Labor Provisions Research Articles

Labour Provisions in UK Trade Policy: Mapping the Spatial Politics of the Trade-Labour Linkage

ABSTRACT Academic literature on the trade-labour linkage has tended to operate within a methodological nationalism that reifies the nation-state as the unit of analysis and treats labour rights as universally applicable. This paper instead starts from the premise that the linkage spotlights certain types of work and worker, resulting in geographically differentiated modes of labour governance. Focusing on the post-Brexit reconstitution of trade policy in the UK and its party political discourse, the paper details how labour provisions were written into free trade agreements, export finance arrangements, supply chain reporting requirements and unilateral preference schemes. Its argument is that these were constructed and contested through distinctions made between leading and laggard states; acceptable and unacceptable exploitation; and desirable and undesirable exploitation – each of which had a spatial politics in shaping where and how labour ought to be governed.

Policy feedback and the politics of trade agreements

Why do interest groups mobilise to change the design of international institutions? The existing research on this topic expects moments when there is a peak in political action, but generally does not consider how such peaks might impact future mobilisations. To fill this gap, this article advances an analysis that draws on policy feedback theory. It shows that the greater the preference distances surrounding existing preferential trade agreements (PTA), the more likely it is for political activity to form around prospective trade deals that share certain key commonalities with those more contentious earlier agreements. The article tests the plausibility of that argument in the design of labour provisions in US and EU trade agreements. It shows that, in the US, NAFTA (ratified 1993) introduced a model of labour provisions that was seen over the years as ‘designed to fail’. As a result, it helped mobilise labour unions against prospective PTAs that bore a resemblance to NAFTA. However, the same did not happen in the EU during the 1990s and early 2000s. This article helps connect public policy research with the literature on the politics of trade agreements. It also serves as a cautionary note to policy makers regarding the long-term effects of PTA design on political activity and underscores the need for carefully projecting the political underpinnings of the enforcement of PTA provisions.

Uma via para a legitimidade: o caso das denúncias de fraude na Via Varejo

This teaching case addresses the history of Via Varejo S.A. which received reports of fraud and accounting irregularities at the end of 2019. The company appointed an investigation committee to conduct an independent and detailed analysis which found indications of fraud such as the manipulation of labor provisions, undue delays in writing off assets and accounting for liabilities; and failures in internal controls that could have resulted in material errors in the company’s accounts. The impact was approximately 1.19 billion reais, which fully recognized in their 2019 financial statements and the reexamination of previous periods was not deemed necessary. Considering this uncertain scenario, managers were faced with the following dilemma: how to behave in relation to society considering the findings of fraud? This teaching case is aimed at students in graduate majors in Administration and Accounting who want to study the assumptions of the Legitimacy Theory as well as analyze the actions of this company as strategies designed to maintain or recover its legitimacy.

Navigating the Evolution of Labor Provisions: Comparative Insights from China, the US, and the EU in Free Trade Agreements

Navigating the Evolution of Labor Provisions: Comparative Insights from China, the US, and the EU in Free Trade Agreements

Labour provisions in trade agreements and women's rights in the global south

AbstractThe effect of trade liberalisation on women has been hotly contested. Here, we take a step back and explore the effect of the institutions underlying trade on freedoms for women in the Global South. We build on the literature showing that the design of trade agreements matters for social welfare outcomes and argue that labour provisions in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) can contribute to improved women's rights. We assess this claim using statistical evidence and find a robust, positive correlation between labour provisions in PTAs and civic freedoms for women and no robust relationship with economic or political freedoms for women. Our study aims to establish an empirical link between PTA design and women's rights, suggesting new policies are needed to better balance economic globalisation with social goals in the current protectionist era.

Decoding supplier codes of conduct with content and text as data approaches

AbstractThis study analyzes supplier codes of conduct of multinational firms, with two main research objectives: (1) providing a description of supplier codes' content provisions, specifically focusing on the labor standards provisions included in these self‐regulatory policies, and (2) comparing code content across regions and sectors. To this end, the study uses hand‐coding and novel text‐as‐data techniques for content analysis of a large sample of 880 codes of conduct. Results show that a standardized list of labor rights is included in up to 90% of the aforementioned codes, regardless of the location or sector of the drafting company. Codes are drafted with a clear influence from internationally recognized standards, even though a minority of codes directly refer to international texts. However, the similarity of codes is limited as they differ in length and extent to which they elaborate certain topics. This latter aspect is correlated with the firms' location and the sector they operate in. The research demonstrates that European companies refer to the legal framework and international standards extensively, while American companies more often develop their corporate ethical values or focus on governance and their relationship with suppliers. It also empirically shows that companies evolving in reputation‐sensitive sectors are developing more specific codes including more detailed labor provisions.

Promoting Women’s and LGBTQ Rights Through Labor Provisions

El Art. 23.9 del T-MEC ha suscitado una gran atención entre los expertos en comercio y los estudiosos del colectivo LGBTQ durante la renegociación del TLCAN. Este artículo examina la génesis de la disposición, poniendo énfasis en los cambios de última hora de los negociadores estadounidenses y su impacto en el alcance y la aplicación del Art. 23.9. Se constata una grave reducción del compromiso en contraste con el proyecto inicial. Sin embargo, el artículo argumenta que incluso la nota a pie de página (que supuestamente excluye cualquier nuevo cambio en la política nacional de los EE. UU.) sigue proporcionando un nuevo nivel de protección del empleo LGBTQ. Por último, destaca una posible función expresiva del art. 23.9 a la luz de todo el USMCA.

How do labour provisions in trade agreements affect decent work?

This study investigates how labour provisions in both EU and US trade agreements impact on decent work in countries that ratified such agreements. It uses a new database of workers’ rights spanning a large cross-section of 125 partner countries. The results show that such labour provisions in EU trade agreements are only effective in reducing violations of workers’ rights in member countries, while those of the US were not effective in reducing the total violations of workers’ rights for member countries. Further evidence shows that both the EU and US labour-inclusive trade agreements significantly increase the violations of their rights in practice – indicating inadequate enforcement of labour provisions. Such evidence highlights that labour provisions in trade agreements may bolster the protection of legal labour rights without an improvement in their practical application. This calls for a strong commitment to the implementation of decent work policies by aligning domestic labour practices to international best practices.

China’s Approach to Sustainable Development in Free Trade Agreements

Abstract The question of how to adequately integrate environment and labor provisions in free trade agreements is still a difficult one for both States and academicians. This article explores China’s approach to environment and labor issues in free trade agreements. For reference and comparison, it relies on the European Union’s and the United States’ approaches in their respective FTAs. The article identifies China’s preference for a case-by-case approach to the inclusion of environmental chapters in its FTAs. Additionally, in most FTAs it avoids to include provisions on labor standards. These two preferences represent major divergences from the European Union’s and the United States’ approaches, characterized by inclusion of chapters on environment and labor in all their modern FTAs. The article also finds that China’s FTAs rely solely on consultations and cooperation for the implementation of environmental and labor provisions, within the framework of Joint Committees and avoid the inclusion of civil society mechanisms. Moreover, resolution of disputes relies exclusively on consultations, in a diverse procedure than the one applicable to trade disputes. Despite alignment with the European Union model, this is another major point of divergence with the United States’ model, which applies the same enforcement mechanism for both environment and labor issues and trade issues and includes the possibility of applying sanctions. Finally, the article concludes that China’s options with regards to the treatment of environment and labor concerns in its free trade agreements aligns with both its domestic governance approach and its approach to international cooperation.

Labor provisions in trade agreements: recasting the protectionist debate

Abstract Labor provisions are integral to regional trade agreements (RTAs). Critics argue that they are a protectionist measure by reducing trade flows. Efforts to test that argument by employing various economic gravity models to trade agreements with labor provisions have failed to apply clear legal criteria and updated estimation methods. Drawing from the law of transnational contracts, we apply clear legal criteria to labor clauses and estimate a Poisson regression by pseudo maximum likelihood with high-dimensional fixed effects and controls for other “deep” agreement provisions associated with trade. We estimate the relationship between labor provisions and bilateral trade by classifying labor clauses found in all World Trade Organization-notified RTAs from the 1990s through February 2016. Contrary to previous efforts, our concise typology, updated estimation methods, and controls for additional trade-agreement variables find no robust evidence that labor provisions impact, much less reduce, trade flows (JEL F1, C5, F14, F66).

The Evolution of Labour Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements

The Evolution of Labour Provisions in Regional Trade Agreements

Populist Backlash and Trade Agreements in North America: The Prospects for Progressive Trade

Populist rejection of the embedded liberal international order is evident in many Western democracies. This is partly attributable to the architects of this system, who over-promised widespread benefits while ignoring warnings from labour and fair-trade advocates about risks to economic security from transnational economic competition. This article contrasts Canadian and American conservative populist positions on free trade. Globalisation and free trade without consideration for fair trade weakened the embedded liberal compromise and undermined the Keynesian welfare state model which sustained it. While regional free trade agreements like the North American Free Trade Agreement have had marginal negative effects, they became convenient scapegoats in a strategy of “othering” adopted by Trump and other populists. Populism arose in part in response to middle- and working-class decline (alongside cultural changes and revitalised nativism), which eroded support for embedded liberalism. The heretofore pro-trade GOP followed Trump to a more protectionist and bilateral model to press for “America first,” tinged by nativist othering towards Mexico and China. This diverged from Canadian right-populist leaders, whose rhetoric generally supports freer trade despite scepticism among some supporters. Asymmetrical circumstances of the US as a global economic hegemon vs. Canada as trade-dependent middle power limits the feasibility of a protectionist, “Canada first” position while particularities of political and electoral systems create more room for nativism in the US. Polling results indicate support for free trade in both nations, with a priority for labour and social protections, which provides the potential for further engagement in progressive trade liberalisation. Hence a significant percentage of the population supports “fair-trade” approaches, not protectionism. However, many conservative politicians eschew fair-trade positions and endorse anti-labour policies. Despite gains such as the labour provisions in the Canada–US–Mexico Agreement, a right-populist alliance with fair-trade advocates and labour unions is unsustainable and would entail compromises like climate denial, anti-immigrant, and anti-equity approaches which hinder the pursuit of progressive multilateral trading regimes.

TO TEST TEH LABOUR CLAUSE OF CPTPP AND CHINA'S COUNTERMEASURES

Developed countries continue to implement international labour standards in FTAs, resulting in a rapid increase in the number of agreements covering labour provisions in the past 20 years. The United States was the first to make specific provisions on labour issues in NAALC, the supplementary agreement to NAFTA, forming the first generation of high-standard FTA models. CPTPP makes specific provisions on the contents of labour clauses in a single chapter, which can be regarded as a model of the second-generation high-standard FTA. By comparing the labour provisions of CPTPP and NAALC, this paper finds out that the labour provisions of CPTPP are more stringent than those of NAALC, and tries to explore countermeasures for China's joining the CPTPP.

The Legal Position of the Security Unit in the Perspective of Labor Law

This study aims to examine the legal position of security guards in relation to labor law aspects. This research is a normative legal research with a concept and statutory approach. The results of the study confirm that the legal position of a security guard in employment law is that in terms of duties and authorities, a security guard actually carries out the duties of the police, but in terms of rights and obligations in general, such as those related to wages, leave, overtime and so on, they should be based on labor provisions as stipulated in the Labor Law and the Job Creation Law. Regarding the guarantee of employment rights for security guards in the perspective of labor law based on the principle of ejusdem generis in general it can be equated with rights for workers in general, such as: the right to adequate wages, the right to leave, the right to health insurance, the right to severance pay, as well as the right to legal protection. However, there are rights that need to get special arrangements related to security guards in their position as special workers such as the right to associate and assemble which need to be further regulated through government regulations and presidential regulations which contain: the position of independent security guards, especially security guards, rights and obligations, as well as efforts and legal mechanisms.
 Highlights:
 
 Dual Role: Security guards perform police duties and have labor law rights.
 Employment Rights: Guards' rights align with general workers.
 Special Regulations: Specific rights need further government regulation.
 
 Keywords: labor law, security guard, SATPAM
 
 

Implementing and Enhancing Labour Standards Through FTAs? A Critical Analysis of the Panel Report in the EU-Korea Case

The EU has been a long-time advocate of including labour provisions in trade agreements. The labour provisions in the EU’s Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) have gone through intergenerational development and become a staple practice. Moreover, recent years witnessed the EU’s strengthened enforcement of labour commitments made in FTAs by trade partners. In 2018, the EU initiated a dispute settlement process against Korea based on the EU-Korea FTA, which is the first and, up to now, the only case on alleged violations of labour provisions in an EU FTA. In the published report, the Panel makes findings on three key jurisdictional and substantive issues: the requirement of a trade-labour linkage, the incorporation of International Labour Organization (ILO) labour standards into the FTA, and the obligation to ratify the fundamental ILO Conventions. Based on a critical analysis, the Panel’s decisions arguably not only left much to be desired at the technical level, but may exert an unpleasant effect on the development of the relationship between labour protection and FTAs. Nevertheless, the EUKorea case provides an important opportunity to revisit the appropriateness of using FTAs to implement and enhance labour standards, including enforcing labour provisions through a dispute settlement process. Dispute Settlement, Free Trade Agreements, Labour Standards, The EU-Korea Labour Dispute, Trade-Labour Linkage

THE RECOGNITION OF OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH AS A FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLE AND RIGHT AT WORK

AbstractIn June 2022, the International Labour Organization (ILO) decided to amend the 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in order to include the right to a safe and healthy working environment among the core labour rights to which member States are committed by virtue of their membership. The amendment marks the successful completion of three years of negotiations initiated in response to the 2019 Centenary Declaration by which the ILO's tripartite constituency recognized that safe and healthy working conditions were fundamental to decent work. Adding occupational safety and health as a fifth pillar to the 1998 Declaration was generally welcomed as a commendable development although critics may still assert that as a soft law instrument the amended Declaration may not have decisive impact on workplace safety and health globally. Despite broad agreement about the timeliness and importance of recognizing occupational safety and health as a fundamental workers’ right—especially in light of the pandemic experience—concerns were raised about the possible implications of the amended Declaration on existing trade agreements, and in particular whether it would create, directly or indirectly, new obligations for member States. This article looks into the origins and negotiating history of the amendment to the 1998 Declaration and addresses the scope and legal effect of a saving clause by which the Conference sought to ensure that the amended Declaration would not impact obligations and commitments of States set out in labour provisions of free trade agreements currently in force and would not be subject to dynamic interpretation in the context of a trade dispute.

Chinese and Indian economic relations and development assistance to Zimbabwe: Rationale, controversies and significance

AbstractRecent economic relations including foreign assistance scenario in Africa show expansion of China and India as emerging bilateral partners, competing with traditional countries in Europe and North America. The results of this paper found that the relationship of China and India with Zimbabwe has resulted in several challenges including increasing resource‐backed debt burden, exploitation of the natural resources, and flouting of constitutional, environmental, and labor provisions. The paper recommends that the Zimbabwean government must demand loans and investments that are contracted under clear terms and conditions, with parliamentary oversight and public scrutiny to avoid abuse by the elites.

Peace on Our Terms: The Global Battle for Women's Rights after the First World War

Peace on Our Terms: The Global Battle for Women's Rights after the First World War

A New Chapter in China’s Stance on Labour Protection? An Assessment of the China–EU CAI

ABSTRACT China overhauled its pre-existing image of being insufficiently friendly to sustainable development in international investment agreements (IIAs) with its sweeping, specific, and strong commitments to labour rights protection in the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) recently concluded with the European Union. This article provides an assessment of these labour provisions and examines their impact on China’s national, regional, and global stances on labour protection. Firstly, it analyses the features and purposes of different types of labour provision and the integrated mechanism for settling disputes on labour issues. This article then identifies the gap between China’s commitments under the CAI and its actual practices and presents a wish list for China to enhance labour protection, including efforts to ratify fundamental International Labour Organization conventions, improve domestic legislation on core labour principles, and enhance corporate social responsibility among Chinese investors. Further, this article assesses the macro-level impacts of these labour provisions. It argues that the CAI presents an opportunity to strengthen sustainable development and labour rights protection within China, along the Belt and Road Initiative, and globally. China is advised to continue incorporating modernized labour standards into its future IIAs.

A Glass Half-Empty or Half-Full? An Assessment of the Labour Provisions in the CAI from Chinese and European Perspectives

Abstract The EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) presents a balancing act in labour rights protection. For the EU, labour rights protection constitutes an integral part of every trade and investment agreement it negotiates. China rarely includes labour provisions in trade and investment agreements. This article discusses current EU and Chinese approaches to integrating labour rights in trade and investment agreements, then introduces the provisions included in the proposed text of the CAI, and finally compares the proposed provisions in the CAI to the current approaches of the parties, focusing on five issues: international commitments, domestic labour regulation, dispute settlement, cooperation and stakeholder engagement. The article finds that from a European perspective, the CAI might represent a step back, while from a Chinese perspective, it might represent a step forward.