[DRAFT] Convention on Labour Rights

[Marxist-Leninist-Maoist China]

Hi everybody! I'm a new author, and I'm happy to take feedback!

Recognizing the responsibility of the General Assembly in promoting the dignity, welfare, and fundamental rights of workers in its member states, as well the administrative role it plays in overseeing the implementation of labour laws and regulations,

And hoping to lay a foundation of minimum standard protections for the workers of the world, to provide a general promise of safety, fair compensation, freedom of employment and association, and, in general, basic universal dignity, for the citizens of all member states,

Hereby adopts the Convention on Labour Rights, consisting of the following provisions:

1. Workers are entitled to freedom of employment.
   
   1. "Freedom of employment" is defined as the right of workers to freely choose their own occupation, seek work, and enter an employment contract without fear of threat or coercion.
   2. Workers may not be forced or coerced into work. This encompasses slavery, involuntary servitude, and debt bondage.
   3. Penal labour must be voluntary and pay no less than 75% of the earnings made by the same job outside of prison.
2. Workers are entitled to the free formation and association with, labour unions.
   
   1. Workers may not suffer retaliation, discrimination, or involuntary release from any employment contract for the involvement in the formation of, or for being associated with, a labour union.
   2. Labour unions are entitled to direct involvement in the negotiation of employment contracts, discussions regarding salaries, health benefits, working hours, leave policies, and general grievances.
   3. The decision to go on strike is recognized as a fundamental right of both individual workers and labour unions, with exceptions existing for limited and reasonable interventions necessary to ensure the continued functioning of essential public services.
3. Workers are entitled to fair compensation in accordance with the economic conditions of their respective nation.
   
   1. Compensation is defined as payment in the currency of the nation, or in negotiable instruments.
   2. Wages must be paid in a consistent and timely manner.
   3. Payment must be equal across all workers who work substantially equivalent work, regardless of race, sex, religion, nationality, gender identity, or any other protected status.
4. Workers are entitled to safety in the workplace.
   
   1. Workplaces must have a minimum standard of safety and cleanliness.
   2. Employers must provide a safe outlet to report hazardous workplaces, sexual or physical abuse by coworkers or bosses, without fear or threat of retaliation.
5. Member states shall establish effective legal or administrative mechanisms to investigate alleged violations of this Convention and provide appropriate remedies and penalties under domestic law.

[The Sernetian Empire]

support for spelling labour correctly

[Marxist-Leninist-Maoist China]

Formatting has been overhauled and certain parts have been updated.

[Marxist-Leninist-Maoist China]

/bump

[Kophee23]

Major support

[Kurgao]

Support on Principal, but I feel sections 4 and 5 could be amended. Section 4 is vague on what constitutes a minimum standard of safety, and I feel employers should have some liability for injuries or deaths caused by their noncompliance. I also think Investigation should not be left entirely to member states, and there should be some international body to oversee compliance with this resolution, and future resolutions on workers rights. Said body should also provide a legal pathway for locals to bring up concerns about potential violations.

[Old Hope]

Okay, let's see...

Hi everybody! I'm a new author, and I'm happy to take feedback!

Recognizing the responsibility of the General Assembly in promoting the dignity, welfare, and fundamental rights of workers in its member states, as well the administrative role it plays in overseeing the implementation of labour laws and regulations,

And hoping to lay a foundation of minimum standard protections for the workers of the world, to provide a general promise of safety, fair compensation, freedom of employment and association, and, in general, basic universal dignity, for the citizens of all member states,

Hereby adopts the Convention on Labour Rights, consisting of the following provisions:

1. Workers are entitled to freedom of employment.
   
   1. "Freedom of employment" is defined as the right of workers to freely choose their own occupation, seek work, and enter an employment contract without fear of threat or coercion.
      No. We want to keep certification requirements(for example, for being a surgeon), and sometimes it is necessary to force people to serve for the common good(physicians during a pandemic, everyone during a natural disaster, in wartime, firefighters where no one is willing...; also, penal labour.
   2. Workers may not be forced or coerced into work. This encompasses slavery, involuntary servitude, and debt bondage.
      Same problem.
   3. Penal labour must be voluntary and pay no less than 75% of the earnings made by the same job outside of prison.
   And the voluntary part can go into the bin. Sometimes it is necessary to force people to change, and one of these cases is when they are imprisoned criminals. Those who have never had honest work need to be forced to do it sometimes, because peer pressure would disincentivize them otherwise.
   
2. Workers are entitled to the free formation and association with, labour unions.
   
   1. Workers may not suffer retaliation, discrimination, or involuntary release from any employment contract for the involvement in the formation of, or for being associated with, a labour union.
      Um, if that labour union is also a terrorist organization committing crimes then... no? Throw an exception in there please.
   2. Labour unions are entitled to direct involvement in the negotiation of employment contracts, discussions regarding salaries, health benefits, working hours, leave policies, and general grievances.
      This is way too broad. Why should labour unions be entitled to direct involvement in any of these if the affected person(s) do not belong to them? That sounds like a massive violation of privacy expectations.
   3. The decision to go on strike is recognized as a fundamental right of both individual workers and labour unions, with exceptions existing for limited and reasonable interventions necessary to ensure the continued functioning of essential public services.
   A strike - as it is destructive for all, just like a lockout, should be only permissible if all other avenues have been exhausted, and the right to strike should have a cooldown. Additionally, in some cases(e.g. medical personnel) it might have to be prohibited entirely.
3. Workers are entitled to fair compensation in accordance with the economic conditions of their respective nation.
   
   1. Compensation is defined as payment in the currency of the nation, or in negotiable instruments.
   2. Wages must be paid in a consistent and timely manner.
   3. Payment must be equal across all workers who work substantially equivalent work, regardless of race, sex, religion, nationality, gender identity, or any other protected status.
   Okay.
4. Workers are entitled to safety in the workplace.
   
   1. Workplaces must have a minimum standard of safety and cleanliness.
   2. Employers must provide a safe outlet to report hazardous workplaces, sexual or physical abuse by coworkers or bosses, without fear or threat of retaliation.
5. Member states shall establish effective legal or administrative mechanisms to investigate alleged violations of this Convention and provide appropriate remedies and penalties under domestic law.

Needs to be changed.

[Ko-oren]

Okay, let's see...

Hi everybody! I'm a new author, and I'm happy to take feedback!

Recognizing the responsibility of the General Assembly in promoting the dignity, welfare, and fundamental rights of workers in its member states, as well the administrative role it plays in overseeing the implementation of labour laws and regulations,

And hoping to lay a foundation of minimum standard protections for the workers of the world, to provide a general promise of safety, fair compensation, freedom of employment and association, and, in general, basic universal dignity, for the citizens of all member states,

Hereby adopts the Convention on Labour Rights, consisting of the following provisions:

1. Workers are entitled to freedom of employment.
   
   1. "Freedom of employment" is defined as the right of workers to freely choose their own occupation, seek work, and enter an employment contract without fear of threat or coercion.
      No. We want to keep certification requirements(for example, for being a surgeon), and sometimes it is necessary to force people to serve for the common good(physicians during a pandemic, everyone during a natural disaster, in wartime, firefighters where no one is willing...; also, penal labour.
   2. Workers may not be forced or coerced into work. This encompasses slavery, involuntary servitude, and debt bondage.
      Same problem.

I agree with your first point about certification requirements but could not disagree more with its conclusion in your second point. Penal labour is very much still a human rights abuse and should not be permitted by any reasonable resolution intended to protect labour rights. Forcing people into work for the "common good" whenever the government declares an emergency is equally illiberal, and such carveouts should not be tolerated in a resolution intended to actually protect labour rights.

Penal labour must be voluntary and pay no less than 75% of the earnings made by the same job outside of prison.

And the voluntary part can go into the bin. Sometimes it is necessary to force people to change, and one of these cases is when they are imprisoned criminals. Those who have never had honest work need to be forced to do it sometimes, because peer pressure would disincentivize them otherwise.

Again, it seems odd that you expect a resolution protecting labour rights to explicitly attack labour rights...

Workers are entitled to the free formation and association with, labour unions.

1. Workers may not suffer retaliation, discrimination, or involuntary release from any employment contract for the involvement in the formation of, or for being associated with, a labour union.
   Um, if that labour union is also a terrorist organization committing crimes then... no? Throw an exception in there please.

In the bizarre scenario you describe, it would be perfectly allowable to target the worker in question because of their involvement with a proscribed terrorist organization, ignoring the labour union part.

Labour unions are entitled to direct involvement in the negotiation of employment contracts, discussions regarding salaries, health benefits, working hours, leave policies, and general grievances.
This is way too broad. Why should labour unions be entitled to direct involvement in any of these if the affected person(s) do not belong to them? That sounds like a massive violation of privacy expectations.

The decision to go on strike is recognized as a fundamental right of both individual workers and labour unions, with exceptions existing for limited and reasonable interventions necessary to ensure the continued functioning of essential public services.

A strike - as it is destructive for all, just like a lockout, should be only permissible if all other avenues have been exhausted, and the right to strike should have a cooldown. Additionally, in some cases(e.g. medical personnel) it might have to be prohibited entirely.

Yeah, no.

Workers are entitled to fair compensation in accordance with the economic conditions of their respective nation.

1. Compensation is defined as payment in the currency of the nation, or in negotiable instruments.
2. Wages must be paid in a consistent and timely manner.
3. Payment must be equal across all workers who work substantially equivalent work, regardless of race, sex, religion, nationality, gender identity, or any other protected status.

Okay.

Workers are entitled to safety in the workplace.

1. Workplaces must have a minimum standard of safety and cleanliness.
2. Employers must provide a safe outlet to report hazardous workplaces, sexual or physical abuse by coworkers or bosses, without fear or threat of retaliation.

Member states shall establish effective legal or administrative mechanisms to investigate alleged violations of this Convention and provide appropriate remedies and penalties under domestic law.

Needs to be changed.

We support this resolution as it is currently worded, and believe a convention on labour rights should in fact substantively protect labour rights, rather than create loopholes to abuse workers for the "common good", whatever such a thing is. Also, I have no idea what happened to the formatting of this post, or why this text is so small.

[Old Hope]

We support this resolution as it is currently worded, and believe a convention on labour rights should in fact substantively protect labour rights, rather than create loopholes to abuse workers for the "common good", whatever such a thing is. Also, I have no idea what happened to the formatting of this post, or why this text is so small.

We have no idea why you would object to certification restrictions(e.g. you need to be able to prove that you are a qualified surgeon to act as one), force corporations to keep members of terrorist organizations, prevent the state from asking its citizens to serve the public, or allow all labour unions to interfere in any and all employment matters, regardless of relevance.

[Marxist-Leninist-Maoist China]

BUMP

Draft will soon be re-submitted to the GA.

[Saint Halo]

Support. I have no comments at this time.

[Jiangbei]

Payment must be equal across all workers who work substantially equivalent work, regardless of race, sex, religion, nationality, gender identity, or any other protected status.

Does this apply across companies? If so then this is going to be very weird, e.g. for-profit vs non-profit.

[Zetaopalatopia]

Individual worker should have the right to be free od union requirements and unions should be strictly voluntary. No union shall be allowed to coerce, threaten, harass, or in any other way compel an individual to join not can joining a union be made a requirement for employment.

[The Workers United]

Obvious support for obvious reasons, obviously.

[Doge Republics]

Regarding section 2, subsection iii: is your intent to allow for the formation of public-sector unions, but not allow them to go on strikes or otherwise heavily restrict it? Additionally, if this is the case, does this permit for member nations to restrict any specific unions from being formed legally (e.g. police unions, military unions?)

Regardless, I do not see why this is a matter of requiring heavy-handed international regulation versus allowing member states the freedom to do regulate themselves.

[The Marineri Islands]

While we do look forward to voting for this proposal should it be submitted, we lament the fact that, in the current GA climate, this proposal stands almost no chance at being voted through. We do wish to applaud the delegation from M-L-M China, and look forward to their future work, and potential international co-operation.

The Honourable Ambassador of the Federal Republic to the World Assembly, Lucia Watkins.

---

Ambassador Watkins stands once more to speak.

Ah, we must advise the delegation from M-L-M China that it must, as per soon to be voted-for GA Resolution #7 "Reserved Powers", stipulate exactly which "sovereign competencies" this potential proposal implicates and justify each "implication". We apologise, but that is what our fellow delegations have decided must be done. Clearly, this is a reasonable system for drafting international law.

[Greater North-America]

What constitutes a strike? If going on strike is the fundamental right of an individual worker, what's to prevent one or two workers going on strike while the rest of the union keeps working? I also notice that this proposal is lacking in contract guidelines. If no provision is made for a contract between the union and the company, what's to prevent the union from going on strike for ridiculous and infeasible purposes, thus rendering the conduct of business unstable? Also this proposal fails to mention rats and scabs. Can companies hire workers to replace the striking union? If so, are these workers temporarily employed for the duration of the strike, or are they permanently replacing union workers who are being laid off?