Core Labour Standards and International Trade (original) (raw)
Related papers
International labour standards and regulation
This chapter will provide an in-depth discussion of the historical and contemporary context of international labour regulation and labour standards. First, it begins by providing a historical context of the origins of International labour regulation. It then critically discusses an emergent body of literature that under the ideological influence of neo-liberalism promotes ‘labour governance’ instead of ‘regulation’. Next, it explains the central role that the ILO plays – historically, as well as contemporarily – on all considerations of labour standards. Further, it examines the contemporary dominance of trade between and among corporate supply chains and, thus, introduces an analytical framework of intercorporate labour regulation, where the subjects of labour regulation are the nation-state and the company, the objects (the means) of regulation are ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ and all regulatory subjects and objects congregate at four levels of supply chain and trade relations: uni-lateral, bi-lateral, regional/pluri-lateral, and multi-lateral.
The international labour standards regime: a case study in global regulation
Environment and Planning A, 2005
Introduction The postwar expansion in international trade and the complexity of issues addressed by contemporary trade negotiations have led to an attendant expansion in the focus and activities of those international organisations with responsibilities for trade regula-tion. This ...
International Labour Standards-critical assessment
Labour standards consist an indispensable element of today’s world of work. The beneficial influence of them on workers and companies is undoubted; empirical evidence has proven, according to Weiss (2013), that they contribute to a better health and human capital, which leads to higher levels of productivity. It could be also supported that proper working conditions can enhance workers’ motivation and willingness. Labour regulation constitutes, concomitantly, a fundamental investment in a functioning market economy. It does not only have a positive impact on the workers and the economy, but also helps society as an entity to become more stable and developed. And, nowadays, since the world has become globalised, labour standards cannot only be implemented at national but also at international level.
Labour and trade-related regulation: beyond the trade-labour standards debate?
The British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 1999
As well as consolidating and enhancing the process of trade liberalisation, the completion of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations establishing the World Trade Organisation (WTO) formalised the expansion of multilateral trade regulation into areas of commercial activity previously deemed to be trade-related. This expansion, however, has been highly uneven, privileging the needs of capital, and to a much lesser degree land, over labour. Attempts to secure a degree of regulatory protection for labour in the legal framework of the WTO-by requiring that the Organisation's members adhere to a set of core labour standards when engaged in trade-producing activities-have so far failed. Both the Singapore (1996) and Geneva (1998) Ministerial Meetings of the WTO witnessed discussion of this issue, yet neither resulted in a comprehensive and satisfactory outcome for labour. That said, significant opportunity exists for the reconstruction of the trade-labour standards debate within the WTO. This article, seeks to demonstrate how this might be the case. In doing so, it first reviews the process of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT )/WTO involvement in the regulation of trade-related areas. Second, it explores the current deadlock that characterises the issue of trade and labour standards within the WTO's legal framework as well as the more significant positions that have emerged among the Organisation's membership by focusing on British, US and EU involvement in this issue. Third, it identifies the reactions of certain key member states to the protests of civil society at the 1998 Geneva Ministerial Meeting of the WTO as the means by which the issue of trade and labour standards may once again be raised. And finally, it considers how the effective regulation of labour standards might be made within the confines of the WTO's legal framework by examining a range of options.
In 1998, Core Labour Standards have been elevated to the status of “fundamental principles and rights at work” by the International Labour Organization, on the justification that they are enshrined within the core values of the international labour law regime, which allow them to operate as functional and reconciliating principles. It seems by the recent overwhelming practice, that they possess an unexpected force of social attraction in shaping the current legal order. With these considerations in# mind, this research investigates the normative status of Core Labour Standards. After examining the way they came into being, their incorporation into treaties and agreements, and the ways in which they be can subsumed under the tradition sources of international law, we will conclude that Core Labour Standards operate as general principles of international law, arising from an social and cultural value of the internationalsociety.
Labour standards in international trade agreements: an assessment of the arguments
International Journal of Human Resource …, 1999
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.