Labor and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Essay

Labor and the World Trade Organization (WTO) Seven years of trade negotiations at last gave birth to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 1995, the U.S. labor movement was one of its leading skeptics. A world trade organization, labor supporters argued, would only accelerate the headlong rush to laissez-faire by dismantling national regulations. It would overwhelm attempts by nations to defend living standards and the ability of unions to fight for wages and health and safety laws—and it would make it harder for nations to defend the rights of workers to join unions. Labor lobbied hard against the WTO. But now, ironically, the WTO could become a critical venue for advancing workers rights worldwide. For the WTO has the power to review†¦show more content†¦If employers are compelled to treat workers decently, they will deploy them more productively. By that logic, certain labor practices common in undemocratic countries, such as child labor, prison labor, and denial of the right to form unions, can be seen as un fair trade practices—and, potentially, violations of WTO principles that trade should reflect acceptable rules of market competition. Since wages affect all traded products and services, labor issues are central to the ultimate credibility of the WTO as the arbiter of a consistent rule-based international trading system. To the extent that wages are artificially held down because labor rights are abrogated, an indirect subsidy is extracted from these workers by their governments policies, which arguably violate the WTOs free trade philosophy. During the WTOs second-year review in late 1996 in Singapore, the United States actively sought to link labor rights with trade. However, this effort was blocked by a coalition of Third World nations (who saw the initiative as a form of protectionism) and the European Union (which was then dominated by conservative governments). Nonetheless, the attempt put the U.S. government on the side of trade-labor linkage and forced WTO members to officially consider the issue of linkage for the first time. Even Sir Leon Brittain, the Thatcherite vice-president ofShow MoreRelatedThe World Trade Organization Essay1171 Words   |  5 PagesThe World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) was established on January 1, 1995 and is the most powerful trade body in the world. It has 133 member nations and 33 nations with observer status who have applied for membership. (Americanlands) On behalf of its members the WTO promotes, monitors and adjudicates international trade (Goldstein 378) in order to establish a free trade system. 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