Labor Not a Trade Issue
Most members of the World Trade Organization are opposed to linking trade policy and labor standards. But, pushed by labor unions and highly protected industries in the developed countries, including the United States, this issue will come up again in Seattle next month when the WTO kicks off the next round of global trade talks. Labor standards are highly important but are not a subject for the WTO. The issue only invites controversy, antagonizes poor countries and poisons WTO negotiations.
President Clinton has acknowledged the danger of pitting the haves against the have-nots before the WTO and said he wants an “expansive trade round” at the Seattle meetings. Those are the two best reasons for dropping the trade-labor link altogether. Creating a working group within the WTO on trade and labor, as he proposed Wednesday, will not resolve the problem. But Clinton is on the right track in proposing that the United Nations’ International Labor Organization (ILO) be made an observer at the trade organization.
Pressure must be applied on countries where sweatshops and child labor are common. The ILO--made up of virtually the same countries as the WTO--has made that one of its top priorities. It recently adopted international conventions setting core labor standards and banning the most atrocious forms of child labor. Governments, employers and the labor unions themselves, all of which have voting rights in the ILO, should apply pressure on countries with unacceptable labor practices to make sure these conventions are implemented.
But imposing trade sanctions on countries with poor labor records, as the AFL-CIO insists, would only deepen the economic woes of these people. Most of the countries depend on exports to developed nations for their incomes. Denying them access to foreign markets would exclude them from the process of economic globalization, the driving engine behind development.
The AFL-CIO put the link between trade and labor standards high on its agenda at its biennial convention in Los Angeles this week. It plans to demonstrate at the Seattle WTO meeting to show its resolve. If the unions really care about poor working conditions abroad, they should work with employers and governments to enforce ILO labor conventions.
