No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Federal Governments and International Labor Agreements
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 August 2014
Extract
The International Labor Organization has become one of the most active of all the international institutions of the post-war period. According to the treaty of Versailles, international labor conferences, composed of delegates from countries which are members of the International Labor Organization, are to meet annually to consider and adopt recommendations and conventions applicable to labor problems and conditions throughout the world. The subjects for a number of possible agreements are suggested in the Versailles treaty, and include the right of association of laborers, the establishment of the eight-hour day, the adoption of the weekly rest period, the abolition of child labor, and various related matters. In drafting conventions and recommendations, the conferences are to be guided by a number of principles laid down in the Versailles treaty, and are asked to recognize that “differences of climate, habit and customs, of economic opportunity and industrial tradition, make strict uniformity in the conditions of labor difficult of immediate attainment.”
Economic difficulties alone were recognized, at first, by the makers of the treaty of Versailles as standing in the way of the attainment of “strict uniformity in the conditions of labor.” It was, however, soon brought to the attention of the Peace Conference that governments might not all prove equally competent constitutionally to deal with labor problems, and that some might prove totally lacking in legal capacity to adhere to the proposed labor conventions. This legal limitation was felt to be especially likely to arise in the case of federal governments, in many of which all matters of labor legislation are reserved to the member-states, and hence are beyond the legislative powers of the central governments. It was predicted by some that these legal difficulties would prove more stubborn obstacles to the uniform regulation of labor matters than differences in climate, habits and customs, and economic opportunity.
- Type
- International Affairs
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © American Political Science Association 1931
References
1 Treaty of Versailles, Art. 427.
2 Hetherington, , International Labor Legislation (1920), p. 35Google Scholar.
3 Treaty of Versailles, Art. 405.
4 See the tables in the Report of the Director of the International Labor Office (1930), pp. 99–132Google Scholar.
5 Treaty of Versailles, Art. 405.
6 At the invitation of the government of the United States, the first of the international labor conferences was held in Washington in 1919. Although the Secretary of Labor was elected chairman of the conference, he acted in that capacity as aprivate individual. The United States was not represented officially.
7 Adkins v. Children's Hospital, 261 U.S. 525.
8 Chamberlain, , in Procs. Amer. Acad. Pol. Sci., VIII, 90–99 (1919)Google Scholar; Parkinson, , in Amer. Labor Leg. Rev., IX, 21–32 (1919)Google Scholar; Borchard, , in Yale Law Jour., XXIX, 449Google Scholar; Mikell, , in Penn. Law Rev., LVII, 435Google Scholar; Willoughby, , Constitutional Law in the United States (2nd ed.), I, 518Google Scholar.
9 Calderón, , Manuel de la Constituoión Argentine, p. 519Google Scholar.
10 Gonzáles, , Manuel de la Constitución Argentine, p. 413Google Scholar.
11 Proceedings of the First International Conference of theAmerican States (1889), p. 923Google Scholar.
12 Report of the Director of the International Labor Office (1921), p. 29Google Scholar.
13 Ibid. (1921), pp. 91-103.
14 Constitution of Brazil, Art. 34.
15 Report of the Director (1930), pp. 99–133Google Scholar.
16 Ibid. (1924), p. 145.
17 Barbalho, , Constituicao Commentarios (2nd ed., 1924), p. 149 ff.Google Scholar
18 James, , The Constitutional System of Brazil, p. 109Google Scholar, gives a brief discussion of the states in Brazil.
19 Report of the Director (1924), p. 156Google Scholar.
20 British North America Act, Sec. 132.
21 Keith, , Responsible Government in the Dominions, XI, 1122Google Scholar.
22 Lefroy, , Constitutional Law of Canada (1918), p. 174Google Scholar.
23 Report of the Director (1921), p. 87Google Scholar.
24 Ibid. (1930), p. 132.
25 Canadian Annual Review (1925–1926), pp. 287–288Google Scholar.
26 Report of the Director (1925), p. 314Google Scholar.
27 Ibid. (1924), p. 243.
28 Constitution of Australia, Art. 51, sec. 9.
29 Moore, , The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia, p. 489Google Scholar; Quick, and Garran, , The Constitution of Australia, p. 362Google Scholar; Keith, , The Constitution, Administration, and Laws of the Empire, p. 229Google Scholar.
30 Report of the Director (1925), p. 246Google Scholar.
31 Ibid. (1930), pp. 99-132.
32 Triepel, , Völkerrecht und Landesrecht, p.357Google Scholar; Blumer, , Schweizerisches Bundesstaatsrechtes, pp. 228–233Google Scholar; Fleiner, , Schweizerischtes Bundesstaatsrechtes, p. 55 ff.Google Scholar
33 Report of the Director (1924), p. 197Google Scholar.
34 Ibid.(1924), pp. 241, 252.
35 Ibid. (1930), p. 132.
36 Oppenheimer, , The Constitution of the German Republic, p. 21 ff.Google Scholar
37 Constitution of Germany, Art. 9, sec. 1.
38 Ibid., Arts. 45, 78.
39 Report of the Director (1930), p. 131Google Scholar.
Comments
No Comments have been published for this article.