Labour Standards and WTO — Dilemma of Legitimacy and Efficacy

Abstract

A lack of global management for dealing with global issues has necessitated the formation of a global governance framework to address global problems. The enforcement of labour standards in each national jurisdiction is now one of the most important items on the trade forum agenda. Even though during different negotiation rounds of the WTO, other trade linkage problems and standards have been addressed through trade laws and regulations, the issue of labour standards, although they are one of the most important sets of social standards related to human prosperity remains unresolved. The problem of labour standards is a dilemma that the WTO is faced with – between its legitimacy and efficacy. This article explores the problem of labour standards based on the Rawlsian concept and the distributive nature of Justice upon which the theories of global governance have been developed.