The History Of Labor Rights In Your Nation?

[Makko Oko]

I got this idea from the "History Of LGBTQ+ Rights In Your Nation" thread by Rhodevus so thanks for that! I'll start off with my nation's, I'm actually not new to roleplaying on NationStates (been doing it for quite a bit), but it does mean that the history of my nation varies, I will try my best to be as descriptive and creative as possible however, keep in mind that I'm just making some of this up haha.

The Empire Of Makko Oko starts off its labor rights journey as the Republic Of Makko Oko, with the official Constitution Of Makko Oko stating that "Everybody shall enjoy the right to be free from discrimination or harassment for their sex, disability, religion or education" which fell to everything, including companies and government offices. Not much expansion of labor rights happened after the Constitution was drafted and enacted in 1990, but the presidency of Kenneth Dirksen in 2000, which was the very first election of the President as defined under the Constitution, caused major changes to labor rights.

The first of many changes was the convincing of the House Of Order (the Parliament) to enact a law officially recognizing and legalizing the right to unionize, which caused widespread unionization at government offices across the nation due to low pay, and the lack of guaranteed wages. Due to the poor state of the economy, a guaranteed minimum wage wouldn't come until 2007, when Harold Zenonis first became President, and he was the first President to push for and enact, a revision to the Constitution, which guaranteed the right to a minimum wage and to basic income and welfare services.

After 2007, not many additional changes were made in terms of labor rights, and by the time labor rights were due for a mass expansion, which included guaranteed paid time off for certain types of leave, the Civil Transition War had started, and the law was put on pause until further notice, never becoming enacted law. The Empire Of Makko Oko didn't start the official establishment of labor rights until 2022, with the enactment of the Conall Labor Act and the most recent passing of the Wages Guidance Act which established an official minimum wage.

In addition to all of this, slavery was not officially illegalized in the Republic Of Makko Oko, and in the Empire Of Makko Oko, slavery was officially legalized under the law.

As of present, some believe that both Presidents of the republic were pro-corporate and only passed the labor rights reforms due to pushes from international human rights organizations and threats of development funds being cut off or put elsewhere. The Wages Guidance Act is also currently in legal trouble in Erma Barrows V. Makko Oko, which threatens to not only nullify that law, but multiple others as well.

[Wochaystein]

Wochaystein has a rich history of labor rights. As a part of a plan to rehabilitate the country emerging from a long civil war, the Diarcesian-installed Kaiser Ludwig II in 1808 allowed worker representation in the Weisemännerhof (parliament). Since then, labor rights have been strengthened several times. From the beginning, workers have been protected from dismissal and have the right to organize. In addition, workers can form unions and seek redress through the courts if they are not successful in trying to work for their own best.

However, in recent years, things have changed in the public sector. Some institutions are starting to adopt practices from outside the country, but worker rights are still fully respected. In addition, there is a growing belief that labor rights are being prioritized too much to the detriment of the economy. Opponents to this belief counter that this is not the case at all, and that the old way of working with unions is the best way to foster development.

[Rhodevus]

1. Thanks for the shoutout and happy to see this thread!

2. Rhodevus has a long history with labour and labour rights, which is a little all over the place. As the country was granted independence in 1715, certain things were immediately granted. For instance, slave-labour was outlawed right away. However, things became a little muddier by the 1730s-1750s, when the Republic of Rhodevus grew to be a maritime empire. For one, were people in conquered territories considered citizens and thus granted the same rights as Rhodeve citizens? What about colonies? Do they get the same laws? Well, in The Munroe Farming Corporation v State case (1739), it was decided that conquered territories were not the same as the mainland, and thus alternate laws may apply. As in, slave labour was re-legalized in colonies.

The first union was formed very early on in Rhodeve history; actually having started before the country was independent. The Wind-Sail Workers Union was a union of workers and labourers who were a part of the sail-cloth making industry for use in large ships, and had been around since the 1660s, under the original name of The Wind-Sail Club.

Unions began cropping up more and more in the late 1700s and early 1800s especially during the start of the industrial revolution. The mill-workers union (1793) and News-Runners Union (1806) became the first two unions to gain prominence across the entire mainland country, rather than just individual cities and towns. There was quite a lot of union busting, which saw Rhodeve military and police forces used to break up union meetings and union votes. The worst of these was the 1808 Brevin Riot, which saw the Rhodeve military brought in by the state governor to bust the formation of the potential 'gun-smithy union' which would have seen workers in 12 of Rhodevus's largest gun and cannon shops joining together to call for better wages and safer environments. The 1808 Brevin Riot left 26 dead and dozens injured. It received so much negative press, that it was often considered one of the reasons why Emperor Montgomery Hart stepped down and returned the country to a Republic.

In 1836, as the empire was weakening, it the Slave Solder's Act was passed, which guaranteed citizenship to any slave that chose to join the Rhodeve military. This did end up backfiring, as many of the slave-soldiers would spend 4 years in the military, and then return home to retake their own countries, during the Rhodeve Collapse.

Slavery was officially and fully banned in 1845 with the transition from Republic/Empire to Monarchy. Union busting continued well passed this transition however, until 1953, when a Monarch Decree was issued which forbid the use of police, military or armed personnel from breaking up Unions. This of course, was done in an effort to sway voters who were turning towards more socialist parties in the government.

The 1856 Child Workers Act and 1857 Child Labour Law were passed which banned child labour and regulated the usage of children in the workforce. The first minimum wage was instituted in 1886, and the first Workplace Safety Commission was established in 1905, following the 1904 General Arms Saw Mill Fire (more commonly called the GAS Mill Fire) which saw almost three dozen workers dead from inhaling smoke fumes from a fire, with no clear escape route. The Labour Commission and Rhodeve Federal Labour Board were established in 1914 and 1971 respectively.

While Rhodeve labour laws were instituted wildly and some may saw 'all over the place', Rhodeve labour rights are now considered fairly strong, with guarantees for a good minimum wage, strong labour laws, enforced unions (companies of 200 or more, or those which earn over 35 million Rhodes per year must have a workers union of some kind, with rules in place for smaller companies), strong workers safety and anti-discrimination measures.

[Great Morbidia]

The Empire of Great Morbidia doesn't have a hugely complex history regarding labor rights mostly because labor rights in Great Morbidia are essentially nonexistent. This is unsurprising given how Morbidia has some of the highest wealth gaps ever recorded, with the rich making 717.78 times as much as the poor.

The first true piece of labor legislation was the Great Imperial Decree of November 14, 881 BC. This decree abolished the old democratic system of Morbidia's predecessor, the Sarsistoran Union, and installed both an autocratic system of government and a feudal system of lords and serfs in its place. The newly-designated lords frequently abused their power under the law to overwork and exploit their servants, who received very little pay and were doomed to a life of poverty based on their bloodline.

Also notable was the Workplace-Household Protection Act of May 9, 879 BC, which restricted job opportunities based on gender in response to calls from the Morbidian public to bring back traditional gender norms. Women's opportunities in male-dominated jobs and high-ranking political offices were restricted, with the same being true for men attempting to get into female-dominated occupations and service sector jobs.

The most important labor-related legislation passed by Great Morbidia were the Affluence Protection Act and the Employer Freedom Act. The Affluence Protection Act of March 13, 878 BC permitted the Morbidian military to capture extremely poor/low-income families and sterilize them in order to "protect the genes of the rich, affluent, and worthy". An estimated 7.8 million Lordion women saw sterilization from the Morbidian authorities. The simultaneous Employer Freedom Act granted employers and corporate officials a number of privileges including lowered taxes and the permission to utilize child labor, physical punishment of workers, and other unethical means to achieve as much profit as possible. The act also abolished minimum wage requirements and banned the display of all flags, symbols, items, etc. related to the ideologies of communism or socialism.

When Morbidia began pursuing imperialistic expansion, slavery became legal, with the natives of colonized lands become slaves of the Morbidian Empire. This increased Morbidia's already-severe labor inequality even more.

[Tangatarehua]

Before the 19th century, Tangatarehua practiced a feudal system of lords, serfs and slaves which remained unchallenged until the 1850s, when the industrial revolution reached Tangatarehua.

The first organised labour movement began in 1863 but was almost immediately made illegal, with Parliament passing a series of very strict "Anti-Socialism" laws that could see individuals arrested and imprisoned for participating in a labour strike. The laws forced most pro-worker movements, alongside socialist and social democratic movements, underground.

Despite the illegal status of many of these movements, their popularity among the Kaihu (peasants/working class) actually continued to grow and in 1894 the government finally legalised the trade union movement, while Ropu Mahi (the Labour Party) were elected to Parliament for the first time the following year.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, labour and economic issues took a backseat to religion as being the primary political division of the day, with most labour organisations remaining neutral during the (often violent) conflicts between Christians and Traditionalists.

All trade unions were nationalised in 1948 and instead became the Tangatarehua Worker's Front, which was a subsidiary organisation of the Tangatarehua Imperial Rule Association, a fascist organisation which governed the nation from 1943 until 1979.

The Constitution of 1979 saw the abolition of slavery, which had continued to exist throughout the 20th century.

In the 1980s the government strongly prioritised economic growth over workers rights, and essentially allowed multinational corporations to dictate labour policy as they saw fit, in exchange for investing in Tangatarehua and aiding in the nation's post-war rebuild. While the right to unionise continued to exist, the government promoted individual employment agreements and contracts in an attempt to keep the power of the unions weak.

It wasn't until the election of the Labour Party in 2000 that Tangatarehua saw a raft of new laws designed to protect workers including the minimum wage (2001), stronger collective bargaining laws, paid parental leave (2002), the introduction of the 40 hour work-week and mandatory rest breaks (2005), mandatory minimum of 5 sick days per year (2006) and the right to exchange public holidays for annual leave (2011).

Because Tangatarehua already has four weeks of public holidays every year, annual leave is not a mandatory entitlement for most workers, however if someone works on a public holiday the 2011 law states that their employer must allow them to take time off work at another time to compensate.

[Vallermoore]

Unions have not been treated well in our nation with one or two exceptions. Strikes that are violent, destructive, or drag the innocent into things are banned and can be punished by imprisonment.
Queen Amber was the first Queen to give Unions power, but they had too much and went on strike too often and a later Parliament made the above rules. Only the Building Union can go on strike without in effect dragging in the innocent and they have a lot of power.

[Victorious Decepticons]

Victorious Decepticons does not use the concept of "rights." Instead, there are privileges of citizenship. Protection of those who consent to work is NOT one of those privileges. However, the ability to take revenge or otherwise even up a score most definitely IS a privilege of citizenship. We strongly believe that people should take care of their own "business" instead of resorting to either cops or lawsuits. The latter options are seen as wimpy and un-Decepticon, and we have systems set up for this sort of mushy "dispute resolution."

Labor Dispute Resolution Involving Decepticons:

There is no evolving history of labor relations here. We have always handled labor disputes involving Decepticons the same way:

When it comes to labor relations, this means that companies can legally do anything they want with or to their workers. HOWEVER, workers can also take retributive action if they are mistreated, underpaid, or otherwise angered. This counterbalance is not expected to go unopposed - companies of any decent size will have private security forces to protect their interests. This protection includes war-grade defense against "labor actions."

Once all of this is added up, the result is that it is entirely possible for a workforce and a company security force to engage in actual physical battle. (If you know about Pinkerton thugs and strikers circa 1930, you're on the right track. Now make it deadlier - and officially legal.) If the workers win, the company can expect its factory or office to be completely cleaned out down to the bare walls and possibly burned for good measure, and if the boss is present and gets captured, he faces certain deactivation. Meanwhile, if the company wins, its forces will try to deactivate or severely disable any attacking workers that it can, with the intention of selling their bodies to foundries as scrap. Of course, any survivors who were in on the attack are fired.

If workers think that they're not powerful enough to take on the security force, they will use methods that don't require direct combat. Aerial bombing is the preferred method in these cases, and random people will start to physically stay away from businesses that are known for bad labor practices in order to reduce their risk of being caught in any blasts or battles. No one knows when such companies will get bombed or raided, but everyone knows that it's going to happen - except, it seems, for the owners of such places. When there is an exception, and the owner does realize that his labor relations suck, would-be bombers can expect a vigorous defense and have a high risk of being cut down before they can pull off their attack.

Assassination and other sneakier methods come into play if the workers don't think they can successfully battle or bomb a bad company. These are also counterbalanced by the defense of the company owner, bosses, and other common targets. Whoever is the best at this type of combat will win.

We have never bothered with unions. Marching around picketing is not what results from the Decepticon psyche. We settle things with violence, and labor disputes are no exception. Violence brings about a decisive result that nothing else can, and does so more quickly than anything else.

Labor Disputes from Slaves

We have never tolerated such a thing as a dispute of any sort from a slave, but occasionally, they have tried to raise one. A sound flogging almost always reminds a slave of its place and gets it to shut up and go back to work. However, if one is so dumb or obstinate as to not get the message from that, we label it as defective and kill it. Slaves not only have no rights, they have only one privilege. That is the privilege to live, and they earn it by being obedient and productive for us. The privilege must be re-earned every day by meeting a productivity quota, so those who do not earn it are quickly eliminated.