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Young women labour stitching jeans in a Chinese factory; fisherman in Southern United States are losing their jobs to Vietnam; care live-ins work around the clock; construction workers in Germany remain unemployed at the time Polish workers are being posted in Germany; consumers boycott Nike, but hesitate before paying premium prices for fair trade coffee; trade unions around the world support their fellow dock-workers in the Liverpool port. What do we make of these examples?

As labour and capital markets transcend domestic borders, the objectives of labour law can no longer be confined solely to actions within the nation state. The purpose of this course is twofold. First, to identify the diverse components of international employment and labour law, the institutions, the claims and the methods for advancing social protection to workers world-wide. This inquiry spans beyond traditional instruments that are associated with labour law, and includes trade law, private international law, international human rights and corporate social responsibility. It further seeks to embed the study of legal instruments in the broader economic and sociological debates on globalisation. The second goal is to critically assess how international developments affect domestic labour law and our perception of the ethical and economic values that underscore this body of law.