World Trade and Decent Work

By Poul Nyrup Rasmussen, Guy Ryder, Giampiero Alhadeff and Willy Thys
Le Monde

Thursday 15 December 2005

Whatever the outcome of the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, one thing is certain: the population's confidence in the benefits of globalization is seriously spoiled today. Citizens' enthusiasm for unhindered free trade is losing steam, and that initial enthusiasm for opening up could even turn itself into ... a call for protectionism.

Most people don't follow WTO negotiations in detail. Their preoccupation is fear of the impact on their daily life of this wild liberalization. A fear that risks leading them to reject the globalized trade system, which would constitute a step backward for all of us.

The great promise of liberalized trade is to create prosperity and jobs. But this promise is far from being fulfilled and seems even to have completely disappeared from the WTO's agenda. In the meantime, millions of workers live in the insecurity that derives from the deregulation of international markets.

Everywhere in the world, workers fear losing their jobs. In developed countries, they observe the contraction in the number of industrial jobs and the inadequacy of the training and retraining programs established for those who find themselves out on the street. In the European Union (EU) alone, during the last decade, one million jobs have disappeared in the textile and garment industries, and equally large job losses are expected in the next five years.

In developing countries, many workers are forced to accept salaries and conditions worse than before. This situation is visible in the free export zones, where women - who constitute 80% of the workforce - work long hours with no rights to form unions or have representation. Exempt from all fiscal obligations, as well as from any respect for labor norms, these zones constitute the most extreme example of the pressures undergone by those who want a job. In China, workers realize no - or almost no - benefit from the purported "economic miracle" in their country.

Having a job does not always guarantee having enough income to live - still less income sufficient to offer the possibility of living decently. But many workers all over the world are under-employed, that is, they hold several jobs on an irregular or occasional basis without any employment security. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), in Asia alone, one billion people work to earn less than two dollars a day, which is not enough for them to get by. According to the ILO, more than two million workers die each year from the consequences of illnesses or accidents related to the jobs they perform. At least 12.3 people in the world are victims of forced labor, when it's not pure and simple slavery. Two hundred and fifty million children who have been forced to work have been counted, and that number includes only those who receive a salary.

In this context, it's not surprising that ordinary people fear the advance of trade liberalization. The countries engaged in negotiations with the WTO must imperatively acquire their populations' support to establish a just world trade system. Decent work must be clearly identified as one of the inherent objectives in future trade policies. The concept of decent work includes respect for the rights of workers and for international labor norms, as well as equality between men and women, social protection and social dialogue.

The WTO must encourage its members to ratify and apply international labor norms. The ILO defines workers' fundamental rights as the minimum to which each worker in the world must be able to lay claim. These norms include abolition of forced labor and child labor, the right of free association and collective bargaining, and the prohibition of any discrimination. By any logic, the world trading system should be able, at a minimum, to respect and support these fundamental rights. Just as we have the right to expect that trade agreements will respect international norms in the domains of the environment and health.

Decent work and social norms are not protectionist instruments the North desires against a South that poverty holds by the throat: these are legitimate demands for human dignity, social progress and justice.

The combination of commercial practices and a real global commitment in favor of decent work - giving people the possibility to be trained, to benefit from elementary social coverage, and to send their children to school - is the route that will lead to long-term development for everyone.

Trade has the potential to create more and better quality jobs by basing itself on solid foundations: respect for workers' elementary rights. It is our governments' responsibility to fulfill this task; otherwise they run the risk of having to confront a rejection of globalization shared by an ever-growing number of their citizens.

Poul Nyrup Rasmussen is President of the European Socialists' Party.

Guy Ryder is General Secretary of the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions.

Giampiero Alhadeff is General Secretary of Solidar.

Willy Thys is General Secretary of the World Confederation of Labour.

Translation: t r u t h o u t French language correspondent Leslie Thatcher.