Preamble
·
Whereas
recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of
all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace
in the world,
·
Whereas
disregard and contempt for the rights of the working class have resulted in
barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of
a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and
freedom from fear and want of employment has been proclaimed as the highest
aspiration of the common people,
·
Whereas
it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last
resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that the rights of the
working class should be protected by the rule of law,
·
Whereas
the peoples of the world have reaffirmed their faith in fundamental worker’s
rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of
men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better
standards of life in larger freedom,
·
Now,
Therefore the Communist International proclaims this CONVENTION OF THE RIGHTS
OF THE WORKING CLASS as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and
all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping
this Convention constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to
promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures,
national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition
and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among
the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.
·
The
Communist International also rejects completely capitalism and everything it stands
for. We reject the idea of private property, greed and ‘free’ markets. We call
on the workers of the world to rise up, throw off their chains and seize the
means of production from the capitalist class, and use these means for the
betterment of all men and women, not just the few.
The
Convention on the Rights of the Working Class
The States Parties to the this
Convention,
Recall;
Article 23 of the UN Universal
Declaration of Human Rights
1.
Everyone
has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable
conditions of work and to protection against unemployment.
2.
Everyone,
without any discrimination, has the right to equal pay for equal work.
3.
Everyone
who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for
himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented,
if necessary, by other means of social protection.
4.
Everyone
has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his
interests.
Recall;
Article 2 of the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work
(1998)
1.
freedom
of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective
bargaining;
2.
The
elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour;
3.
The
effective abolition of child labour; and
4.
The
elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
Recall;
Article 11(1 &2) of the
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women
1. States Parties shall take all
appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the field of
employment in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, the
same rights, in particular:
A.
The
right to work as an inalienable right of all human beings;
B.
The
right to the same employment opportunities, including the application of the
same criteria for selection in matters of employment;
C.
The
right to free choice of profession and employment, the right to promotion, job
security and all benefits and conditions of service and the right to receive
vocational training and retraining, including apprenticeships, advanced
vocational training and recurrent training;
D.
The
right to equal remuneration, including benefits, and to equal treatment in
respect of work of equal value, as well as equality of treatment in the
evaluation of the quality of work;
E.
The
right to social security, particularly in cases of retirement, unemployment,
sickness, invalidity and old age and other incapacity to work, as well as the
right to paid leave;
F.
The
right to protection of health and to safety in working conditions, including
the safeguarding of the function of reproduction.
2. In order to prevent
discrimination against women on the grounds of marriage or maternity and to
ensure their effective right to work, States Parties shall take appropriate
measures:
A.
To
prohibit, subject to the imposition of sanctions, dismissal on the grounds of
pregnancy or of maternity leave and discrimination in dismissals on the basis
of marital status;
B.
To
introduce maternity leave with pay or with comparable social benefits without
loss of former employment, seniority or social allowances;
C.
To
encourage the provision of the necessary supporting social services to enable
parents to combine family obligations with work responsibilities and
participation in public life, in particular through promoting the establishment
and development of a network of child-care facilities;
D.
To
provide special protection to women during pregnancy in types of work proved to
be harmful to them.
Recall;
Article 7 and 8 of the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and Members of Their Families
Article 7
States Parties
undertake, in accordance with the international instruments concerning human
rights, to respect and to ensure to all migrant workers and members of their
families within their territory or subject to their jurisdiction the rights
provided for in the present Convention without distinction of any kind such as
to sex, race, colour, language, religion or conviction, political or other
opinion, national, ethnic or social origin, nationality, age, economic
position, property, marital status, birth or other status.
Article 8
1.
Migrant
workers and members of their families shall be free to leave any State,
including their State of origin. This right shall not be subject to any
restrictions except those that are provided by law, are necessary to protect national
security, public order, public health or morals or the rights and freedoms of
others and are consistent with the other rights recognized in the present part
of the Convention.
2.
Migrant
workers and members of their families shall have the right at any time to enter
and remain in their State of origin.
Convinced, therefore, of the need
to bring about the international protection of the rights of all of the workers
of the world and members of their families, reaffirming and establishing basic
norms in a comprehensive convention which could be applied to a socialist
world, for it is only a socialist world based on equality of all human beings
that the potential of humanity can be achieved,
This convention sets forth the
following provisions;
Article 1
Everyone is entitled
to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Convention, without distinction
of any kind, such as class, race, ethnicity, colour, sex, gender, language,
religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property,
birth or other discriminatory factor or status. Furthermore, no distinction
shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international
status of the country or territory to which a person belongs.
Article 2
1.
The
right to full education is a fundamental right for the betterment of the
individual, their society and the world. Therefore, every person enjoys the
right to full and free state funded education, from primary all the way to
Ph.D. level if that person so chooses. Every person shall be free to return to
education at any time in their life to re-educate and re-skill for new employment
opportunities.
2.
Every
person will receive full state support and funding for each and every period of
education in that person’s life.
Article 3
1.
Every
person enjoys the
right to work and the right to employment as an inalienable right of all human
beings and shall be free from any form of unemployment with the exception of
times of illness, re-education, re-training or maternity leave.
2.
Every
person enjoys the right to be free from all forms of forced or compulsory
labour. Each person shall be employed in an occupation that is in accordance
with their skills and aspirations, except where certain employment endangers
the rights of others.
3.
Every
worker shall enjoy the right to freedom of movement for themselves and their
families, and be subject to no restrictions on that movement. Every person
shall enjoy the full economic, social and cultural rights that they would enjoy
in their home state.
Article 4
Every person is to
enjoy the right to a maximum working week of thirty hours. No person shall be
compelled or forced to work more hours than this limit, except for personal
choice or in times or national emergencies and for the good of all society.
Article 5
1.
Every
person shall have a right to decent pay for the employment that they engage in.
This pay shall be reviewed annually to ensure that a decent standard of living,
in line with the norms of a particular society is ensured for every person.
2.
Every
person shall enjoy safe and secure working conditions, and shall be free from
any form of danger or injury whilst in their place of employment.
Article 6
1.
Every
person as a birth right shall enjoy the right to fully state funded childcare
as a child. This provision shall allow every parent the right to enter the
workforce or education should they wish to do so.
2.
If
a person wishes to not enter the workforce and instead raise their child or children,
that person will be entitled to maternity leave from employment until a child
reaches primary school going age.
Article 7
Every person shall
enjoy fully state funded essential healthcare from birth until death.
Article 8
1.
Every
person shall enjoy the fruits of their labour and shall never be alienated from
and unable to afford the goods that they produce.
2.
Every
person shall enjoy the right to leisure time and a minimum of four weeks
holidays per year.
Article 9
1.
Every
person shall enjoy the right to retire from employment and enjoy a full yearly
state pension that is equal to their yearly employment salary at the age of
sixty.
2.
A
person shall enjoy the right to continue to work after sixty years of age as
long as they are fit and able and the employment is of their choosing.
Article 10
No person has the
right to privately accumulate wealth that has been produced by the labour of
other workers of the world. Any person found to be privately profiting from the
toil of others shall be liable for prosecution in line with the laws of that person’s
society and the laws of the International Criminal Court.
Justification
for the Convention on the Rights of the Working Class
The Convention on the rights of
the Working Class (CRWC) in a revolutionary document and ground-breaking in the
field of human rights. The convention takes into account the previous treaties,
declarations and conventions on the rights of workers and the human rights of
all peoples and seeks to extend and build upon them. The convention is an
aspirational document that seeks to address the centuries old problems of
inequality, poverty and discrimination involving all peoples of the world. Each
of the problems mentioned are all problems that stem from the economic system
that permeates in our world today. That economic system is capitalism. It is a
system that has enriched a minority of the world’s population at the expense of
the majority. It is a system that has produced war, poverty, inequality,
environmental degradation and endless suffering for billions of human beings. In
order for true human rights, and in turn worker’s rights, minority rights,
children’s rights and the rights of all to be achieved, the economic system of
capitalism must be eradicated. This convention, with the provision of
fundamental rights to education, employment, leisure time and healthcare sets
forth the means for the realisation of a world in which true equality for all
can be achieved.
In order for this convention to
become a reality, successive socialist revolutions by the workers of the world
are necessary. The convention is one of aspiration, like all previous human
rights instruments. The working class, the majority of people in the world,
have long suffered through being forced to sell their labour in order to
survive. The nature of the capitalist system has forced them into this
exploitative relationship. However just because reality suggests that a
socialist world is not likely in the short term, that should not restrict our
aspirations for a world in which there
is equality of all human beings, based on an economic system that values all
and not the few. This convention sets out the basis on how such a world can be
achieved.
The current system of United
Nations, enshrined in the charter, various conventions, declarations and
protocols sets out a number of aspirational worker’s rights, human rights and
rights for various minority and discriminated groups. All however fail to
address the underlying reasons for the problems they seek to solve. The
Convention on the Rights of the Working Class seeks to address the underlying
cause of those problems. In designing this convention various rights
instruments were consulted. Four of these instruments provided the building
blocks for the Convention on the Rights of the Working class (CRWC). These were
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ILO Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms
of Discrimination against Women and International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.
The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights (1948) was and is a visionary document. In looking for a template
for a rights document there is no better starting point. The preamble for the
UNDHR, with some minor alterations provided the basis for the preamble to the
Convention on the Rights of the Working Class. In particular, Article 23 sets
forth some comprehensive rights in relation to employment[1]. The article however falls just short of the
necessary right of employment. The reason for this is that the drafters of the
UNDHR document knew that the right to employment could not and never can, be
guaranteed under the capitalist system. Therefore the UNDHR had to limit its
rights in full knowledge that the ‘right to work’ and to ‘free choice of
employment’[2]
could never realistically be achieved. The CRWC builds upon the provisions of
Article 23 by providing the right to employment for all. This is set out in Article
3.1 of the CRWC which provides all with the ‘right to work and the right to
employment as an inalienable right of all human beings’. Of course, the Convention accepts that this
can only be achieved under a socialist system and not under capitalism.
The ILO Declaration on
Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998) also builds upon the rights
set out in the UNDHR. In particular, Article 2.2 which sets out ‘the elimination
of all forms of forced or compulsory labour’[3]
provided the inspiration for Article 3.2 of the CRWC ‘every person enjoys the
right to be free from all forms of forced or compulsory labour’. So, while
every person has the right to employment, that employment must be of the
choosing of the person once they have been provided with the education and
training to engage in that employment. This is set out in Article 2.1 and 2.2
of the CRWC.
The Convention on the Elimination
of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (1979) was also consulted to
ensure that traditional forms of discrimination against women that are systemic
to capitalism would not be repeated in the CRWC. In particular, Article 11.2
(A, B & C) which provide for maternity leave with pay, social benefits and
childcare[4]
provided the inspiration for Article 6.1 and 6.2 of the CRWC. These provisions
set out a revolutionary system whereby if a person wants to enter the
workforce, they will be provided with state funded childcare for their children
who are under primary school age. It also provides the option for people to
choose to provide that childcare to their children themselves and be funded by
the state to do it.
The final convention that was
consulted was ‘the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of
All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families’ (1990). In particular,
Articles 7 and 8 set out the rights of non-discrimination and freedom of movement[5].
This provided the basis for Article 1 and Article 3.3 of the CRWC which provide
for non-discrimination of workers and the right to freedom of movement without
the loss of national rights.
Each of these four instruments
set out lofty ideals and rights that are admirable. However, the rights that
they set out can never be fully achieved under the capitalist system. This is
what must be recognised so that we can move on to a system whereby true
equality and human rights can be realised. The CRWC sets out the basis for that
system.
One author that takes a similar
approach in relation to the right to healthcare in an age of neoliberal
globalisation, but does not go as far as calling for an overthrow of capitalism
and the right to employment for all is Paul O’Connell[6].
In his excellent work he highlights that although the right to health is
recognised in international human rights law, the nature of capitalism,
neo-liberalism and ‘market solutions’ deem this right as unworkable.
O’Connell’s mode of analysis takes a similar approach to the one that I have
set out, but does not go as far. His analysis recognises the limitations of the
human right to healthcare within a system of capitalism that refuses to provide
a basis for those rights to be realised. As he notes, human rights and the idea
of collective welfare over individual or private interests as “values are
complete anathema to the logic of neo-liberalism, consequently a commitment to
the former raises serious questions about the extent to which it can be pursued
in the context of market hegemony[7]”.
This line of argument can be just as easily applied to the logic of worker’s
rights. Unfortunately O’Connell seems to be one of the lone figures in the
field of human rights academia who challenges the existing social order and
points out how capitalism and certain human rights are incompatible with each
other.
In conclusion, the CRWC is a
visionary document that does not accept the limitations that are imposed upon
the idea of human rights by the economic system of capitalism. For many
centuries the working class have suffered at the hands of capitalism through
being forced to sell their labour to support themselves and their families,
whilst the capitalist class become wealthier from the fruits of the working
class’ labour. In a system that is based on exploitation of a certain group,
the working class, it will always be impossible to achieve a true realisation
of equality and full human rights. It is inadequate to argue for the
realisation of human rights without questioning the economic system that
creates the abuses of those rights in the first place. While the rights of
workers have to some degree been set out and protected in theory, in practice
those rights could never fully be realised. What the CRWC sets out is a rights
instrument that would require the eradication of an inequitable economic
system, but would then provide for the most fundamental of human rights. The
right to a fully free education, the right to a job as a means of supporting
oneself and one’s family, the right to free healthcare, the right to leisure
time, the right to non-discrimination, the right to early retirement and the
right to true equality between all peoples in a socialist world. All of the
rights contained within the CWRC are aspirational, but are achievable when the
break with the capitalist market system is complete.
Bibliography:
Nations, United. “International Convention on the Protection
of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families.” 1990.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/law/cmw.htm (accessed March 27, 2012).
—. “The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Discrimination against Women.” 1979. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm#article11
(accessed March 26, 2012).
—. “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” United
Nations Web site. 1948. http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/index.shtml#a23
(accessed March 25, 2012).
O'Connell, P. “The Human Right to Health in an Age of
Market Hegemony.” 2010.
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1568383 (accessed March 25,
2012).
Organisation, International Labour. “ILO Declaration
on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.” 1998.
http://www.ilo.org/declaration/thedeclaration/textdeclaration/lang--en/index.htm
(accessed March 26, 2012).
[1]
Article 23, The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
[2]
Article 23.1, The United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, 1948
[3]
Article 2.2, ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work, 1998
[4]
Article 11.2, The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, 1979
[5]
Articles 7 & 8, International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of
All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, 1990
[6]
O’Connell, P. ‘THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH IN AN AGE OF MARKET HEGEMONY’, 2010
[7]
O’Connell, P ‘THE HUMAN RIGHT TO HEALTH IN AN AGE OF MARKET, P.19, 2010
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