Should trade actions be used to impose labour standards, or are they simply an excuse for protectionism. Similar questions are asked about standards, i.e. sanitary and physiosanitary measures, and technical barriers to trade.
The WTO agreements do not deal with labour standards as such.
On the one hand, some countries would like to change this. WTO rules and disciplines, they argue, would provide a powerful incentive for member nations to improve workplace conditions and “international coherence” (the phrase used to describe efforts to ensure policies move in the same direction).
On the other hand, many developing countries believe the issue has no place in the WTO framework. They argue that the campaign to bring labour issues into the WTO is actually a bid by industrial nations to undermine the comparative advantage of lower wage trading partners, and could undermine their ability to raise standards through economic development, particularly if it hampers their ability to trade. They also argue that proposed standards can be too high for them to meet at their level of development. These nations argue that efforts to bring labour standards into the arena of multilateral trade negotiations are little more than a smokescreen for protectionism.
At a more complex legal level is the question of the relationship between the International Labour Organization’s standards and the WTO agreements — for example whether or how the ILO’s standards can be applied in a way that is consistent with WTO rules.
The official answer
What the 1996 Singapore ministerial declaration says on core labour standards
“We renew our commitment to the observance of internationally recognized core labour standards. The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the competent body to set and deal with these standards, and we affirm our support for its work in promoting them. We believe that economic growth and development fostered by increased trade and further trade liberalization contribute to the promotion of these standards. We reject the use of labour standards for protectionist purposes, and agree that the comparative advantage of countries, particularly low-wage developing countries, must in no way be put into question. In this regard, we note that the WTO and ILO Secretariats will continue their existing collaboration.”
Discussion: Why labour standards should not be a matter for the WTO decide on, seen from a LDC perspective ?
Incorporation of a social clause will undermine developing countries from growing economically. They have cheaper labour and unskilled labour force which is a justification for lower rights. Correlation between increased exports and lower labour rights.
The WTO promotes trade and lower lab
our standards increases it too. There already exists standards for example in the EU and the US which state that the respective territories should uphold labour rights.
Labour standards involve human rights and not trade.
Labour standards should be left alone for every country to decide. It is not up to the WTO to impose standards since firstly, the issue needs to be dealt with internally or nationally and not externally i.e. by the WTO
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Violations of the GATT are inevitable and will occur either way..
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