Global Economic Structures and „Global Governance” in Labour Regulation Policy

With regard to the debate surrounding current global economic trends and their impact on cross-border economic activities much is heard of the World Trade Organization (WTO), that relatively young organization entrusted with the expansion and regulation of international free trade. It is in this arena that the struggle for the introduction of so-called compulsory social standards takes place. Much less seldom is attention drawn to that other international organi-zation whose mandate and primary task encompasses the establishment of minimum interna-tional standards in the spheres of labour and social policies, the International Labour Organization (ILO). However, it is this organization that actually assumes the crucial role with regard to the emergence of global rules in the area of labour and social policy (global governance). This all the more so since, although international, it is not purely intergovernmental.