Abstract
En el mercado global, ha corrido una suerte diversa la aspiración a la universalidad de dos derechos especiales o estatutarios: el derecho mercantil y el derecho del trabajo. Mientras la nueva lex mercatoria gobierna el mercado global, solo se han dado algunos pasos, todavía tímidos, para elaborar un derecho universal del trabajo. En los últimos años, junto al enfoque tradicional, consistente en la adopción de normas internacionales del trabajo, la OIT ha seguido otro funcional, centrado en la promoción de los principios y derechos fundamentales en el trabajo. Así, la OIT ha tratado de dar una respuesta original al problema de la voluntariedad en la ratificación de los convenios que elabora. Por otro lado, en la medida en que la acción normativa de la OIT se dirige tan solo a los Estados, varios instrumentos dan testimonio de los esfuerzos de la comunidad internacional para lograr el objetivo de una conducta empresarial responsable y, en particular, el respeto por las empresas multinacionales de los derechos humanos en el trabajo.
The aspiration to universality of commercial law and labour law as two special or statutory laws has suffered a different fate in the global market. Homo œconomicus is the main player in the globalization of markets. With the advent of the global market, the economy is dissociated from politics. Multinational companies, which are the real protagonists of globalization, are not subject to international law, and move in a space inhabited only by economics rather than by politics. The new lex mercatoria, which is doubly non-State, because it is a transnational and a customary law, has found its expression in the UNIDROIT Principles of International Commercial Contracts, adopted by the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law in 1994, and revised in 2000 and 2010. Globalization entails advantages and disadvantages for workers. While the new lex mercatoria governs the global market, only a few timid steps have been taken to develop a universal labour law. In recent years, along with the traditional approach consisting of the adoption of international labour standards, the ILO has followed another functional one focused on the promotion of fundamental principles and rights at work. Thus, the ILO has sought to give an original response to the problem of voluntariness in the ratification of conventions. On the other hand, to the extent that the ILO normative action is targeted only at States, several instruments bear witness to the efforts of the international community to achieve the goal of responsible business conduct and, in particular, respect by multinational enterprises for human rights at work.