Labour Provisions in US Free Trade Agreements : Determinants and Adequacy (original) (raw)
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In the 1980s and 1990s organized labour in industrialized countries was hit by the demise of traditional manufacturing industries, the ever-expanding globalization of the economy and the ideological dominance of economic liberalism and free trade. Support for the introduction of labour standards in the world trade regime grew out of these conditions. This paper introduces an analytical framework for the study of labour standards in international trade agreements (LSITA) and provides a detailed examination of the individuals and organizations involved in the debate and an analysis of their arguments and activities. Experiences of LSITA fall into four categories: (i) unilateral: child and prison labour legislation and corporate codes of conduct; (ii) bilateral: the GSP programmes; (iii) multilateral: attempts in the GATT/WTO; and (iv) regional: the Social Charter of the EU and the labour side agreement of NAFTA.
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A growing number of nations including Canada, Chile, the EU, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland and the U.S., now include labor rights provisions in their free trade agreements. But we don't yet know if such links actually empower workers or lead to improved labor rights governance. Moreover, because each government takes a different approach to these agreements, policymakers may be sending confusing signals on how to promote labor rights; what labor rights are internationally accepted core labor rights; and how important these rights are to good governance.
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In the past decade and a half, the negotiation of free trade agreements (FTAs) has dramatically increased. The number of party states and the range of level of development among party countries have expanded drastically. At the same time, the subject matter scope of these treaties has grown by leaps and bounds. Agreements are no longer limited to trade in goods, but increasingly cover trans-national provision of services and crossborder mobility of investment capital. Bilateral agreements are proliferating at an astounding pace, but even more significant are the agreements, much smaller in number, involving three or more countries. At the global level, the World Trade Organization (WTO), whose predecessor body began with a mandate limited to trade in goods, has now expanded into trade in services, as well as intellectual property, with frustrated efforts to add elements addressing investment and government procurement. Plurilateral agreements, such as the treaties establishing the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and the proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), combine more extensive coverage of goods, services, and capital, and constitute regional integration agreements. Separate from these types of trade-related agreements, there are international labor rights instruments binding many of the same countries, under the auspices of the