ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the relabelling of forces in the globalization literature has important ideological ramifications for the traditional view of labour law, as defined in countries such as Australia. Social forces would dictate changes in labour legislation in line with international norms, which were themselves created through a sophisticated, iterative process involving many actors. The chapter considers whether or not this argument can be meaningfully translated to the international level, and what the ramifications of doing so might be. The Ratcheting Labour Standards (RLS) assumption of a transnational regulatory void coincides with an ideological position that seeks to make this assumption a reality. The RLS proposal derives from a particular construction of the labour 'problem' in an age of globalization. It is clearly intended as some form of 'other than national' labour regulation. The RLS proposal carries important ideological implications because it focuses on the regulation of the firm, not the regulation of work.
