Spring Semester 2004

Whose Law is it Anyway?

Labor, the Law and Social Movements.

Instructor:      Dean Hubbard

  In the spring, we will examine the relationship of workers’ rights law and social movements in a climate of global economic integration.  Our overarching question will be, “is another world possible?”  We will interrogate the viability of transnational worker solidarity as a means to this end.  We will begin by analyzing the global context in which the U.S. labor movement finds itself.  We will explore the concepts of economic human rights and international workers’ rights, and will be introduced to the international institutions responsible for monitoring and enforcing them.  We will examine some contrasting responses by worker and community advocates in the Americas and the Carribean to the integration of the global economy under the “neoliberal” model.  We will take an in-depth look at cross-border organizing theory and practice, and will critically analyze the competing “social clause” and “social movement” strategies in this struggle.  Finally, we will discuss the roles of advocates for social change in the struggle to build alternatives to the neoliberal model.

The core of our discussion of these issues will be a study of the labor movement in Cuba in its political, economic and cultural contexts.  This “case study” will highlight both fundamental differences and some similarities between the responses of the U.S. and Cuban labor movements to the philosophy of globalized privatization and “structural adjustment.” Through a close reading of these experiences, it is hoped that students will gain a deeper understanding of labor struggles, legal processes, and conditions of work in two dramatically different yet interconnected settings.

As an important component of our study of these issues, we plan to participate in a cross-border exchange that involves travel

to Cuba and the Dominican Republic during spring break, subject to funding.  In Cuba , we will participate in the fifth bilateral

and the second international exchange between labor lawyers,  trade unionists and students from the U.S. , Cuba and other countries, and travel to Matanzas province to meet with workers and union representatives.  In the Dominican Republic ,  we will meet with residents and leaders of a community organization in the barrio of Lebrón, the nurses’ union, government agencies, and hopefully  visit a work site in a “zona franca ” (free trade zone).

  This semester, my expectations for each student in the course continue to include the following:

●          Attend each class and participate in discussions.

 ●          Complete all required readings.

●          Each week, write a 2-3 page critical reaction to (not a summary of) the readings.

●          Attend all required speakers/films

 ●          Complete community partnership, and related journal.

●          Complete three class papers

 ●          Complete conference project annotated outline, rough draft and final project.  

     At the end of the academic year, each student will teach part of one class based on her/his conference work.

 ●          Participate in fundraising for international exchanges.

 ●          Participate in 4 meetings outside class to prepare for Cuba trip

●          Participate in Cuba/D.R. exchange.

Note: This semester, readings will be assigned and themes will be discussed for the week, rather than per class. 

to cover all readings for the week.  The weekly 2-3 page critical response will be due each Monday evening no later than 5 p.m.

             Preliminary Course Materials for Spring Semester:

As per our practice in the Fall Semester, many of the readings below are optional, and many are short articles or excerpts. Fear not.

Available on Reserve in Library:

            Required: 

David Bacon, "National Security or International Solidarity", Working USA, Spring 2001 (also available online in electronic reserves).

Jeremy Brecher, Tim Costello, and Brendan Smith, Globalization from Below, South End Press, 2000

Human Rights Watch, Unfair Advantage:  Workers’ Freedom of Association in the U.S. Under International Human Rights Standards, 2000 2001 (also available online).

Hope Lewis, "Transnational Human Rights:  Black Women and the Violence of Economic Migration under Globalization,"

5 Iowa Journal of Gender, Race and Justice 197, Fall 2001

Carlin Meyer, International Standards in the WTO’s “New World Order”:  Towards “Development-Based” Standard Setting,

 Guild Practicioner, Vol 59, Number 1, Winter 2002

            Recommended:

David Moberg, "Can Workers Tame Unrestrained Globalization?," Working USA , March/April 1999

 Pedro Monreal,   " Cuba in the 1990s:  Economics, Politics and Society; and Cuba : The Challenges of Being Global and Socialist...At the Same Time, "  Socialism and Democracy, Spring-Summer 2001

Marta Nuñuz Sarmineto, "Cuban Strategies for Women’s Employment in the 1990s:  A Case Study of Professional Women, "

Socialism and Democracy, Spring-Summer 2001

 Jesus Pastor Garcia Brigos, "People’s Power in the Organization of the Cuban Socialist State," Socialism and Democracy,

 Spring-Summer 2001

Lucy A. Williams, "Property, Wealth and Inequality through the Lens of Globalization: Lessons from the United States and Mexico,"   34 Indiana Law Review 1243, 2001.

Available at Bookstore and on Reserve:

            Required Readings will be Assigned from the Following:  

Lance Compa and Stephen Diamond, "Human Rights, Labor Rights and International Trade," University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996

(required purchase)

  Conaghan, Fischl and Klare, Labour Law in an Era of Globalization – Transformative Practices and Possibilities, Oxford University Press, 2002

(recommended purchase)

Debra Evenson, Law and Society in Contemporary Cuba, Second Edition, Kluwer Law International, 2003 (recommended purchase)  

Debra Evenson, " Workers in Cuba , Unions and Labor Relations," NLG/Maurice and Jane Sugar Law Center for Economic and Social Justice, 2002

(required purchase)  

International Labor Organization, Fundamental Rights at Work and International Labor Standards. (recommended purchase)                   

 Mander and Goldsmith, The Case Against the Global Economy, Sierra Club Books, 1996

(recommended purchase)

  National Lawyers Guild, Workers  International Labor Standards. (recommended purchase)                   

 Mander and Goldsmith, The Case Against the Global Economy, Sierra Club Books, 1996

(recommended purchase)  

National Lawyers Guild, Workers’ Rights in Cuba : Report of the United States Delegation to the 2002 Exchange Between U.S. and Cuban Labor and Employment Lawyers, Neutrals and Trade Unionists,  National Lawyers Guild, 2002 (also available online).

Beth Sims , Workers of the World Undermined, American Labor's Role in U.S. Foreign Policy, South End Press, 1992

(relevant excerpts available online)

                     Recommended Reading will be Assigned from the Following:

Fidel Castro, War, Racism and Economic Injustice, the Global Ravages of Capitalism

To be Handed out in Class:

  Required:

Bobby Byrd, “The Rules of Engagement, 1997,” from The Price of Doing Business in Mexico , Cinco Puntos Press, 1998.

Fidel Castro, "Trade Unions in a Workers’ State, in Fidel Castro Speeches: Vol. II, Our Power is that of the Working People, Building Socialism in Cuba," Pathfinder Press, 1983, pp. 260-279.

Eduardo Galeano, Open Veins of Latin America : Five Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent, Monthly Review Press, 1973,  Ch. 5, The Contemporary Structure of Plunder, and Part III: Seven Years After

Steven Greenhouse, “Demonstration Turns Violent at Trade Talks in Miami ,” New York Times, November 21, 2003

Dean Hubbard and Noah Zatz , United States Law Fails to Protect Economic Human Rights, 1998

Tamara Kay,  Labor Transnationalism and Global Governance: The Impact of NAFTA on Transnational Labor Relationships in North America

Mark Kurlansky, “Devaluation,” from The White Man in the Tree and Other Stories, Washington Square Press, 2000.

Stephen Lerner, Three Steps to Reorganizing and Rebuilding the Labor Movement  National Lawyers Guild, Report of the United States Delegation to the 2001 Meeting of Cuban and American Trade Union Lawyers,  National Lawyers Guild, 2002 (excerpts)

José Cantón Navarro, History of Cuba, La Habana: Editorial Si-Mar S.A., 1998 (excerpts)

Bruce Nissen, "Alliances Across the Border:  U.S. Labor in the Era of Globalization," Working  USA , May/June 1999

Wade Rathke, Majority Unionism, Strategies for Organizing the 21st Century Labor Movement           

Available Online:

            (See Topics and Chronology Below)

Films:

The Hidden Face of Globalization

Gay Cuba or Mariposas en el Andiamo:

Fidel

NOW with Bill Moyers, September 5, 2003

         Topics and Chronology

January 20, 2004

Group conference sign up

Film:   NOW with Bill Moyers (pieces on impact of “neoliberal” globalization on women workers in Thailand and Senegal )

January 22, 2004

            Introduction to Neoliberal Globalization and Transnational Solidarity.

What is the condition of the U.S. labor movement as it enters the 21st Century? 

In a climate of global economic integration, how does the labor movement rebuild?

As the nation focuses on protecting its “security” against perceived foreign threats, shouldn’t 

workers’ advocates focus internally as well?

Reading:

Lerner, Three Steps to Reorganizing and Rebuilding the Labor Movement

Refresh your memory of Rathke, Majority Unionism, Strategies for Organizing the 21st Century Labor Movement

Bacon, "National Security or International Solidarity," Working USA , Spring 2001

Nissen, "Alliances Across the Border:  U.S. Labor in the Era of Globalization," Working USA , May/June 1999

 “Neoliberal” Globalization.

What is it?

The history, function and human impact in the Americas of an integrated global market economy

January 27 and 29, 2004

Paper Due January 29.

From Mander and Goldsmith, The Case Against the Global Economy:

Ch. 2, David C. Korten, The Failures of Bretton Woods

Ch. 8, Nader and Wallach, GATT, NAFTA and the Subversion of the Democratic Process

Ch. 23, Goldsmith, Seeds of Exploitation:  Free Trade Zones in the Global Economy

Ch. 25, Bello , Structural Adjustment Programs:  “Success” for Whom?

 James K. Glassman and Kevin A. Hassett, Understanding the Role of the United States in a Global Economy,  http://www.aei.org/publications/filter.economic,pubID.19005/pub_detail.asp

Mark Kurlansky, “Devaluation,” from The White Man in the Tree and Other Stories.  

Bobby Byrd, “The Rules of Engagement, 1997,” from The Price of Doing Business in <st1:place w:st="on"> Mexico , Cinco Puntos Press, 1998.

Castro, War, Racism and Economic Injustice ,  Ch. 12, Globalization and Latin America

Moberg, Can Workers Tame Unrestrained Globalization?

Williams, Poverty, Wealth and Inequality

  ICFTU, Export Processing Zones-Symbols of Exploitation and a Development Dead End

  The U.S. Labor Movement in the World: Instrument of U.S. Foreign Policy or Force for Solidarity?

February 3 and 5, 2004

Readings:

Beth Sims , Workers of the World Undermined, American Labor's role in U.S. foreign policy,

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Labor/Workers_Undermined.html

Introduction

Joining Hands with Washington

Enlisting in the Reagan-Bush "Democracy" Offensive

Inside the AFL-CIO's International Program

 Institute_WOTWU.html

Institute Programs and Activities

Kim Scipes, It's Time to Come Clean:  Open the AFL-CIO Archives on International Labor

Operations, Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 25, No.2, Summer 2000,

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/gewerkschaft/scipes2.html

 Judi Ancel, On Building an International Solidarity Movement, Labor Studies Journal, Vol. 25, No.2, Summer 2000,

http://www.labournet.de/diskussion/gewerkschaft/ancel1.html

Hank Frundt, International Labor Solidarity: Has the AFL-CIO Turned Over a New Leaf in its Approach to Foreign Policy and Labor?

http://www.americas.org/News/Features/200307_JulyAugust/SolidarityCenter.htm

William Blum, Trojan Horse:  The National Endowment for Democracy, in Rogue State : A Guide to the World's Only Superpower.

USAID/Cuba Program,

 http://www.usaid.gov/regions/lac/cu/upd-cub.htm

Alec Dubro, Otto Reich’s Dirty Laundry,

 http://www.fpif.org/pdf/gac/0104reich.pdf

Recommended:

Kim Scipes, Building International Labor Solidarity -- Escalating the Struggle within the AFL-CIO,  

http://www.zmag.org/intlsol.htm

        The Impact of the Cuban Revolution and the “Special Period” on Cuba ’s Political Economy.

February 10 and 12, 2004

Reading:

Navarro, History of Cuba (excerpts)

Fidel Castro, Second Declaration of Havana (excerpts)                                                                                              

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1962castro.html

Ernesto “Che” Guevara, Man and Socialism in Cuba (excerpts)                                                                       

http://www.marxists.org/archive/guevara/1965/03/man-socialism.htm

Debra Evenson, Law and Society in Contemporary Cuba, Second Edition, Ch. 1, Sec. IV - Socialist Legality, pp. 10-14;

Ch. 2, Democracy and Rights, pp. 15-43; Ch. 3, Judiciary, pp. 58-64, 83-85, 93-95;

Ch. 5, Law and Equality, pp. 96-117, 120-132 [race and gender]; Ch. 6, Family, pp. 137-139;

Ch. 7, Homosexuality, pp. 186-188; Prisons, pp. 198-203; Ch. 8, Property, pp. 205-207; Ch. 9, Economic Regulation, 235-244; Conclusion

 Miren Uriarte, Cuba Social Policy at the Crossroads: Maintaining Priorities, Transforming Practice,

http://www.oxfamamerica.org/pdfs/social_policy.pdf

   Recommended:

From Socialism and Democracy, Spring-Summer 2001:

Introduction to Section II: Government,

Pedro Monreal,

Cuba in the 1990s:  Economics, Politics and Society; and Cuba : The Challenges of Being Global and Socialist...At the Same Time

Marta Nuñuz Sarmineto, Cuban Strategies for Women

Jesus Pastor Garcia Brigos, People’s Power in the Organization of the <st1:place w:st="on"> Cuban Socialist State

Film:   Gay Cuba or Mariposas en el Andiamo

February 17

Guest Lecture on Cuba : Dr. Matilde Zimmermann.  Prof. Zimmermann is an expert in Latin American history, particularly Nicaraguan and Cuban revolutions.  She is the author of Sandinista: Carlos Fonseca and the Nicaraguan Revolution.  She just returned from a semester as Resident Director of the SLC Cuba Program.

E.         Workers’ Rights in Cuba

February 19, 2004.    Conference Project Annotated Detailed Outline Due.

Reading (in the following order):

Castro, Fidel, Trade Unions in a Workers’ State, pp. 260-279.

National Lawyers Guild, Report of the United States Delegation to the 2001 Meeting (hereafter “NLG 2001"),

Part 1: Political and Economic Context, pp. 2-4

Evenson, Workers in Cuba (hereafter “Evenson”), Background, pp. 1-8.

National Lawyers Guild, Workers’ Rights in Cuba : Report of the United States Delegation to the 2002 Exchange (hereafter “NLG 2002"),

Section A.1, Worker and Union Participation in Decisionmaking, pp. 4-7; Dual Economy has Led to Inequality, pp. 13-14.

Evenson, Trade Unions in Cuba , pp. 9-13.

NLG 2002, Labor-Management Cooperation, pp. 7-12; Election to Political Office, Role of Communist Party in the Workplace, pp. 22-27.

Evenson, The Role of Unions in the Workplace, pp. 13-21; Training, pp. 25-26.

NLG 2002, Union Structure, Membership and Training, pp. 14-17.

Evenson, The CTC Congress, pp. 21-25.

NLG 2001, Appendix, XVIII Congress of the CTC, pp. I-iv.

February 24 and 26

Reading (in the following order):

Evenson,

Labor Bar in Cuba, pp. 26-28; Employment and Hiring Policies, pp. 29-44; Salaries, pp. 45-52; Social Security and Benefits, pp. 74-79.

NLG 2002, Making it on $20 per Month, pp. 17-21; Family and Child Care Leave, pp. 21-22.

Evenson, Collective Bargaining, pp. 53-61.

NLG 2002, Collective Bargaining, pp. 12-13.

Evenson, Grievance Procedures, pp. 62-73; Foreign Investment, pp. 80-92.

U.S.Department of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 2002 <st1:country-region w:st="on"> Cuba ,

Section 5, Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Disability, Section 6, Worker Rights,

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2002/18327.htm

February 26:                Film: Fidel 

 F.         Economic Human Rights / International Workers’ Rights

What are they?

Do they really exist?

Can they be enforced?

March 4 – Paper Due

March 2 and 4

 Readings:

 The International Labor Organization

About the ILO:

 http://www.ilo.org/public/english/about/index.htm

Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work: 

Background:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/decl/declaration/background/tindex.htm

            Text of Declaration:

Follow Up:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/decl/declaration/followup/tindex.htm

International Labor Organization, Fundamental Rights at Work and

International Labor Standards (excerpts)

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (excerpts)

http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (excerpts)

http://www.unhcr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm

Hubbard and Zatz , "United States Law Fails to Protect Economic Human Rights" Human Rights Watch, Unfair Advantage (excerpts)

 http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/uslabor

March 9 and 11

 Reading:

Compa and Diamond, Human Rights, Labor Rights and International Trade

(following chapters):

Ch. 1, Montgomery , Labor Rights and Human Rights: A Historical Perspective

Ch. 4, Alston, Labor Rights Provisions in U.S. Trade Law: “Aggressive Unilateralism”?

Ch. 7, Gadbaw and Medwig, Multinational Enterprises and International Labor Standards: Which Way for Development and Jobs?

 Lewis, Transnational Human Rights

Recommended:

Castro, War, Racism and Economic Injustice , Ch. 5, Riverside Church ,  Harlem , September 2000

Compa and Diamond, Human Rights, Labor Rights and International Trade

Ch. 6, Green, At the Junction of the Global and the Local: Transnational Industry and

            Women Workers in the Caribbean

March 14-24: Class Trip to Cuba/Dominican Republic

      Workers’ Advocates Respond to Neoliberal Globalization

March 30:       Debrief and follow up to Cuba/DR trip.

Competing Visions:

Free Trade vs. Economic Human Rights

Grass roots struggle for social transformation vs.

negotiation of social clauses in trade agreements

April 2:

Readings:

The World Trade Organization,

The Free Trade Area of the Americas ,

http://www.ftaa-alca.org/View_e.asp

http://www.ftaa-alca.org/FTAADraft03/ChapterII_e.asp

1.  Strategies for Workers’ Rights and Social Transformation in the Americas : Social Movements, Litigation, Social Clauses, Cross-Border Organizing

Meyer, International Standards in the WTO’s “New World Order”:  Towards “Development-Based” Standard Setting

 Recommended:

Foreign Policy in Focus,  WTO in Focus:  Trade & Labor at WTO

http://www.fpif.org/wto/labor_body.html

Steve Stallone and Tom Price, Empty Cans, Empty Lives, the WTO’s Impact on Labor

 http://www.balkanunity.org/usa/english/cans.htm

a)  World Social Forum and Hemispheric Social Alliance Build a Movement for Alternatives to Neoliberal Globalization; 

International Labor Rights Fund and Others Rely on Litigation, Lobbying

April 6

a)  World Social Forum and Hemispheric Social Alliance Build a Movement for Alternatives to Neoliberal Globalization;

 International Labor Rights Fund and Others Rely on Litigation, Lobbying

April 6 –  Conference Project Rough Draft Due

April 6, 8:

Reading:

World Social Forum 2004,

World Social Forum Charter of Principles,

http://www.wsfindia.org/charter.php

 The Hemispheric Social Alliance ,

http://www.art-us.org/HSA.html

Hemispheric Social Alliance , Alternatives for the Americas , Chs. 1-3 and Ch. 8, Labor

http://www.asc-hsa.org/pdf/Alternativas%20ene%202003%20english.pdf or go to

 http://www.art-us.org/HSA.html

and click on

docs/alternatives%20dec%202002.pdf

Alternatives for the Americas

Hemispheric Social Alliance , Competing Visions for the Hemisphere, the Official FTAA Draft versus Alternatives for the Americas ,   

http://www.art-us.org/docs/ftaa%20chart20%eng.pdf

  or go to

  -us.org/

http://www.art-us.org/

 and click on article title.

Steven Greenhouse, “Demonstration Turns Violent at Trade Talks in Miami ,” New York Times, November 21, 2003

Collingsworth, Terry, The Alien Tort Claims Act - A Vital Tool  for Preventing Corporations from Violating Fundamental Human Rights, go to

http://www.laborrights.org

 , click on article title.

Compa and Diamond , Ch. 13, Yozell, The Castro Alfaro Case: Convenience and Justice: Lessons for Lawyers in Transcultural Litigation.

Optional:

http://www.asc-hsa.org/estrategia_La_habana.htm#ingles

International Labor Rights Fund, Written Testimony Regarding the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), 

http://www.laborrights.org/publications/CAFTA_testimony.pdf

            b)         Cross-Border Organizing

April 13, 15

Reading:

Tamara Kay, Labor Transnationalism and Global Governance: The Impact of NAFTA on Transnational Labor Relationships in North America

Teresa Carillo, PhD, Cross-Border Talk: Transnational Perspectives on Labor, Race and Sexuality.

http://online.sfsu.edu/~jdrew/web/crossborder.html

UE, Sister Shops – Building solidarity in the Global Economy:

http://ww.ranknfile-ue.org/uen_sshopsolidarity.html 

David Gonzalez, "Latin Sweatshops Pressed by U.S. Campus Power," New York Times, April 4, 2003

             2.   Social Clauses vs. Social Movements; Building Transnational Solidarity

April 20, 22

 Reading:

Pharis J. Harvey, Terry Collingsworth, Bama Athreya, Developing Effective Mechanisms for  Implementing Labor Rights in the Global Economy:  A Plan of Action for Including a Social Clause in U.S. Trade Policy,

http://www.laborrights.org

Bacon, "Will a Social Clause in Trade Agreements Advance International Solidarity?", Z Magazine, January 2000.  Go to

http://zena.secureforum.com/znet/zmag/zmag.cfm

Fletcher, "May Day:  Making Internationalism a Reality," web posting, 2000

http://www.hartford-hwp.com/archives/26/131.html

Neil Harvey, The Chiapas Rebellion: The Struggle for Land and Democracy, Chapter 1 and Conclusion

Arundhati Roy,  ConfrontingEmpire, 

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=51&ItemID=2919

H.        The Future:  The Role of the Law, the Role of Organizing

April 27

Neil Harvey, The Chiapas Rebellion: The Struggle for Land and Democracy, Chapter 1 and Conclusion

Arundhati Roy,  Confronting Empire

H.        The Future:  The Role of the Law, the Role of Organizing

April 27 – Class Paper Due

April 27, 29

Reading:

Brecher and Costello,  Globalization from Below (selected chapters to be assigned)

Conaghan, Fischl and Klare, Labour Law in an Era of Globalization, the following chapters:

Chapter 1, Klare, Horizons of Transformative Labor Law

Ch. 19, Atleson, Voyage of the Neptune Jade

Compa and Diamond , Ch. 12, Deale, The Pico Case: Testing International Labor Rights in U.S. Courts

International Commission for Labour Rights,

http://www.labourcommission.org/history.html

Recommended:

Conaghan, Fischl and Klare, following chapters:

Ch. 21, "Ontiveros, A New Course for Labor Unions: Identity-Based Organizing as a Response to Globalization"

Ch. 22, "Selmi and McUsic, Difference and Solidarity: Unions in a Post-Modern Age"

May 4, 6 -       Final Conference Projects Due

                        Conference Project Presentations

Recommended:

Conaghan, Fischl and Klare, following chapters:

Ch. 21, Ontiveros, A New Course for Labor Unions: Identity-Based Organizing as a Response to Globalization

Ch. 22, Selmi and McUsic, Difference and Solidarity: Unions in a Post-Modern Age