On November 29, in the second day of a conference on globalization and workers rights organized by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, world labor leaders heard promises of support from representatives of the Clinton administration and the European Union.

U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky and her EU counterpart Pascal Lamy each promoted their labor proposals to the WTO. The two proposals differ somewhat.

"The WTO does not recognize the link between trade and labor," Barshefsky said. "That is intellectually indefensible, and over time, it will weaken public support for global trade."

To this statement, ICFTU head Bill Jordan strongly concurred. "Top labor leaders and ministers will certainly use a lot of fine words in their official speeches over the next few days praising the world trading system. The protesters outside are there to remind them that there is an underside to the global market, and that they will have to deal with it if free trade and investment is to win popular support in the form of votes in legislatures."

"The defeat of the Multilateral Agreement on Investment last year is a warning to that band of true believers often described as 'the trade community' that if there is to be another trade round, it will have to include negotiations on how to prevent companies from gaining advantage from world markets from the persistent and gross abuse of core labor standards."

To address the credibility gap on labor issues, the Clinton administration is proposing that the WTO form a working group on trade and labor standards. Such a group would study the relationships between trade and employment, trade and social safety nets, trade and the lack of enforcement of existing labor laws, trade and forced and exploitative child labor, and trade and core labor standards. It would also evaluate trade policy incentives that would encourage higher labor standards.

The EU likewise proposes to set up a working group, but under the shared auspices of the WTO and the International Labor Organization, a UN-affiliated body. "It would have a foot in both, without belonging to either," explained EU trade minister Lamy.

Jordan said what the group is called is unimportant; it's what it does that counts. If such a group is formed, the ICFTU wants to see it operate as a permanent body WITHIN the WTO, with a mandate to propose measures that would encourage respect for core labor standards.

For now, the idea of making violations of labor standards WTO-illegal on par with violations of intellectual property rights is not likely to get far in the WTO.

"For us, sanctions are not on the agenda," said EU trade rep Lamy. Instead the EU favors an approach based on incentives.

"What we are talking about has nothing to do with imposing advanced countries' standards on developing countries, depriving them of their trade advantages," Lamy said. Still, he acknowledged, the world's workers cannot rely on the fact that most countries have signed ILO conventions on labor. A working group, then, would be a step in the right direction.

Like the European Union, the Clinton administration wants credit for pushing labor proposals in the WTO and patience from unions if they fail to win passage.

Clinton Administration officials have made a point of emphasizing that developing countries oppose introducing any labor standards to the WTO, and point to the consensus nature of the WTO. The organization does operate formally on consensus. But in past experience, as Martin Khor, director of Third World Network, observes, "the big countries come up with the proposals and then use all of their influence to appeal to the small countries not to change a single comma or full stop."

At the ICFTU conference, Barshefsky reminded labor leaders that at the 1996 WTO Ministerial meeting in Singapore, the United States and Norway were the only countries that attempted to link trade and labor standards. The question organized labor needs to answer is: "Are such efforts real attempts, or are they purely for domestic consumption, theatrics staged to mollify local labor constituents?" The answer will show in how much influence the United States and the European Union are willing to use, and whether they are prepared to walk away from the Ministerial without agreement on labor issues.

Labor abuses weren't among the negotiating obstacles China had to overcome to get U.S. support for WTO membership, a fact that has caused labor officials to view with considerable doubt the depth and sincerity of the Clinton administration's promises.

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