Beyond a Boundary: On Transnational Labour Law, Discontent, and Emancipation

Dean Robert Leckey cordially invites the legal community to the Inaugural Lecture of Professor Adelle Blackett as Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law and Development.

RSVP by November 22 to alumnioffice.law [at] mcgill.ca

Abstract

It is important to name the contemporary moment of discontent. It is equally essential not to normalize it. This lecture engages with the way in which trade liberalization has been justified to the broad public, and in particular to workers. A core argument is that there has been a detrimental mismatch between the labour provisions in trade agreements, and their justifications.

To redress the mismatch, it is necessary to rethink the methodological nationalism that has framed labour law, and the laden, historical divisions the field continues to perpetuate in a troubled open economy. This lecture makes the case for close attention to be paid to emancipatory social justice in the reconstruction of transnational (labour) law.

About the speaker

Adelle Blackett, Ad. E., is Professor of Law and the Canada Research Chair in Transnational Labour Law and Development at McGill's Faculty of Law, where she teaches and researches in the areas of labour and employment law, trade regulation, law and development, critical race theory and slavery and the law. She recently edited a special issue of the Canadian Journal of Law and Society on "Decolonizing Labour Law: Contributions to an Emergent Transnational Labour Law." (2018) 33:2.

This event has been accredited for 1.5h of continuing legal education by a recognized provider.