Labour issues in international trade agreements: two solitudes? Where does Canada stand vis-a-vis the integration of labour standards and international trade agreements? Are we making progress?

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Labour issues in international trade agreements: two solitudes? Where does Canada stand vis-a-vis the integration of labour standards and international trade agreements? Are we making progress?

The International Public Policy Debate

That there has been a long-standing debate over the linkage of workers rights to international trade agreements is well known. Opponents - principally the developing countries, including China, but also many employers and employer organizations - contend that any such linkage would jeopardize legitimate `comparative advantages' of developing countries and thus impair their export trade - one of the best weapons for improving economic performance and alleviating poverty. Neoclassical economists, as well as many lawyers and trade policy analysts, largely agree. Their contention is that proponents of the linkage use human rights and other moralistic arguments to further a protectionist agenda.

Proponents of the linkage advance a number of counter-arguments, the most prominent of which is that a set of core labour standards - the right of association and free collective bargaining, the prohibition on the use of forced or compulsory labour, the abolition of child labour, and the elimination of discrimination in employment and occupation - can be adopted without impairing the pace of economic progress in developing countries or elsewhere. Those who resist the adoption of core standards are accused of `social dumping.' It is argued that the core rights or standards may be distinguished from specific entitlements - wages, vacation and holiday pay, hours of work, health and safety standards, and the like - that, because of their substantive nature, would be difficult, if not impossible, to harmonize on...

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