GLOGOLAB · GLObal GOvernance of LABour: an integrated approach

GLObal GOvernance of LABour: an integrated approach

Over recent decades, the global economy has experienced profound transformations driven by accelerating globalization, economic integration, and the restructuring of production into complex global value chains. These developments have challenged traditional nation-centric frameworks for regulating work and employment, highlighting substantial limitations in understanding and effectively governing labour issues through national policy alone. Historically, studies on labour governance have predominantly focused on national-level analyses. However, the increasingly transnational character of production and economic exchange demands new, integrated, multi-scalar approaches to understanding and governing labour relations and workers' rights. Against this backdrop, GLOGOLAB (2023-2026) — funded by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellowship and hosted by the Department of Political and Social Sciences at Scuola Normale Superiore, and by the ILR School at Cornell University in the US —addresses the urgent need for comprehensive analysis and understanding of global governance of labour. The project seeks to move beyond existing scholarly approaches by systematically examining various transnational labour governance regimes that have emerged since the 1990s. Such regimes include inter-governmental agreements (e.g., ILO Conventions, labour clauses in trade agreements), private governance initiatives (e.g., international framework agreements, corporate voluntary codes of conduct), and supranational interventions (e.g., IMF structural adjustment programs). By pioneering an integrated analytical approach that unifies insights on power dynamics, collective action, and multi-level governance processes, GLOGOLAB is expected to significantly advance scholarly understanding of global labour governance. By doing so, it will deepen academic comprehension of the complex mechanisms shaping employment regulation in a globalized economy, thus informing future comparative research. Beyond academia, the project holds substantial societal relevance. Through a comparative assessment of how different global labour governance frameworks concretely impact workers' rights, GLOGOLAB will provide valuable insights for evidence-based policymaking. Its findings will directly benefit international organizations like the EU, the ILO and the OECD, as well as social partners, civil society, and social movements seeking effective strategies to enhance labour rights globally.

Data: CORDIS, © European Union