Unacceptable Forms of Work: A global and comparative study

Organization(s): ILO
Author: Deirdre McCann, Judy Fudge
Year: 2015
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Unacceptable forms of work (UFW) have been identified by the International Labour Organization as work in conditions that deny fundamental principles and rights at work, put at risk the lives, health, freedom, human dignity and security of workers or keep households in conditions of poverty.

This study contends that to fully realize the potential of the concept of UFW it is essential to engage with academic and policy discourses that pursue similar objectives. A range of policy and academic work – drawing on diverse concepts and methodologies – considers how to identify and eliminate forms of work that are unacceptable. The study assesses the most significant of these discourses as a basis for developing a meaningful model of UFW. The report takes as the central purpose of identifying UFW to devise targeted social and economic policies that aim to eliminate or transform jobs that are entirely unacceptable.

 

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