Abstract:
Globalisation and the increasing movement of capital and labour across
international borders, with the exception of migrant workers who are facing
major obstacles due to immigration laws, are creating a situation where laws
in general and labour laws in particular are acquiring an international character.
International bodies such as the United Nations, the International Labour
Organisation and the European Union have adopted various international norms
and standards to which most countries have agreed and which have established
minimum international standards for basic universal human rights and worker
rights. The Southern African Development Community is a transnational
organisation that has also adopted certain basic norms and standards in its
Treaty, Charter on Fundamental Social Rights and various protocols that are
applicable to all citizens within the Community. In this contribution, the concept
of transnational labour relations is considered. The different international
approaches towards transnational labour relations are evaluated, as is the
manner in which the European Union approached the integration of regional
labour standards. The author seeks to establish what the Southern African
Development Community can learn from the European Union’s experience and
in what way a transnational labour relations system or regional labour standards
regime for the Southern African Development Community can be established.
