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- A Canadian Success Story? Gildan Activewear: T-shirts, Free Trade and Worker Rights
This report is essential reading for researchers, policy-makers and activists in Canada and elsewhere who are interested in the promotion of corporate responsibility and ensuring improvements for workers as world trade evolves....
Citation: Maquila Solidarity Network and Honduran Independent Monitoring Team (EMIH). 2003. A Canadian Success Story? Gildan Activewear: T-shirts, Free Trade and Worker Rights. Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN)
Areas of Interest: Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, Labour - Employee
- A Resource Guide to Corporate Human Rights Reporting
This resource guide is designed to help organizations in beginning the process of identifying relevant human rights issues in their operations and to assist them in translating existing and planned practices into meaningful and effective reporting. Public reporting on human rights is, of course, a work in progress. The Global Reporting Initiative, Realizing Rights and the United Nations Global Compact stand ready to support companies and other organizations in advancing their efforts in this important area of corporate responsibility and encourage feedback on this resource guide from all interested parties....
Citation: Global Reporting Initiative, Realizing Rights and the United Nations Global Compact, A Resource Guide to Corporate Human Rights Reporting, GRI, 2009.
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, Sustainability, Theory - Stakeholder
- Aboriginal Rights, Resource Development, and the Source of the Provincial Duty to Consult in Haida Nation and Taku River
The main issues dealt with by the Supreme Court of Canada in its decisions in Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests) and Taku River Tlingit First Nation v. British Columbia (Project Assessment Director/ were the nature and scope of the provincial Crown's duty to consult with First Nations and accommodate their interests before authorizing resource development on lands subject to unestablished Aboriginal title claims. Those issues will not, however, be the focus of this article. Instead, I am going to discuss what, in my opinion, is a major preliminary issue lying largely hidden in both cases, namely the source and extent of provincial jurisdiction to infringe Aboriginal title for the purposes of resource development. In Haida Nation and Taku River, the Court assumed that British Columbia has authority to infringe Aboriginal title in appropriate circumstances for the purposes of forestry and mining, thereby triggering a duty to consult with the Aboriginal nations concerned. However, although logically that provincial authority to infringe must be present before the duty to consult can arise in these circumstances, its source was not explained or even identified....
Citation: McNeil, Kent. 2005. Aboriginal Rights, Resource Development, and the Source of the Provincial Duty to Consult in Haida Nation and Taku River. Supreme Court Law Review, Vol. 29, pp. 447-460. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1649042
Areas of Interest: Development, Indigenous People, Public Policy - Regulation, Resource Extraction
- Affirmative Action As A Form Of Restitution
Though the common sense defense of affirmative action (or employment equity) appeals to principles of restitution, philosophers have tried to defend it in other ways....
Citation: Groarke, Leo. . 1990. Affirmative Action As A Form Of Restitution. Journal of Business Ethics 9 (3):207-213.
Areas of Interest: Labour - Employee, Theory
- An Assessment of Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex) Social Responsibility Reporting
MSN’s analysis is based primarily on Walmex’s 2009 SRSD Report. It also relies on other, publicly available information about company policy and practice in order to supplement and compare with the company’s own reporting....
Citation: Maquila Solidarity Network. 2010. An Assessment of Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex) Social Responsibility Reporting. Maquila Solidarity Network
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Consumer Issues, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Development, Environment & Business, Human Rights, Labour
- An Assessment of Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex) Social Responsibility Reporting: Summary
The following is a summary of MSN’s report, which identifies strengths, gaps and weaknesses in Walmex’s 2009 SRSD Report, points to social and environmental performance issues that arise from consideration of the company’s CSR reporting, and puts forward a number of recommendations for improvements in policy, practice and reporting. The report also discusses some of the company’s underlying policies and practices that are of concern to outside stakeholders....
Citation: Maquila Solidarity Network. 2010. An Assessment of Wal-Mart de Mexico (Walmex) Social Responsibility Reporting: Summary. Maquila Solidarity Network
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Consumer Issues, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Development, Environment & Business, Human Rights, Labour
- 'Anchored to the Land': Asserting and Recognising Aboriginal Jurisdiction in the Northwest Territories
This chapter of the edited collection 'Settling With Indigenous People' examines the recent history of Aboriginal land claims, self-government and resource development agreements in Canada's Northwest Territories. Through an analysis of the changing political and legal landscape of the Northwest Territories, the authors argue that the durability of these individual agreements will be dependent upon strategic interactions with the full spectrum of social, economic, political and governance or jurisdictional processes that affect the lives of local Aboriginal people. This argument resonates with experiences in other jurisdictions, including Australia....
Citation: Palmer, Lisa and Maureen Tehan. 2006. " 'Anchored to the Land': Asserting and Recognising Aboriginal Jurisdiction in the Northwest Territories." In Settling with Indigenous People: Modern treaty and agreement-making, edited by Marcia Langton, Lisa Palmer, Kathryn Shain and Odette Mazel, pp. 66-93. Toronto: Irwin Law. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1135130
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Indigenous People, Public Policy - Regulation, Resource Extraction
- Androgyny and Leadership Style
Research on leadership has either ignored women or focused on sex differences. This paper illustrates how both of these strategies have been detrimental to women. An alternative conception based on se...
Citation: Korabik, Karen. 1990. Androgyny and Leadership Style. Journal of Business Ethics 9 (4/5):283-292.
Areas of Interest: Gender, Labour - Employee, Leadership
- Apparel Production in the Americas After Quotas: Lessons from the Dominican Republic
Although price remains the main factor in sourcing decisions, brands are also concerned with guaranteeing that their products reach stores at the right time. According to brand representatives, instability in different countries also motivates brands to keep work in different countries located in different regions. For brands selling in the US market, it is quite likely that their strategies first divide suppliers into two big categories: Asia/Americas....
Citation: Traub-Werner, Marion. 2007. Apparel Production in the Americas After Quotas: Lessons from the Dominican Republic. Maquila Solidarity Network
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Labour
- Are Women Different and Why are Women Thought to Be Different? Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives
The existing literature on gender differences and stereotyping is reviewed in this article. Three theoretical perspectives are discussed: person-centred, organization-centred, and gender context, foll...
Citation: Gregory, Ann. 1990. Are Women Different and Why are Women Thought to Be Different? Theoretical and Methodological Perspectives. Journal of Business Ethics 9 (4/5):257-266.
Areas of Interest: Gender, Labour - Employee, Theory
- Balancing Sweatshop Ethics and Economics
The referenced paper is one of the first to attempt to use ethics in order to provide guidelines for the labor activities of international commercial organizations. The paper seeks to find a balance b...
Citation: L. Hartman, B. Shaw and R. Stevenson. 1999. Balancing Sweatshop Ethics and Economics. University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Business.
Areas of Interest: Consumer Issues - Ethical Consumption, Development, Economic, Human Rights, Labour, Labour - Employee, Labour - Health & Safety, Public Policy, Theory
- Barrick Gold Faces Heightened Risk at the Porgera Operation
Barrick Gold Corporation faces heightened human rights and security risks at its Porgera mine in Papua New Guinea (PNG). As part of ongoing monitoring of Barrick Gold's environmental, social and governance (ESG) performance, and based on new information from local human rights organizations, news media, interviews with Barrick Gold and other sources, Jantzi Research provides an assessment of the situation....
Citation: Jantzi Research. 2009. Barrick Gold Faces Heightened Risk at the Porgera Operation. Sustainalytics.
Areas of Interest: Corporate Governance, Human Rights, Public Policy - Regulation, Resource Extraction
- Big and Little Brother: The Potential Erosion of Workplace Privacy in Canada
The Canadian Federal Government has repeatedly called for increased access to proprietary databases for lawful purposes. Employers therefore face a distinct possibility that their monitoring and surveillance data will be routinely accessed by various government and law enforcement agencies. Since in many provinces workers enjoy little legal protection of their right to a private life, and since new legal protective measures are unlikely, employers must look to their role as socially responsible members of a liberal and democratic society, and respect the rule of law by minimizing their collection of personal worker information....
Citation: Levin, Avner. 2007. Big and Little Brother: The Potential Erosion of Workplace Privacy in Canada. Canadian Journal of Law and Society/Revue Canadienne Droit et Societe, Vol. 22, No. 2, pp. 197-230. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1760058
Areas of Interest: Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, Labour - Employee
- Bitter Harvest: Child Labour in the Cocoa Supply Chain
Lotte Greik (interim research manager, Timisoara), Jennifer Penikett (analyst) and Esther Hougee (Director, Research Products) analyse the key impacts and risk associated with the cocoa supply chain and explore best practices to achieve sustainability and fair trade....
Citation: Griek, Lotte, Jennifer Penikett and Esther Hougee. 2010. Bitter Harvest: Child Labour in the Cocoa Supply Chain. Sustainalytics.
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Labour, Sustainability
- Business and Human Rights Management Paper
A study of eight companies and their approaches to business and human rights management....
Citation: Business and Human Rights Management Paper. 2004. Ethical Corporation Institute.
Areas of Interest: Corporate Governance, Human Rights
- Business and human rights: Towards operationalizing the 'protect, respect and remedy' framework
This report recapitulates the key features of the “protect, respect and remedy” framework and outlines the strategic directions of the Special Representative’s work streams to date in operationalizing the framework. [Sections are:I. IntroductionII. The...
Citation: Ruggie, John. 2009. Business and human rights: Towards operationalizing the 'protect, respect and remedy' framework: United Nations.
Areas of Interest: Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, Labour, Public Policy
- Business Ethics: Policies and Persons
This comprehensive collection presents a case-method approach to teaching business ethics. It contains a wide range of individual, managerial, and corporate cases, many with an international perspecti...
Citation: Kenneth E Goodpaster, Laura L Nash and Henri-Claude de Bettignies. 2005. Business Ethics: Policies and Persons 4ed: McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Areas of Interest: Education, Human Rights, Labour, Resource Extraction
- Can CSR Ratings Help Improve Labour Practices in Global Supply Chains?
Can CSR ratings help improve labour practices in global supply chains?, a new paper published by the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) and the Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research (PODER), examines the potential of rating systems to drive improvements in supply chain labour practices....
Citation: Maquila Solidarity Network and the Project on Organizing, Development, Education, and Research (PODER). 2011. Can CSR Ratings Help Improve Labour Practices in Global Supply Chains? Maquila Solidarity Network
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, Labour, Sustainability
- Can National Competitiveness Strategies Include Decent Work? A comparative study of the garment export industries in Nicaragua and Honduras
A new study co-authored by the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN - Canada), the Honduran Independent Monitoring Team (EMIH), and Professionals for Corporate Social Auditing (PASE - Nicaragua) challenges the conventional wisdom that competing on the basis of cheap labour is the only option for poor garment producing countries....
Citation: Maquila Solidarity Network, Honduran Independent Monitoring Team (EMIH) and Professionals for Corporate Social Auditing (PASE). 2012. Can National Competitiveness Strategies Include Decent Work? A comparative study of the garment export industries in Nicaragua and Honduras. Maquila Solidarity Network
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Labour
- Canada
This is a chapter on Canada for a new book that explores the growing relationship between human rights and global business and the developing international focus on this topic, particularly as a result of recent United Nations initiatives. This first edition focuses on the legal accountability and due diligence responsibilities of corporations for human rights compliance by their overseas operations....
Citation: Dhir, Aaron A., Edward J. Waitzer, Aaron Fransen, and Christen Daniels. 2011. "Canada." In Global Business and Human Rights. The European Lawyer Ltd. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1807282
Areas of Interest: Accountability, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Globalization, Human Rights
- Canadian Energy and Mining Companies: Navigating International Humanitarian Law in the 21st Century
This paper describes why energy and mining companies need to establish systems for avoiding prosecution for human rights violations under international humanitarian law....
Citation: Ethical Funds Company. 2005. Canadian Energy and Mining Companies: Navigating International Humanitarian Law in the 21st Century. In Sustainability Perspectives: The Ethical Funds Company.
Areas of Interest: Accountability, Corporate Governance - Self-Regulation, Human Rights, Public Policy
- Canadian Issues in Environmental Ethics
Is it possible to design a forest policy that satisfies ethical and environmental concerns and is acceptable to business, labour and First Nations representatives? What is the best path through the ta...
Citation: Wesley Cragg, Allan Greenbaum and Alex Wellington, eds. 1997. Canadian Issues in Environmental Ethics. Peterborough: Broadview Press.
Areas of Interest: Economic - Environmental, Gender, Human Rights, Indigenous People, Resource Extraction
- Carrots and Sticks. Promoting Transparency and Sustainability. An update on trends in Voluntary and Mandatory Approaches to Sustainability Reporting
This publication provides an up-to-date and expanded overview of mandatory and voluntary approaches to sustainability reporting and assurance....
Citation: GRI, UN Environment Programme, KPMG, and the Unit for Corporate Governance in Africa, Carrots and Sticks. Promoting Transparency and Sustainability. An update on trends in Voluntary and Mandatory Approaches to Sustainability Reporting, GRI, 2010.
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Codes of Conduct, Corporate Governance - Self-Regulation, Globalization, Public Policy - Regulation, Sustainability
- Cluster Munitions, Public Policy and Investor Risk
Matthew Barg, analyst, explores the issue of dis-investment from controversial weapons, such as cluster munitions....
Citation: Barg, Matthew. 2010. Cluster Munitions, Public Policy and Investor Risk. Sustainalytics.
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Public Policy - Regulation, SRI/Responsible Investment
- Complicity in the Congo: Investor Risk in the Minerals Supply Chain
Azadeh Sabour, senior sustainability consultant, explores the potential risks associated with the production and trade in high value minerals from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and how technology companies and their investors can mitigate their risk of complicity and improve the situation on the ground....
Citation: Sabour, Azadeh. 2010. Complicity in the Congo: Investor Risk in the Minerals Supply Chain. Sustainalytics.
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Resource Extraction, SRI/Responsible Investment, Sustainability
- Corporate accountability through Creative Enforcement: Human rights, the Alien Tort Claims Act and the limits of legal impunity
The adoption by companies of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policies is routinely characterised as voluntary. But if CSR is self-governance by business, it is self-governance that has received...
Citation: Doreen McBarnet, Patrick Schmidt. 2007. Corporate accountability through Creative Enforcement: Human rights, the Alien Tort Claims Act and the limits of legal impunity. In The New Corporate Accountability: Corporate Social Responsibility and the Law edited by A. V. McBarnet D, T Campbell Cambridge University Press.
- Corporate Human Rights Reporting. An Analysis of Current Trends
This independent analysis, based on a review of 57 recent sustainability reports from companies representing a range of industry sectors, presents examples of encouraging trends in human rights reporting, as well as indications of key areas where there is room for improvement. The aim of this review is not to put forward industry "best practice" but rather to provide reporting organizations and others with ideas to build on. The analysis was undertaken as part of a wider effort -- Human Rights: A Call to Action -- aimed at fostering improved understanding of how and why to publicly disclose policies and practice relating to human rights and how to embed this better understanding into global reporting standards....
Citation: Umlas, Elizabeth, Corporate Human Rights Reporting. An Analysis of Current Trends,Commissioned by Realizing Rights, UN Global Compact, and GRI, 2009.
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Corporate Governance - Transparency, Globalization, Human Rights, Sustainability
- Corporate Social Reporting Initiative
The Hennick Centre for Business and Law and Sustainalytics have submitted recommendations to the Minister of Finance on how the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) can begin to improve corporations' disclosure of their social practices. In this report, the Hennick Centre and Sustainalytics recommend that the OSC clarify existing disclosure obligations to indicate the need to consider the materiality of social issues to investors' decisions and long-term corporate performance. They also recommend that the OSC facilitate continued dialogue among relevant stakeholders in order to support a shift toward more standardized metrics and reporting in this area....
Citation: Hennick Centre for Business and Law and Jantzi-Sustainalytics. 2010. Corporate Social Reporting Initiative. Hennick Centre for Business and Law and Jantzi-Sustainalytics.
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Human Rights, SRI/Responsible Investment, Sustainability
- Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights in the Context of the European Union
In this paper, I will discuss some of the paradoxical characteristics of the traditional discourse on CSR and human rights obligations, which in the context of globalization emphasize the need for a structural reformulation of it. I will then analyze the United Nations (UN) attempt to submit to international debate the issue of the hypothetical human rights obligations of TNCs. Finally, I will argue that the European Union (EU) is an excellent example of how a joint effort to address the problem – involving (1.) the civil society, (2.) EU and member-states officials and (3.) the European business community – can have a direct impact on EU official policy. I will illustrate the outcome of this effort with the most important documents adopted by the European Commission....
Citation: Irina, Nicolae. 2008. Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights in the Context of the European Union. CCGES/CCEAE Working Paper Series, No. 16, pp. 1-13. Available at: http://ccges.apps01.yorku.ca/wp/working-papers
Areas of Interest: Corporate Social Responsibility, Globalization, Human Rights, Public Policy - Regulation
- Corporate Social Responsibility in Canada: The 2009 Ivey-Jantzi Research Report
This report is the result of an ongoing collaboration between the Richard Ivey School of Business (Ivey) and Jantzi Research, an independent investment research firm located in Toronto, Ontario. It is the second edition of the Ivey-Jantzi Research Report....
Citation: Cara Maurer; Brent Mcknight; Natalie Slawinski; Michael Wood; Tima Bansal. 2009. Corporate Social Responsibility in Canada: The 2009 Ivey-Jantzi Research Report: Ivey-Jantzi.
Areas of Interest: Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Economic - Environmental, Economic - Social, Human Rights, Labour - Employee, SRI/Responsible Investment
- Cross-Sex Relationships at Work and the Impact of Gender Stereotypes
Organizations pride themselves on their creation of rational structures based primarily on a male perspective of interaction. Workers are expected to set aside interpersonal behaviours that do not dir...
Citation: Devine, Irene; Markiewicz, Dorothy. 1990. Cross-Sex Relationships at Work and the Impact of Gender Stereotypes. Journal of Business Ethics 9 (4/5):333-338.
Areas of Interest: Gender, Labour - Employee
- Deciphering Codes of Corporate Conduct: A Review of their Contents
Public concerns about globalisation are growing. Many firms are trying to respond to these concerns, often by issuing statements of ethics or values that cover various facets of corporate conduct. Thi...
Citation: K. Gordon; M. Miyake. 1999. Deciphering Codes of Corporate Conduct: A Review of their Contents: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
Areas of Interest: Accountability, Codes of Conduct, Consumer Issues, Corruption, Economic - Environmental, Globalization, Resource Extraction
- Deconstructing Engagement. Corporate Self-Regulation in Conflict Zones – Implications for Human Rights and Canadian Public Policy
This paper examines the existing governance gap in the accountability of TNCs for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law associated with their extraterritorial operations. It as...
Citation: G. Gagnon; A. Macklin; P. Simons. 2003. Deconstructing Engagement. Corporate Self-Regulation in Conflict Zones - Implications for Human Rights and Canadian Public Policy. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Areas of Interest: Accountability, Corporate Governance - Self-Regulation, Development, Human Rights, Public Policy - Regulation, Resource Extraction
- Discovering ISO 26000
This brochure provides a basic understanding of the voluntary International Standard, ISO 26000:2010, Guidance on social responsibility....
Citation:
Areas of Interest: Human Rights
- Discrimination Against Pregnant Employees: An Analysis of Arbitration and Human Rights Tribunal Decisions in Canada
Recent arbitration and human rights boards of inquiry cases involving discrimination against pregnant employees are reviewed. A comparison is made between remedies available under each procedure. It i...
Citation: Andiappan, P.; Reavley, M.; Silver, S. 1990. Discrimination Against Pregnant Employees: An Analysis of Arbitration and Human Rights Tribunal Decisions in Canada. Journal of Business Ethics 9 (2):143-149.
Areas of Interest: Economic - Social, Gender, Human Rights, Labour - Employee
- Draft - Business, Human Rights and The Right to Water Challenges, Dilemmas and Opportunities
This report is work-in-progress, and represents the Institute's informed view of the challenges the issue of water and human rights poses for governments, companies, and the civil society. It was released at the Human Rights Seminar in Paris, in December,...
Citation: Institute for Human Rights and Business. 2009. Draft - Business, Human Rights and The Right to Water Challenges, Dilemmas and Opportunities. Roundtable Consultative Report. Institute for Human Rights and Business
Areas of Interest: Human Rights
- Eliminating the Barriers to Employment Equity in the Canadian Workplace
Have employment equity programs achieved the goal of equity for women in the workplace? We argue that they have not because gender stereotypes still persist. In fact, they may have created resentment...
Citation: Falkenberg, L. E.; Boland, L. 1997. Eliminating the Barriers to Employment Equity in the Canadian Workplace. Journal of Business Ethics 16 (9):963-975.
Areas of Interest: Gender, Human Rights, Labour - Employee, Public Policy - Regulation
- Embedding Gender in Sustainability Reporting? A Practitioner's Guide
Preparers of sustainability reports who want ideas on how to improve their gender reporting practices are the main intended audience of this publication. Moreover, it is hoped that this in turn will help organizations identify new opportunities to improve their gender management practices....
Citation: Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), Embedding Gender in Sustainability Reporting? A Practitioner's Guide, GRI, 2009.
Areas of Interest: Accountability - Reporting, Consumer Issues, Corporate Social Responsibility, Gender, Human Rights, Labour, SRI/Responsible Investment, Sustainability
- Emergency Assistance, Redress and Prevention in the Hermosa Manufacturing Case
A new study prepared by the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) for the Fair Labor Association (FLA) documents the desperate situation of former employees of the Hermosa Manufacturing facility in El Salvador, which closed in May 2005, leaving former Hermosa workers without jobs, without back wages, without severance pay, without health insurance and without employee pensions....
Citation: Maquila Solidarity Network. 2007. Emergency Assistance, Redress and Prevention in the Hermosa Manufacturing Case. Maquila Solidarity Network
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Labour
- Ethical Decision Making in Fair Trade Companies
This paper reports on a study of ethical decision-making in a fair trade company. It sheds light on decision-making processes of fair trade companies so that they can be better understood and more eff...
Citation: I. Davies; A. Crane. 2003. Ethical decision making in fair trade companies. Nottingham, United Kingdom: International Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Nottingham University Business School.
Areas of Interest: Corporate Governance, Corporate Social Responsibility, Globalization, Human Rights, Leadership
- Ethical Trade Futures: Strategies for Campaigners
High profile campaigns such as those directed at Shell and Nike have shown that NGOs can turn corporate unethical behaviour into a cost which business is keen to avoid. Where is this process heading?...
Citation: Simon Zadek. 2002. Ethical Trade Futures: Strategies for Campaigners. id21 Development Research Reporting Service.
Areas of Interest: Codes of Conduct, Consumer Issues - Ethical Consumption, Corporate Social Responsibility, Development, Globalization, Human Rights, Labour - Employee
- Ethics, Enlightened Self-Interest, and the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: A Critical Look at the Justificatory Foundations of the UN Framework
Central to the United Nations Framework setting out the human rights responsibilities of corporations proposed by John Ruggie is the principle that corporations have a responsibility to respect human rights in their operations whether or not doing so is required by law and whether or not human rights laws are actively enforced. Ruggie proposes that corporations should respect this principle in their strategic management and day-to-day operations for reasons of corporate (enlightened) self-interest. This paper identifies this as a serious weakness and argues that identifying the responsibility to respect human rights as an explicitly ethical obligation to be respected for that reason would provide a much stronger justificatory foundation for respecting the principle seen from a corporate perspective, given that corporations are accountable to their shareholders for their deployment of the firm's financial resources....
Citation: Cragg, Wesley. 2011. "Ethics, Enlightened Self-Interest, and the Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights: A Critical Look at the Justificatory Foundations of the UN Framework." Business Ethics Quarterly 22(1):9-36.
Areas of Interest: Corporate Social Responsibility, Globalization, Human Rights
- FLA Response to the MSN Report on Hermosa
The Fair Labor Association responded to the MSN report....
Citation: Fair Labor Association (FLA). 2007. FLA Response to the MSN Report on Hermosa. Maquila Solidarity Network
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Labour
- Freedom of Association in a Free Enterprise System: Wal-Mart in Jonquière
This paper first examines Wal-Mart’s well-documented pattern of resistance to unionization. It then considers whether the majority’s position is defensible in the light of the wording of the Quebec statute, the Court’s previous commitment to the purposive interpretation of statutory unfair labour practice provisions, and its recent commitment to protecting collective bargaining as an important derivative of the guarantee of freedom of association in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Particular attention is paid to the origins of the idea, especially in the United States, that an employer has the right to close a business even in order to avoid a union, and to how that idea has been addressed by labour boards across Canada....
Citation: MacNeil, Michael. 2010. Freedom of Association in a Free Enterprise System: Wal-Mart in Jonquiere (December 30). Canadian Labour & Employment Law Journal, Vol. 15, No. 3, pp. 495-540. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1732612
Areas of Interest: Human Rights, Labour - Employee, Public Policy - Regulation
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