ABSTRACT
The author refutes several arguments against labor rights as human rights by investigating the theoretical foundations of these various rights. She goes beyond existing defenses that turn almost exclusively on the notion of human dignity. While important, the author notes, the notion of dignity needs to be interpreted in a somewhat new way and has to be supplemented with the other core value underlying human rights, namely, freedom (in a certain conception). The author then goes on to draw some implications of the recognition of labor rights as human rights for our understanding of these labor rights themselves and argues for one additional such right, namely, democratic management of work. The author underscores the need to keep in mind the contemporary pervasiveness of new forms of diffuse work with the increasing globalization of work processes, as well as the growth of both leisure time and diminishing work, given automation. It is essential, too, to take labor broadly to extend also to care work, both paid and unpaid, rather than understanding it exclusively in terms of manufacturing or other types of work traditionally carried out only outside the home.
