Engaging Workers and Civil Society to Strengthen Labor Law Enforcement

Government efforts to ensure that workplaces adhere to relevant labor laws and labor standards can be significantly strengthened by the active involvement of workers to identify violations of labor laws and initiate complaints.  Labor inspectorates often lack sufficient resources to comprehensively inspect all work establishments on a timely basis and also may lack the specialized knowledge of industry-specific structures and strategies (e.g., how subcontracting agreements work) necessary to conduct thorough and effective inspections.  Workers and CSOs can help to fill these gaps by proactively identifying potential labor violations and filing justiciable complaints with the appropriate authorities, regardless of a labor inspectorate’s schedule or available resources.  Workers often have the most information about violations and can play a vital role in effective enforcement in situations where there are too many worksites or where the worksites are too diverse for the government to fully monitor compliance.  This project works in U.S. trade partner countries that have identified labor law enforcement challenges to help support civil society organizations in playing an active role in labor law enforcement, increasing rule of law, improving compliance with labor-related trade obligations to the U.S.