
Ontario's proposed "Prevention of Unionism Act." The Act was intended to
ensure against workfare recipients organizing to represent their interests
regarding the government's workfare program. Like Australia a petition was
organized, articles were written and published in the local press and
SPHRE appeared before a committee of Provincial Legislative Assembly. As
this is written the outcome of these efforts is uncertain but the
government has not indicated its intention to withdraw the bill. Not only
is this action an assault on the right to organize and bargain
collectively in Ontario but also the aggressive nature of the title and
the announced purpose of the Act stand as a major assault on the
international human rights consensus.

The major constraint on SPHRE at this point is resources. All income is
the result of voluntary dues and contributions as well as the time and
effort put in by a core group of committed activists. All of those who
agreed to serve on the Steering committe also agreed to take the lead to
promote the organization within a defined area: Art Shostak, the Social
Sciences; Jim Gross, the legal community; Rhoda Howard, the human rights
community; Keri Spooner, Australia and New Zealand; Sheldon Leader, the
British Isles; John Godard, Canada; Roy Adams, Industrial Relations;
Stuart Schmidt, management organizations. Parbudyal Singh has accepted to
take on the duties of Secretary-Treasurer. We need help in spreading the
word.

Roy J. Adams, Steering Committee Chair.

Organizing and Publicizing SPHRE

In the spring of 1998 a serious recruiting campaign was undertaken.
Personal invitations were sent to a large number of individuals to become
SPHRE founding members. As a result the organization grew from about 50 to
over 250 members. Although initially all new members were asked to pay
dues, shortly into the campaign an executive decision was made to make
dues voluntary. The thinking was that, at this point, the key object
should be to enroll as many people who support SPHRE's objectives as
possible. We did not want people to hesitate joining because of concerns
about paying dues to yet one more organization. We wanted a list of
people, committed to the organization, on whom we could call for support
and assistance.

Fortunately many of those who signed on were also very generous. Below is
a list of those who have made very substantial contributions:

Tony Freeman $350
Roy Adams 350
Stuart Schmidt 350
John Betton 350

In addition, other SPHRE members, including Lance Compa, Paul Adler,
Sheldon Friedman and Elaine Bernard agreed to hand out literature and
promote the organization at various meetings. Thanks to the efforts of
Richard Hannah, a SPHRE web site was established. Although rudimentary it
does establish a presence on the World Wide Web. The address is:
~http://www.mtsu.edu/~rlhannah/sphre.html
An internet discussion group has also been established. To subscribe send
the following message:
subscribe HRE-L yourfirstname yourlastname
to
Listproc@listserv.mcmaster.ca

Roy Adams gave talks on the organization and its mission at SUNY-Buffalo,
the University of Toronto, The Industrial Relations Research Association,
a joint meeting of the Canadian Industrial Relations Association and the
Canadian Labour Education and Research Association, the Union of Food
Commerical and Allied Workers, the College Degree Program of the George
Meany Center for Labour Studies and a meeting of the Ontario Secondary
School Teachers Federation. Articles written by Adams discussing key
issues of the Society have appeared in The Hamilton Spectator, The Globe
and Mail, the Toronto Star, International Union Rights (the magazine of
the London based Centre for International Trade Union Rights),
Perspectives - the practitioner journal of the IRRA, Canadian Dimension
and Education Forum.

A joint meeting of the Comparative Industrial Relations Research and
Teaching Society and the Study Group on Employment Equity of the
International Industrial Relations Association will focus on labour
standards and human rights at a meeting in Bologna, Italy on September 26,
1998 and a main session of the Industrial Relations Research Association
will focus on Freedom of Association and the Right to Organize and Bargain
Collectively at its meeting in New York in January 1999.


Upcoming Meetings

A joint meeting of the Comparative Industrial Relations Research and
Teaching Society and the Study Group on Employment Equity of the
International Industrial Relations Association will focus on labour
standards and human rights at a meeting in Bologna, Italy on September 26,
1998. Among those who are scheduled to participate are:

Philip Alston, Chair of the United Nations's Committee on Social, Economic
and Cultural Rights who will discuss the UN's approach to human rights in
employment.

Virginia Leary, Professor Emeritus, SUNY-Buffalo who has written
extensively on the interface between labour rights and human rights.

Lance Compa, Professor at the Cornell's NYSSILR and past Director of
Research for the North American Commission for Labour Cooperation will
discuss a major new research initiative on labour standards and
globalization.

Anne Trebilcock, from the ILO will discuss the ILO's new "solemn
declaration" on core labour standards as human rights.

Brian Langille, University of Toronto School of Law and advisor to the
Canadian government regarding labour standards and trade will provide a
Canadian perspective on recent developments at the nexus of labour
standards and human rights

Steve Hughes and Nigel Haworth, University of Auckland, have been closely
following developments in Geneva and will discuss their research.

Keri Spooner, University of Technology Sydney, a member of SPHRE's
steering committee, will discuss the recent Australian dock dispute from a
human rights perspective.
Roy Adams, McMaster University, Chair of SPHRE's Steering Committee, will
review the development of SPHRE

George Tsogas, Cardiff Business School, will report on his research on
Corporate Codes of Conduct

Harish Jain, McMaster University and Chair of the IIRA's Employment Equity
Study Group will report on his recent work on employment equity

Hoyt Wheeler, University of South Carolina and past-President Industrial
Relations Research Association will speak on the Right to Collective
Bargaining

A main session of the Industrial Relations Research Association will focus
on Freedom of Association and the Right to Organize and Bargain
Collectively at its meeting in New York in January 1999. On the program
are:

1. "The Mission of the ILO and the obligations of its members with respect
to Freedom of Association and the Right to Organize and Bargain
Collectively"

Janice Bellace, Deputy Dean, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania,
SPHRE member and member of the ILO's Committee on the Application of
Conventions and Recommendations.

2. "U.S. labor policy obligations stemming from membership in
international organizations and U.S. foreign policy."

James Gross, Professor of Labor Law, Cornell University, SPHRE steering
committee member.

3. "Labor Standards as Human Rights: Implications of Recent International
Developments"

Roy J. Adams, Emeritus Professor of Industrial Relations, McMaster
University and Chair of SPHRE's steering Committee.

Discussants:

Anthony Freeman, Director, Washington, D.C. branch of the International
Labor Organization.

Edward Potter, employer rep to the ILO and author of "Freedom of
Association and the Right to Organize and Collective Bargaining, The
Impact on U.S. Law and Practice of Ratification of ILO Conventions No. 87
and No. 98."

For more information about the New York meeting contact the IRRA
secretariat at:

4233 Social Science Building
1180 Observatory Drive
University of Wisconsin
Madison, WI 53706-1373
608/262-2762

ILO adopts declaration of fundamental principles

On June 18, the annual conference of the International Labour Organization
adopted a "Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The
document reaffirms the commitment of the organization's member states to
"respect, to promote and to realize in good faith the right of workers and
employers to freedom of association and the effective right to collective
bargaining, and to work toward the elimination of all forms of forced or
compulsory labour, the effective abolition of child labour and the
elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation."

The Declaration reiterates the commitment of all ILO members (in theory
they have been in existence for some time and thus did not have to be
established anew) to abide by and promote these standards. It is supposed
to be considered "solemn" in the sense that it is intended to establish
fundamental norms that all nations are expected to recognize and respect.
But that obligation will depend for its effectiveness largely on the
vigilance of NGOs, the press and world opinion.

This initiative was to be accompanied by strengthened supervisory
mechanisms. According to the ILO's press release "a global report will
assess the overall trends and the effectiveness of the Organization's
technical support and establish future action plans to assist all member
States in their efforts to promote these fundamental principles and
rights." Proposals for stronger sanctions
were defeated in the negotiations leading up to the annual conference.

This initiative was undertaken, in part, as a result of the resolution by
the Ministers of the World Trade Organization affirming support in
principle for the five core labour rights while turning over
administrative authority to the ILO.

The International Organization of Employers, which regroups employer's
associations from around the world, supported the declaration largely
because it was not keen on seeing the WTO deal with labour standards.

The conference also adopted more specific resolutions on the elimination
of child labour. The ILO estimates that over 250 million children are
working across the globe, many of them under forced labour conditions. A
Global March Against Child Labour culminated at the ILO just as the
conference began.

Relevant documents may be found at the ILO's web site: http://www.ilo.org.

New Research Initiative

SPHRE members, Lance Compa and Maria Cook of Cornell University, have
taken the initiative to develop a major research program on labor rights
in the global economy. A consortium consisting of researchers for Cornell
as well as 3 NGOs - the Institute for Policy Studies, the Economic Policy
Institute and the International Labor Rights Fund - has been funded by a
grant from the Ford Foundation. During the spring of 1998 the consortium
commissioned a set of think pieces out of which the field projects will be
developed. Questions as well as suggestions should be sent to Lance at
NYSSILR, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, NY 14853-3901.

Resources

The Campaign for Labor Rights is a Washington, D.C. based NGO that focuses
primarily on sweatshop issues. It publishes a very useful newsletter.
Address: 1247 E Street SE, Wash, DC 20003. Phone: 541 344 5410; fax 541
431 0523. email: clr@igc.apc.org;
web: ~http://www.summersault.com/~agj/clr/

Another organization that focuses much of its energies on shaping U.S.
foreign policy on labour issues is the International Labor Rights Fund,
also based in Washington. Its address is 733 15th Street N.W., Wash, DC,
20005; tel 202 347-4100. Fax: (202)347-4885;
URL: http://www.laborrights.com/

Help

SPHRE's current action program consists of the following activities:

1. Encourage professional associations in Industrial Relations, Human
Resources Management, Labour Law, Labour History, Labour Education and
related subjects to consider affirming support for core labour human
rights preferably by placing a formal statement to that effect in their
statutes.

2. Establish HRE caucuses in relevant professional organizations with the
object of keeping HRE prominently on the agendas of those organizations.

3. Establish HRE student organizations at colleges and universities.

4. Develop a research program on human rights in employment and publicize
implications of HRE in newspapers, magazines, radio, TV, the programs of
professional societies and other relevant media.

5. Promote the teaching of HRE in the context of labor related programs in
universities and colleges. All academic members of SPHRE are encouraged to
include material on HRE in their courses.

6. Promote instruction in HRE in union and worker education courses and in
professional human resources management training.

7. Establish liaison with other human rights organizations and urge them
to place HRE on their agendas.

Please consider helping with this agenda. Particularly needed are
individuals willing to accept a leadership role regarding aspects of the
organization's program. Coordinators are needed to develop strategies
regarding each of the core rights: Freedom of Association, Collective
Bargaining, Forced Labour, Child Labour and Employment Equity. Also needed
are coordinators to develop plans for organizing SPHRE units at
universities and colleges and in various countries and regions of the
world and SPHRE caucuses in various relevant organizations.

SPHRE's overall objective is to change behaviour in the longer run. Its
strategy is not likely to result in a quick fix of any of the problems
resulting from inadequate recognition and respect for core human rights in
employment. The organization has lots of inspiration from human rights
groups who have changed significantly the way the world behaves towards
women, indigenous people and people of colour. Behaviour change can happen
but only with a lot of work. Please consider getting involved.