Hazard or Hardship: Crafting Global Norms on the Right to Refuse Unsafe Work

Jeffrey Hilgert

Open Access Published by Cornell University Press 2014

Hazard or Hardship

Crafting Global Norms on the Right to Refuse Unsafe Work

Jeffrey Hilgert
Funded by: Knowledge Unlatched

https://doi.org/10.7591/9780801469244

Overview
Contents

About this book

Hilgert finds that the protection of the right to refuse unsafe work, as constituted under international labor standards, is a failure and calls for a reexamination of worker health and safety policy from the ground up.

Author / Editor information

Jeffrey Hilgert is Assistant Professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Montreal.

Reviews

Gay Seidman, Martindale-Bascom Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, author of Beyond the Boycott: Labor Rights, Human Rights, and Transnational Activism:

Work can be dangerous, as far too many factory fires and mine explosions remind us. Yet as Jeffrey Hilgert shows, global norms for addressing occupational hazards may limit workers' ability to refuse to work in unsafe conditions, effectively protecting managerial prerogatives rather than strengthening workers’ voices. Arguing that current approaches to workplace safety may inadvertently increase workers’ vulnerability, the book offers a provocative contribution to global discussions about how governments, labor unions, and employers can protect workers from harm.

Anne Trebilcock, Institute for Labour Law, University of Göttingen, Germany:

Jeffrey Hilgert's book provides original insights into how national perspectives on the right to refuse unsafe work can influence an international debate. In doing so, it draws fresh attention to this important human right.

Michael Quinlan:

This book charts an important but hitherto neglected aspect of social protection in the field of occupational health and safety—the right of workers to refuse unsafe work. The right to refuse unsafe work should be inalienable in societies that respect and value their citizens, and it should be defined and institutionally facilitated so it can be exercised in a meaningful way.... This is a valuable book.

Tim Bartley:

Hazard or Hardship uncovers an important path-not-taken in the world of workplace health and safety standards.... It speaks to an important set of issues in a resolute voice. It has influenced my own understanding of health-and-safety regulation, and I believe it will be similarly helpful for other scholars of domestic and global labor standards.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Acknowledgments Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
List of Abbreviations Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Introduction: Commodified Workers and the International Response Open Access Download PDF	1
1. Human Rights and the Struggle to Define Hazards Open Access Download PDF	15
2. Theoretical Perspectives on Individual Employment Rights Open Access Download PDF	35
3. The Right to Refuse in International Labor Law Open Access Download PDF	53
4. How Effective Are Convention 155 Refusal Rights? Open Access Download PDF	86
5. Ideological Origins of the Global Framework Open Access Download PDF	119
6. Negotiating “Safe” Rights versus Seeking Social Justice Open Access Download PDF	140
Conclusion: The Future of Labor Rights in the Working Environment Open Access Download PDF	159
Notes Open Access Download PDF	173
Bibliography Open Access Download PDF	189
Index Open Access Download PDF	201

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: Cornell University Press
Audience: General/trade;
Pages
- Main content: 224
Illustrations
- Other: 9 tables
Keywords: human rights; work hazards; work injuries; work casualties; workers protections; individual employment rights; unions; industrial relations; public health

eBook

Published: August 15, 2013
ISBN: 9780801469244