Foreign Workers and the Emergence of Minimum International Standards for the Compensation of Workplace Accidents,1880–1914

Abstract

Foreign Workers and the Emergence of Minimum International Standards for the Compensation of Workplace Accidents, 1880–1914

This essay examines the politics behind creating international norms for the compensation of workplace accidents in the period from the 1880s to the outbreak of the First World War. It focuses on a case study about the treatment of foreign workers in Britain, Germany and Italy in order to illuminate these developments. One of the leading motivations for advocates of international law at this time was the creation and implementation of socially-orientated standards in a range of fields, including social policy. The issue of migrant workers tested whether governments would adopt such a standard for accident compensation. The essay argues that transnational and international communication about workplace accidents during this period facilitated the creation of an international minimum legal standard for the compensation of accidents at work. Yet, the international convergence of policies for accident compensation was limited during the period under consideration. Instead, observations and communication across borders went hand-in-hand with the strengthening of national social security systems.