Ma'at Kheru: Individual Working Freedoms

[Cormac]

Individual Working Freedoms
A resolution to develop industry around the world.

Category: Advancement of Industry | Area of Effect: Labor Deregulation | Proposed by: Gruenberger Overseas Affiliate Territory

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Description: The World Assembly,

Strongly reaffirming its commitment to individual liberty,

Believing that individuals should be as free as possible from undue government interference in making decisions governing their personal lives,

Convinced that the issues of when, how often, and for how long an individual works should remain an issue for private negotiation between employer and employee,

Dissenting from the view that one standard working week can be determined as a universal diktat, given the diversity of national economies, the particulars of industries working on cyclical, seasonal or other irregular working patterns, and the varying conditions, demographic, environmental, developmental, and otherwise, of member nations,

Considering any attempt to impose a universal manacle of working time restriction to be a grossly unfair abrogation of individual freedoms,

Desirous of reaching a fair compromise on the issue:

1. Encourages all nations to grant their people the greatest possible degree of freedom in determining their terms of employment, with specific regard to working time;

2. Calls upon all nations to respect the rights of individuals to be free to make choices about their terms of employment, and equally of individuals to seek representation or counsel during such negotiations;

3. Mandates the removal of working time regulations that serve only to reduce individual liberty and that do not serve any other purpose;

4. Reserves the right of all nations to choose whether to set specific regulations on workweeks and working time in the general public interest;

5. Promotes a healthy harmony of national and individual rights in economic decision-making.

Voting Options

Aye/For: For the resolution.
Nay/Against: Against the resolution.
Abstain: The Pharaoh should abstain from voting.
Present: You're personally abstaining.

[Cormac]

I'm late posting this and it's already at vote. It has 3 days, 15 hours left at vote.

I've lodged an initial vote against the resolution. I don't see any reason labor regulation is an international issue, particularly as it relates to preventing nations from adopting regulations that arguably could be better for the individual freedoms this resolution claims to advance. At the end of the day, this resolution infringes upon national sovereignty just as unacceptably as most General Assembly resolutions, it just does so in an unusual way by advancing a right-wing agenda rather than the typical left-wing agenda of many International Federalists.

[Andrew]

I to would vote Nay

[Sciongrad]

I'm sorry, didn't Osiris just make a big deal of supporting National Sovereignty in the General Assembly like, two weeks ago? And yet now you guys are planning on voting against the most NatSov friendly blocker that's been put to vote in years? Labor regulation is not a proper topic for the World Assembly to legislate on, and the author of this resolution agrees. This resolution isn't some right-wing IntFed mess like you're making it out to be. It's a politically neutral NatSov piece whose only mandate is sensible enough that any reasonable nation would already be complying with it and sufficiently vague so that member nations have a high level of flexibility in implementing it. If you're voting against this because it's not NatSov enough, I don't think you'll ever find a resolution so extreme as to satisfy your standards besides perhaps repeals.

EDIT: Furthermore, there's no evidence supporting the stereotype that most IntFeds are liberal... Some of the most vocal contemporary IntFeds are Auralia and Christian Democrats, who are both socially and fiscally conservative. I myself, an active and well known IntFed, repealed Ethics in International Trade because it hampered free trade. WA ideology has little correlation with personal ideology.

[Cormac]

Look, I'm not General Assembly savvy and my WA Department hasn't written anything about this.

I'm noting Mousebumples' vote against, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this isn't as cut and dry as you're making it out to be.

In any event: 1-2-0. Still voting against.

[Sciongrad]

Look, I'm not General Assembly savvy and my WA Department hasn't written anything about this.

I'm noting Mousebumples' vote against, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say that this isn't as cut and dry as you're making it out to be.

In any event: 1-2-0. Still voting against.

That's fine, I probably came across as a little bit more passionate about this than I actually am. I have no personal investment in this at all, I was just trying to be helpful.

But with the greatest possible respect to Mouse, her assessment doesn't really make a lot of sense. This resolution is as pure a blocker as you'll find. It's entirely fluff - even its mandates clause is so vague as to mean anything the implementing nation wants. This resolution's only actual effect is preventing the WA from passing resolutions on working hours in the future. It does nothing else and doesn't force nations to do anything specifically at all. Again, with all due respect to Mouse, this is as cut and dry as it comes.

[travis]

Speaking as one of the WA advisers to the Osiran foreign ministry, I would strongly recommend a for vote on this resolution. A blocker is very much needed to put an end to fruitless debates that have been circulating on the GA forums as to how long a standard workweek must be, if it should be as low as 30 hours (!), or even if it should be based on "hours" at all since not all nations are based on Earth and thus may have different units of time (ugh). To prevent any of those foolhardy proposals from coming to vote, this one must be passed.

I would also note that mousey's vote is not the gold standard of sovereigntist endorsements. She has supported some very anti-sovereigntist legislation in the past (like Reproductive Freedoms), and has many personal disagreements with the author of this resolution, which may be influencing her early vote.

As to my individual vote, it's FOR.

[Cormac]

2-2-0. Withdrawing my vote for now. Vote, people.

[Hapay]

Nay.

[Cormac]

2-3-0.

Voting against.