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Legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers

Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influence working conditions in the relations of employment. One of the most prominent is the right to freedom of association, otherwise known as the right to organize. Workers organized in trade unions exercise the right to collective bargaining to improve working conditions.

Throughout history, workers claiming some sort of right have attempted to pursue their interests. During the Middle Ages, the Peasants' Revolt in England expressed demand for better wages and working conditions. One of the leaders of the revolt, John Ball, famously argued that people were born equal saying, "When Adam delved and Eve span, who was then the gentleman?" Laborers often appealed to traditional rights. For instance, English peasants fought against the enclosure movement, which took traditionally communal lands and made them private. The British Parliament passed the Factory Act 1833 which stated that children under the age of 9 could not work, children aged 9–13 could only work 8 hours a day, and children aged 14–18 could only work for 12 hours a day. Labor rights are a relatively new addition to the modern corpus of human rights. The modern concept of labor rights dates to the 19th century after the creation of labor unions following the industrialization processes. Karl Marx stands out as one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for workers' rights. His philosophy and economic theory focused on labor issues and advocates his economic system of socialism, a society that would be ruled by the workers. Many of the social movements for the rights of the workers were associated with groups influenced by Marx such as the socialists and communists. More moderate democratic socialists and social democrats supported workers' interests as well. More recent workers' rights advocacy has focused on the particular role, exploitation, and needs of women workers, and of increasingly mobile global flows of casual, service, or guest workers.

Aside from the right to organize, labor movements have campaigned on various other issues that may be said to relate to labor rights. The labor movement began to improve the working conditions of the workers. Dating back to 1768 the first strike of the New York journeyman tailors protested a wage reduction. This marked the beginning of the movement. Approaching the 19th century, labor unions were formed to improve the working conditions for all of workers. They fought for better wages, reasonable hours, and safer working conditions. The labor movement led efforts to stop child labor, give health benefits, and provide aid to workers who were injured or retired. The following are explained more in the following sections.

Many labor movement campaigns have to do with limiting hours in the workplace. 19th century labor movements campaigned for an eight hour day. Worker advocacy groups have also sought to limit work hours, making a working week of 40 hours or less standard in many countries. A 35 hour workweek was established in France in 2000, although this standard has been considerably weakened since then. Workers may agree with employers to work for longer, but the extra hours are payable overtime. In the European Union the working week is limited to a maximum of 48 hours including overtime (see also Working Time Directive 2003).

Labor rights advocates have worked to improve workplace conditions that meet established standards. During the Progressive Era, the United States began workplace reforms, which received publicity boosts from Upton Sinclair's The Jungle and events such as the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Labor advocates and other groups often criticize production facilities with poor working conditions as sweatshops and occupational health hazards and campaign for better labor practices and recognition of workers' rights throughout the world.

Recent initiatives in the field of sustainability have included a focus on social sustainability, which includes promoting workers' rights and safe working conditions, prevention of human trafficking, and elimination of illegal child labor from the sustainably sourced products and services. Organizations such as the U. S. Department of Labor and Department of State have released studies on products that have been identified as using child labor and industries using or funded by human trafficking. Labor rights are defined internationally by sources such as the Norwegian Agency for Public Management and eGovernment (DIFI) and the International Finance Corporation performance standards.

In March 2004, the World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization issued a report called "A Fair Globalization: Creating Opportunities for All". The report acknowledges how potential globalization can affect labor rights. Reforming globalization will require cooperation not only within the country but also at the global level. It suggests political authorities to "renew their attention to global solidarity". Workers' rights advocates have been concerned with how globalization can impact labor rights in different countries. Some international agencies and global corporations see strong enforcement will limit a country's economic growth. As a result, poor countries implement a lower labor rights standard to compete with other countries. Layna Mosley's study shows that collective labor rights have declined since the recent global expansion started. By having multiple countries sign agreements and treaties, labor rights are able to be protected across the globe. However, some countries sign it even though they are not planning to follow the rules. Therefore, there might be room for labor rights practices to suffer. However, some argued that globalization can improve labor rights enforcement by responding to other country's demands. Governments will act in their national interests, so when an important trading country urges for strong labor rights enforcement, they will act accordingly.

Labor rights advocates have also worked to combat child labor. They see child labor as exploitative, and often economically damaging. Child labor opponents often argue that working children are deprived of an education. In 1948 and then again in 1989, the United Nations declared that children have a right to social protection. It is hard for children to fight for their basic rights, especially in the workplace. They are often under treated. Employers take advantage of child labor because they lack the ability to bargain collectively and compromise to work at an unpleasant workplace. Almost 95% of child labor occurs in developing countries. An example of an industry in which instances of child labor lead to severe injury or death that have been noted are cobalt mining in the DRC as well as copper mining in Zambia, where children were reported to be participating in all forms of mining at the expense of their education. There is a growing concern that the rising demand for resources that involve child labor for industries such as the production of electric vehicle batteries, will only increase labor rights violations. In India and Pakistan, children work long hours in various industries because of the debt their parents incurred. Poor families sometimes rely on their kids' income to pay bills. In Egypt, about 1.5 million kids under 14 years old are working even though there are child protective labor laws.

In the United States, the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) restricts the employment of children. The FLSA defines the minimum age for employment to 14 years for non agricultural jobs with restrictions on hours, restricts the hours for youth under the age of 16, and prohibits the employment of children under the age of 18 in occupations deemed hazardous by the Secretary of Labor. In 2007, Massachusetts updated its child labor laws that required all minors to have work permits.

The Employment Protection Consolidation Act (EPCA) has established four fundamental regulations for women's employment rights. Firstly, there is the provision of Statutory Maternity Pay, which ensures that a minimum payment is made during the leave period. Secondly, there is the right to maternity leave, which guarantees that women can take time off work and return to their job afterward. Additionally, women have the right to be reinstated to their original position. Finally, the EPCA has reinforced unfair dismissal rights.

Legal migrant workers are sometimes abused. For instance, migrants have faced a number of alleged abuses in the United Arab Emirates (including Dubai). Human Rights Watch lists several problems including "nonpayment of wages, extended working hours without overtime compensation, unsafe working environments resulting in death and injury, squalid living conditions in labor camps, and withholding of passports and travel documents by employers. Despite laws against the practice, employers confiscate migrant workers' passports. Without their passports, workers cannot switch jobs or return home. These workers have little recourse for labor abuses, but conditions have been improving. Labor and social welfare minister Ali bin Abdullah al Kaabi has undertaken a number of reforms to help improve labor practices in his country. Koelnmesse, the company responsible for managing the pavilion representing Germany at the Expo 2020 reportedly signed an agreement with the Emirati Transguard Group for laundry, cleaning, and security services. Rights groups claim that during the signing of a framework agreement between the two firms, evidence assuring human rights due diligence was overlooked. It is said that the firm withheld the passports and wages of the workers earning relatively lesser than the minimum wage and terminated them from the service without notice. In neighboring countries such as Qatar, there is a similar problem. Qatar has received a lot of criticism over the way it treats its workers, including those that have worked on FIFA World Cup projects.

The right to equal treatment, regardless of gender, origin and appearance, religion, sexual orientation, is also seen by many as one of the workers' rights. Discrimination in the workplace is illegal in many countries, but some see the wage gap between genders and other groups as a persistent problem. Many migrant workers are not getting basic labor rights mainly because they do not speak the local language, regardless of legal status. Some have noticed that they are not getting the correct amount of money on their paycheck while others are underpaid.

The National Labor Relations Act recognizes undocumented laborers as employees. However, the supreme court case Hoffman Plastic Compounds, Inc. v. NLRB established that backpay could not be awarded to unlawfully fired undocumented employees due to the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. In this court decision, it was also stated that the U. S. would support FLSA and MSPA, without regard to whether or not someone is documented. Undocumented workers also still have legal protection against discrimination based on national origin. The decision of the Hoffman supreme court case has primarily affected undocumented laborers by preventing them from getting backpay and/or reinstatement. The right to speak up against labor abuses was protected further by an immigration reform bill in 2013 with the POWER act, which intended to protect employees who spoke out against labor practices from facing detention or deportation. However, labor unions are not necessarily welcoming of immigrant workers. Within unions, there have been internal struggles, such as when Los Angeles immigrant janitors reorganized service workers. Being a part of the union does not necessarily address all the needs of immigrant workers, and thus winning power within the union is the first step for immigrant workers to address their needs. Immigrant workers often mobilize beyond unions, by campaigning in their communities on intersectional issues of immigration, discrimination, and police misconduct.

People who are neurodivergent present distinct issues in labor rights. They may individually or as a demographic have occupational preferences or requests for accommodation which differ from neurotypical workers. While some neurodivergent people may need workplace support in a medical model of disability, other people may only want cultural understanding in a social model of disability. Neurodiversity considerations may include people on the autism spectrum, with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), developmental coordination disorder (DCD, also known as dyspraxia) or dyslexia.

There are several indices that measure labor rights produced by various organizations. Some focus on collective bargaining and freedom of association including in datasets produced by the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), and Penn State. Others, such as data produced by the V Dem Institute and UCLA's World Policy Analysis Center focus on other components such as employment discrimination, child labor, and forced labor. The ITUC produces the Global Rights Index on an annual basis which rates "countries depending on their compliance with collective labor rights and document violations by governments and employers of internationally recognized rights." The ILO produces the data for Sustainable Development Goal 8.8.2, which measures the "Level of national compliance with labor rights (freedom of association and collective bargaining) based on International Labour Organization (ILO) textual sources and national legislation, by sex and migrant status. The V Dem Institute produces a wide range of data on civil rights and democracy. This includes data on the prevalence of forced labor and data on civil society organizations, including trade unions. UCLA's World Policy Analysis Center maintains a database on a range of global legal standards including women's rights, disability rights, child labor, and employment discrimination.