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This chapter reviews the literature surrounding the concept of decent work, beginning in 1999 with the International Labour Organization's (ILO's) decision to adopt the term as its primary goal, bringing together ‘four strategic objectives: the promotion of rights at work; employment; social protection; and social dialogue’ (Somavia, 1999, p. 6). Historical perspectives contrast decent work with ‘dignified work’, championed by more radical voices (Spooner & Waterman, 2015; Standing, 2008), but remind us that the organization's capacity to advance a radical agenda has always been constrained by its tripartite nature (Moore, Dannreuther, & Mollmann, 2015). Whilst some have critiqued decent work as lacking methodological precision (Burchell, Sehnbruch, Piasna, & Agloni, 2014), feminist scholars welcome its breadth, arguing that this has made space on the ILO's agenda for the protection of informal forms of employment where women workers are often over-represented (Prugl, 1999; Vosko, 2002). Psychologists argue that the ILO's concept of decent work can be enhanced by a focus on the lived experience of the individual worker, maintaining that the meaning and purpose of work are also important issues to consider. Their critique of the ILO's approach highlights the breadth of the concept and the challenges operationalising it, particularly across very different contexts (Di Fabio & Blustein, 2016). The term decent work also appears in the extensive political economy/international development literature analyzing the expansion of global value chains and their more nuanced re-versioning as global production networks. This body of work highlights the link between decent work (or its absence), the rise of transnational corporations and corresponding hollowing out of labour conditions along global supply chains, leading to increasing flexibilization/precarity as companies seek to maintain competitiveness (See, for example, Gereffi, Humphrey, Kaplinsky, and Sturgeon (2001). The chapter also includes a brief introduction to some of the attempts by the ILO and others to enable more of the world's workforce to access decent work – themes which will be expanded further in later chapters of this book.

Globalization has created conditions in which business has become increasingly global. The combined effect of global business, intense competition, weakening of labor unions, and the inability of national governments to control the negative effects of globalization has created immense difficulties in the formulation and implementation of global labor standards. This research takes an ancient industry with a long tradition of international features and regulations, that is, the maritime industry, as a case study to understand the dynamics associated with the regulation of a global industry. The study argues that J. R. Commons' works at the turn of the century not only give us excellent insights into the creation of global markets and the need for global labor rights protection but also provide us with a solution, that is, the creation of an “authoritative commission.” Finally, the study suggests that there is a need to enhance the role of ILO as a global “commission” to regulate the industry. Presently, the ILO does not have the essential features for becoming such a commission. Therefore, ILO should develop three important characteristics: ability to include new emerging actors, decision-making based on consensus and dialogue, and sanction power to implement its standards. Based on the above principles, ILO can work as the center of a global regulatory regime in the maritime industry. Through its power of sanction, it will implement its standards mainly through states. But, at the same time, it will network with unions and NGOs and all other important actors in the industry at local, national, and global levels to detect and eradicate substandard shipping.

The 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh, was the most deadly disaster in garment manufacturing history, with at least 1,134 people killed and hundreds injured. In 2015, injured workers and the families of those killed received compensation from global apparel brands through a US$30 million voluntary initiative known as the Rana Plaza Arrangement. Overseen by the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Rana Plaza Arrangement awarded payments to survivors using a pricing formula developed by a diverse team of ‘stakeholders’ that included labour groups, multinational apparel companies, representatives of the Bangladesh government and local employers, and ILO actuaries. This paper draws from anthropological scholarship on the ‘just price’ to explore how a formula for pricing death and injury became both the means and form of a fragile political settlement in the wake of a shocking and widely publicised industrial disaster. By unpacking the complicated ‘ethics of a formula’ (Ballestero, 2015), I demonstrate how the project of creating a just price involves not two sets of values (ethical and financial) but rather multiple, competing values. This paper argues for recognition of the persistence and power of these competing values, showing how they variously strengthen and undermine the claim that justice was served by the Rana Plaza Arrangement. This analysis reveals the deficiencies of counterposing ‘morality’ and ‘economy’ in the study of price by reflecting upon all elements of price as situated within political economy and history.

This chapter is about child labour as slavery in modern and modernizing societies in an era of rapid globalization.

For the most part, child slavery in modern societies is hidden from view and cloaked in social customs, this being convenient for economic exploitation purposes.

The aim of this chapter is to bring children's ‘modern slavery’ out of the shadows, and thereby to help clarify and shape relevant social discourse and theory, social policies and practices, slavery-related legislation and instruments at all levels, and above all children's everyday lives, relationships and experiences.

The main focus is on issues surrounding (i) the concept of ‘slavery’; (ii) the types of slavery in the world today; (iii) and ‘child labour’ as a type, or basis, of slavery.

There is an in-depth examination of the implications of the notion of ‘slavery’ within international law for child labour, and especially that performed through schooling.

According to one influential approach, ‘slavery’ is a state marked by the loss of free will where a person is forced through violence or the threat of violence to give up the ability to sell freely his or her own labour power. If so, then hundreds of millions of children in modern and modernizing societies qualify as slaves by virtue of the labour they are forced – compulsorily and statutorily required – to perform within schools, whereby they, their labour and their labour power are controlled and exploited for economic purposes.

Under globalization, such enslavement has almost reached global saturation point.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a web-based interactive learning object (ILO) of introductory Computer Science (CS) concept on recursion and compare two feedback methods in the learning assessment part.

Test driven development (TDD) approach was used to develop ILO. The authors adapted Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT) standard instrument to evaluate ILO’s effectiveness as an e-learning tool. Three respondents, from a list of pre-identified prospective evaluators, were randomly chosen and served as raters for MERLOT, while 32 student-respondents coming from first-year Math and CS undergraduate majors were randomly assigned to each ILO version implementing either one of the two feedback methods.

ILO obtained mean ratings above 4 (in scale 1-5) in three MERLOT criteria, namely, potential effectiveness as teaching tool, ease of use, and quality of content, which is rated highest (mean=4.40, SD=0.53). The study also revealed that immediate feedback increases retention while delayed feedback improves generating new knowledge. Respondents who viewed the ILO implementing immediate feedback in their first session had statistically significantly higher scores (mean=8.25, SD=0.80) than those who viewed with delayed feedback (mean=7.63, SD=0.89). In their second session, the same observation was noted although with higher mean scores. These results give evidence that the developed ILO met standards in e-learning material and showed evidence of its effectiveness with preferably implementing immediate feedback.

Although the developed ILO can now be used in school as supplementary learning material in teaching the concept of recursion in an introductory CS subject, a pilot testing of the web-based ILO using a larger sample of respondents to validate its effectiveness for online distance learning educational material can be pursued. Furthermore, in designing and creating an ILO, the provision of feedback during the assessment stage is necessary for effecting learning.

The study was a first to develop ILO for CS topic on recursion. The paper also compared which of two known feedback methods is best to implement in an ILO.

This paper proposes a holistic institutional approach to provide insight into the policy reforms necessary to progressively achieve compliance with internationally recognized labor-related human rights. Drawing on institutions theory from political economy, the paper reframes international legal norms as holistic institutions, comprised of rules, social norms, and actual behaviors, the so-called rules of the game. In this way, problems in implementing labor-related human rights that may result in violations of international law are also considered as employment practices and, like other employment practices, are embedded in a web of formal and informal rules – institutions that govern work and employment. Based on the understanding that institutions contribute to violations, this holistic institutional approach also includes a framework to improve regulation and compliance based on Harold Koh's compliance theory from international law. The approach is illustrated using the example of forced obligatory overtime in textile assembly (maquilas) in Honduras and Nicaragua.

The Maritime Labour Convention (MLC) embodies standards of existing international maritime labour conventions and recommendations, as well as the fundamental principles to be found in other international labour conventions. The aim of the convention is to address the employment standards of seafarers in the areas of fair wages, contractual terms, working and living conditions, as well as their health and safety on board ships. The purpose of this paper is to provide an in-depth study of MLC Regulation 3.1, specifically on the layout design of the accommodation spaces and possible solutions to meet the new demands as those will certainly affect the crew comfort, health and well-being on board ships.

The approach used includes a review of pre- and post-MLC conventions and regulations. This is then followed by looking at the impact of MLC Regulation 3.1 on new ship design. Possible solutions for new ship design are then proposed.

The findings from the paper were as follows: More flexibility in the form of non-mandatory guidelines and substantial equivalence under MLC. Under MLC, only Special Purpose Ship (SPS) is allowed to accommodate four persons in one room. The requirement for increased height and floor spaces would result in increased gross register tons (GT) for post-MLC built vessels. Impact due to post-MLC requirements would be more unfavourable for the design of smaller vessels below 500 GT than of bigger vessels of up to less than 3,000 GT. Possible solutions include applying for exemptions and substantial equivalents with flag states or registering with a non-ratifying flag state.

This paper has been based on a dissertation carried out for the partial fulfilment of a post-graduate degree. It has not been published in any journal.

This study aims to identify the gap between the requirements of the accreditation bodies and the widely used learning management systems (LMSs) in assessing the intended learning outcomes (ILOs). In addition, this study aims to introduce a framework, along with the evaluation of the functionality of the LMS, for measuring the ILO.

A qualitative method was deployed to examine the gap between the requirements of the accreditation standards and the LMS functionalities. The researchers collaborated to design a mechanism, develop a system architecture to measure the ILO in alignment with the accreditation standards and guide the development of the Moodle plugin. The appropriateness and effectiveness of the plugin were evaluated within the scope of assessment mapping and design. Focus group interviews were conducted to collect feedback from the instructors and program leaders regarding its implementation.

The results of this study indicate that there is no standardized mechanism to measure course and program ILO objectively, using the existing LMS. The implementation of the plugin shows the appropriateness and effectiveness of the system in generating ILO achievement reports, which was confirmed by the users.

This study proposed a framework and developed a system architecture for the objective measurement of the ILO through direct assessment. The plugin was tested to generate consistent reports during the measurement of course and program ILO. The plugin has been implemented across Gulf University’s program courses, ensuring appropriate reporting and continuous improvement.

The subject of part‐time work is one which has become increasingly important in industrialised economies where it accounts for a substantial and growing proportion of total employment. It is estimated that in 1970, average annual hours worked per employee amounted to only 60% of those for 1870. Two major factors are attributed to explaining the underlying trend towards a reduction in working time: (a) the increase in the number of voluntary part‐time employees and (b) the decrease in average annual number of days worked per employee (Kok and de Neubourg, 1986). The authors noted that the growth rate of part‐time employment in many countries was greater than the corresponding rate of growth in full‐time employment.