The right to work is the concept that people have a
human right to work, or engage in productive
employment
Employment is a relationship between two parties regulating the provision of paid labour services. Usually based on a contract, one party, the employer, which might be a corporation, a not-for-profit organization, a co-operative, or any o ...
, and should not be prevented from doing so. The right to work is enshrined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...
and recognized in
international human rights law
International human rights law (IHRL) is the body of international law designed to promote human rights on social, regional, and domestic levels. As a form of international law, international human rights law are primarily made up of treaties, a ...
through its inclusion in the
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, where the right to work emphasizes economic, social and cultural development. Right to work was also enshrined as a fundamental right of the citizen in the constitution of the Soviet Union.
The Human Rights Measurement Initiative measures the right to work for countries around the world, based on their level of income.
Definition
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states in Article 23.1:
The
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states in Part III, Article 6:
The
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights also recognises the right, emphasising conditions and pay, i.e.
labor rights
Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights infl ...
. Article 15, states:
History
The phrase "the right to work" was coined by the French
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
leader
Louis Blanc in light of the social turmoil of the early 19th century and rising unemployment in the wake of the 1846 financial crisis which led up to the
French Revolution of 1848
The French Revolution of 1848 (french: Révolution française de 1848), also known as the February Revolution (), was a brief period of civil unrest in France, in February 1848, that led to the collapse of the July Monarchy and the foundatio ...
. The
right to property
The right to property, or the right to own property (cf. ownership) is often classified as a human right for natural persons regarding their possessions. A general recognition of a right to private property is found more rarely and is typicall ...
was a crucial demand in early quests for political freedom and equality, and against
feudal
Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was the combination of the legal, economic, military, cultural and political customs that flourished in medieval Europe between the 9th and 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of structur ...
control of property. Property can serve as the basis for the entitlements that ensure the realisation of the
right to an adequate standard of living
The right to an adequate standard of living is a fundamental human right. It is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was accepted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 10, 1948.United Nations''Universal Decla ...
and it was only property owners which were initially granted
civil and political rights
Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life ...
, such as the
right to vote
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...
. Because not everybody is a property owner, the right to work was enshrined to allow everybody to attain an adequate standard of living. Today discrimination on the basis of property ownership is recognised as a serious threat to the equal enjoyment of human rights by all and non-discrimination clauses in
international human rights instruments frequently include property as a ground on the basis of which discrimination is prohibited (see the
right to equality before the law).
Criticism
''
The Right to Be Lazy'' (1883) by
Paul Lafargue, a French
Marxist
Marxism is a left-wing to far-left method of socioeconomic analysis that uses a materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to understand class relations and social conflict and a dialecti ...
, criticized the concept of a right to work. He wrote: "And to think that the sons of the heroes of
the Terror have allowed themselves to be degraded by the religion of work, to the point of accepting, since 1848, as a revolutionary conquest, the law limiting factory labor to twelve hours. They proclaim as a revolutionary principle the Right to Work. Shame to the French proletariat! Only slaves would have been capable of such baseness."
[Paul Lafargue ]
The Right To Be Lazy
', Chapter II, 2nd paragraph
See also
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Right To Work
Human rights by issue
Labor rights