The Historical Development of Labour Standards by Mohammad Ferdosi B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2011 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Mohammad Ferdosi 2016 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2016 Approval Name: Mohammad Ferdosi Degree: Master of Arts (Sociology) Title: The Historical Development of Labour Standards Examining Committee: Chair: Susan Erikson Associate Professor Gary Teeple Senior Supervisor Professor Kendra Strauss Supervisor Assistant Professor Allen Seager Associate Professor (retired) External Examiner Department of History Date Defended/Approved: August 10, 2016 ii Abstract This study was developed to examine the underlying nature of labour standards and to trace their development at the national, international and transnational levels over the course of almost two centuries. We try to provide an alternative account of the meaning of labour standards and to show how different social structures, historical events and social actions combined to frame their evolution across three geographical scales in ways far more complex, dynamic and contradictory than conventionally portrayed in the academic literature. The thesis attempts to trace the decades-long struggle for labour standards to their highest level of development in the 1970s, but it concludes, to emphasise their contradiction with the accumulation of capital, with a brief discussion of the neoliberal period when capital gained the upper hand in the class struggle and began to reverse what labour had won in the previous decades. Keywords: labour standards; means and markers of class struggle; welfare state; capitalist crisis; retrenchment iii Dedication To my old man and truck drivers everywhere If you bought it, a trucker brought it iv Acknowledgements I would like to extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my family for their encouragement, sustaining humour and untiring love throughout this long journey. I thank my siblings for being such strong role models in terms of educational and professional achievements. And I especially thank my father who has been a great source of inspiration and strength to me. To my dear friends, who have been at my side during this entire process, you know who you are and how very grateful I am. Thank you for your generous support and friendship. I also appreciate the constructive comments and positive feedback that I received from Dr. Kevin B. Anderson and Dr. Simon Clarke on our interpretation of Marx’s closing statement in the famous chapter on the Working Day. Particular thanks must also go to Dr. Allen Seager for providing thoughtful suggestions and much valuable advice on the subtle intricacies of labour politics. My special acknowledgements are due to Dr. Kendra Strauss who took precious time from her maternity leave to read my thesis and offer perceptive and extremely helpful comments for revision, many of which have been incorporated in some form in the final draft. Her careful eye and critical feedback have helped make this thesis as strong as it could be. My greatest indebtedness is to my teacher, Dr. Gary Teeple, who offered countless valuable suggestions, ideas and criticisms, both stylistic and substantive, throughout the evolution and development of this project. His continued support, guidance and teachings have been a key source of inspiration and motivation for my work in all respects. It has been a great honour and an enjoyable experience to work with such a dedicated champion of the working class. v Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Dedication ...................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vi Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 Object of Study ....................................................................................................... 1 Literature Review .................................................................................................... 3 Methodology ........................................................................................................... 7 Chapter 2. The Rise and Development of Labour Standards ............................... 11 Historical Preconditions ........................................................................................ 11 Labour Standards and Human Rights ................................................................... 16 Labour Standards and Corporate Rights .............................................................. 23 Conflict of Interest .................................................................................... 23 Unequal Bargaining Power ...................................................................... 24 Rise of Trade Unions and Countervailing Demands ................................ 25 Enter Labour Standards ........................................................................... 28 Challenge Prevailing Corporate Private Rights ........................................ 31 English Factory Acts: ‘the modest Magna Carta’ ...................................... 38 Chapter 3. Sources of Pressure for International Labour Standards ................... 52 Working Classes Demand International Protection ............................................... 52 Movement to Abolish Slave Trade and Slavery..................................................... 57 Curb Potential or Actual Labour Unrest ................................................................ 66 Level Playing Field ............................................................................................... 73 Individual Efforts ................................................................................................... 75 International Conferences and Governmental Agreements ................................... 77 Private and Semi-Official International Associations ............................................. 80 International Federation for the Observance of Sunday (1876-1915) ....... 81 Permanent International Committee on Social Insurance (1889- 1912) ....................................................................................................... 83 International Association for Labour Legislation (1900-1912)................... 85 International Congress on Occupational Diseases (1906-1910) .............. 95 International Association on Unemployment (1906-1913) ........................ 97 International Home Work Organization (1910-1912) .............................. 101 International Trade Unionism .............................................................................. 103 Spectre of Socialism or Communism .................................................................. 108 Chapter 4. A World Organisation for Labour Standards ..................................... 114 ‘Creating a Permanent Organisation for the Promotion of International Regulation of Labour Conditions’ ........................................................................ 117 vi Commission on International Labour Legislation .................................... 118 Framing the International Labour Convention ........................................ 119 International Labour Charter .................................................................. 128 International Labour Code ..................................................................... 131 Chapter 5. The ‘Golden Age’ of Labour Standards .............................................. 137 Rationale for Expanding the Scope of Protection ................................................ 137 Labour Standards of Welfare States ................................................................... 138 Expansion of ILO Standards ............................................................................... 143 International Class Rights Documents: ICCPR and ICESCR (1976) ................... 151 Chapter 6. The Decline and Fall of Labour Standards ........................................ 154 References .................................................................................................................163 vii Chapter 1. Introduction Object of Study As a system based on class relations, capitalism has always required the protection of corporate private interests from working class antagonisms that threaten to undermine capital accumulation and the sanctity of corporate private property. The nation-state played a key role in compensating via political and legal mechanisms for capitalism’s constant tendency towards, and periodic outbreak of, crises and class conflicts. The state became the primary site of political compromises and class tensions between workers and employers, which in turn, shaped its own internal forms and regulating functions. This included the setting out of provisions for labour standards to cope with working class pressure to which the state was subject (albeit unevenly and