Martínez-Piva, The Greater Caribbean This Week

As the process of integration and liberalization of the world economy deepens, more subjects are incorporated into the trade realm. Elements that were traditionally considered components of domestic policies are being discussed and incorporated into the negotiations. Such is the case of intellectual property rights, competition policy, investment issues, government procurement disciplines, modern dispute resolution mechanisms and increasingly, labor standards.

Labor issues touch fibers that lie at the very heart of the social fabric of every nation, and as a result, such topics have great political significance. In the United States, these issues have been debated in Congress from the start of the discussions in 1994 for the reestablishment of the so-called "fast-track". The fear of some sectors in the United States is that this opening would cause a displacement of employment opportunities from that country to other countries having lower wages and inferior work conditions.

These pressures have been effective. In fact, in August 2002, when President George W. Bush finally signed the 2002 Trade Act giving him the "fast-track" authority, it included labor and environmental issues as an objective of negotiations for the United States.

This has led to the incorporation of these topics into the main text of recent trade agreements signed by the United States. This is the case of the agreements signed with Jordan in 2001, with Chile in 2002 and with Singapore early this year. In these agreements fines are used to ensure the implementation of labor standards. These events, coupled with the constant pressure from certain groups within the US Congress, seem to suggest that the link between trade negotiations and labor issues will be maintained, and that this link will be transferred to the negotiations to be conducted within the framework of the Central American Free Trade Area (CAFTA), as well as the FTAA itself.

Many of our countries, on the other hand, fear that the incorporation of such topics into trade negotiations will lead to the imposition of sanctions, fines and protectionist processes. Their opposition has prevented these subjects from being formally included in the negotiation process for the FTAA. However, they have been incorporated into the agenda of the Committee of Government Representatives on the Participation of Civil Society of the FTAA and countries have confirm their compromise with the observance of "Core labor standards" such as freedom of association, collective organization and negotiation, the freedom from forced labor, the abolition of child labor and the freedom from discrimination. Additionally, the International Labor Organisation (ILO) has been established as the competent body to set and deal with these standards.

The concerns on how to manage these issues and allow the negotiations to move forward should not shift the attention of both camps away from the underlined objective of the liberalization process and therefore the negotiation process itself --- procuring a trade environment capable of fostering socio-economic development.

The liberalization process must, therefore, produce quality jobs; generate increasing sources of employment for all, under improved conditions, and with remuneration, which would allow the sustainable human development of the population. Procuring the policy spaces and the mechanisms to secure these goals is indeed the true challenge our countries face.

Juan Carlos Martínez-Piva is the Trade Advisor of the Association of Caribbean States. The views expressed are not necessarily the official views of the ACS. Feedback can be sent to mail@acs-aec.org.

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opinion

Trade negotiations and labor standards