Battle looms over labour standards

Date: 16/09/1999

By Simon Taylor

THE EU and US are leading the drive to include international labour standards in the deal which emerges from the forthcoming trade talks.

Both insist minimum rules on pay and working conditions are needed to protect basic human rights throughout the world, and argue that the updated World Trade Organi-sation rules should clearly prohibit both child labour and all forms of forced work.

In its July report on the talks, the European Commission stressed the Union's commitment to upholding the principles of fair treatment at work. "The EU and its member states are firmly committed to the promotion of democracy, the respect of human rights and the rule of law. This is reflected in their attachment to core labour standards," it stated.

This sentiment has been echoed in Washington. In his annual 'State of the Union' address this year, President Bill Clinton said the Millennium Round would provide the perfect opportunity to place a "human face on the global economy".

But critics claim the West's new-found interest in the plight of workers has more to do with hard-nosed self interest than any inherent sense of natural justice. They say European and American industry is fed up with being continually undercut by goods produced in third-world sweatshops.

Poorer countries also insist they simply cannot afford to meet the sorts of standards the West is calling for. "The only real competitive edge we have is cheaper labour. If we lose that, then we lose practically everything," said one diplomat. "You really cannot talk of equality, because standards of living are different throughout the world."

The difficulty the WTO will face in striking a deal was underlined recently when efforts to set up a working group to study the issue had to be abandoned.

Article forms part of a survey on world trade, p13-20.