Make Trade Work for Workers

By William Lucy

As we approach the 21st century, the reality of economic globalization is one we must all recognize. Though globalization is occurring on every level of commerce, it should not progress unchecked without the scrutiny of the labor movement and others who care about justice for workers.

Without our careful input, the rush to embrace global capitalism could sacrifice worker rights that we have struggled long and hard to achieve.

The new world order of the recent past has created an alphabet soup of entities charged with bringing about economic globalization. Chief among these is the World Trade Organization (WTO).

The WTO has a tremendous effect on domestic policy in the United States because of the tribunal process it uses to adjudicate disputes. A government that loses such a dispute is bound to amend their own domestic legislation or face heavy fines.

Even many who supported formation of the WTO in 1995 have been appalled by the extent of the tribunal’s reach into U.S. domestic policy. Here are a few examples:

• The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was forced to weaken its Clean Air Act regulations to comply with a WTO ruling barring U.S. limits on contaminants in imported foreign gasoline. Venezuela claimed that the limits, which affected California and eight other states, acted as an unfair trade barrier.
• In September, U.S. supermarkets began again to sell tuna that is caught using mile-long nets blamed for snaring and killing thousands of dolphins each year. This is a direct result of the WTO forcing Congress to weaken the Marine Mammal Protection Act.
• The state of Massachusetts had passed a law banning state contracts with firms doing business with the oppressive military dictatorship of Burma. The European Union and Japan filed a complaint to the WTO and a federal court used that complaint as evidence that the state’s law constituted a trade barrier and an intrusion on the federal government’s foreign policy powers.

When the WTO ministerial conference was held in Seattle in November, AFSCME was out in full to let them know that workers will not be denied in the quest for international trade agreements. Along with other unions and groups that represent environmental and human rights causes, we held teach-ins to educate the public about the destructive policies of the WTO.

Since the ministers were doing their best to dodge us and the issue of worker rights, we filled a stadium in Seattle for a rally to get our message across. They understand now that we will not be ignored.

Specifically, we demanded core workers’ rights and environmental protections with strong enforcement procedures, including:

• the right to organize and bargain collectively;
• prohibition on the use of forced or compulsory labor;
• a minimum age for child labor; and
• prohibition on discrimination in employment.

Above all, we demand that workers be at the negotiating table. We have suffered the consequences long enough of agreements drawn up by academics and trade ministers alone.

Fortunately, we are far from alone in our fight for worker justice in the global economy. Vice Pres. Al Gore’s first speech after he received the AFL-CIO’s endorsement for president was to the Democratic Leadership Council. He told them, “We need new rules for the global marketplace. Globalization should be a tide that lifts all boats, not a wave that overwhelms the most vulnerable. ... As president, I will insist on the authority to enforce workers’ rights, human rights and environmental protections in trade agreements.”

Our efforts have paid off as the U.S. government recently indicated — over the staunch opposition of the business community — that it is asking the WTO to form a working group on labor. This is an important first step for workers.

The world is changing at the close of this century, and the way we do business will change accordingly. It is time for policy-makers, unions and citizens to ensure that these changes do no harm to workers who will be charged with making the global economy a reality through their labors.