Presentation from Panel 2: Human Rights and Labor Law

Moderator: Raquel Aldana, Professor of Law and Director, Inter-American Program, University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law For at least the last two decades, Latin American nations have grappled with whether and how to reform their labor codes as a response to liberalizing policies promoted by international financial institutions and-or multilateral and more recently regional trade agreements. The debate has rightly encountered tensions around several competing goals, including ones for global economic integration, the individual and collective rights of workers, and demands from employers from greater flexibilization of laws in developing nations. As well, deep disagreements have surfaced around the value or harm of traditionally highly worker protective labor codes in Latin America when such laws are commonly under-complied, under-enforced, or are inapplicable to the majority of workers. This panel brings together scholars examining the issues from the experiences of several Latin American nations, some which have already experimented with greater labor laws flexibilization with mixed results and others that are barely beginning to consider similar reforms