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Labor Standards in Trade Preference Laws Between the US and Africa

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Global Perspectives on US Democratization Efforts

Abstract

The USA is not a signatory of most ILO conventions, but it promotes the improvement of labor standards around the world using free trade agreements signed by the USA and other countries. Frankowski analyzes the limits to external norm promotion by assessing labor clauses in US FTAs and their effectiveness. It identifies core American methods for promoting labor standards, with emphasis on relations with developed and developing countries. Frankowski moves beyond traditional explanations with a negative view of the American approach and argues that the USA plays a more important role than other, normatively oriented, actors such as the EU. The promotion of improved worker rights abroad should be perceived as part of the USA’s global democratization efforts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Philip Alston (editor), Labour rights as human rights, New York, Oxford University Press, 2005, p. 1.

  2. 2.

    Ian Manners, “The social dimension of EU trade policies: reflections from a normative power perspective”, European Foreign Affairs Review, Vol. 14, No. 5, 2009, pp. 785–803; Ole Elgström, “Trade and aid? The negotiated construction of EU policy on economic partnership agreements”, International Politics, Vol. 46, No. 4, 2009, pp. 451–468; Andy Storey, “Normative Power Europe? Economic Partnership Agreements and Africa”, Journal of Contemporary African Studies, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 331–346. 2006; David A. Gantz, “Labor Rights and Environmental Protection under NAFTA and Other US Free Trade Agreements”, University of Miami Inter-American Law Review, Vol. 42, No. 2, 2011, pp. 297–356; Francesco Duina, The Social Construction of Free Trade: the European Union, NAFTA and MERCOSUR, Princeton; Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2006;.

  3. 3.

    Emilie M. Hafner-Burton, “Trading Human Rights: How Preferential Trade Agreements Influence Government Repression”, International Organization, Vol. 59, No. 3, 2005, pp. 593–629; Philip. Alston, Op. Cit.; Philip Alston, “Core Labour Standards” and the Transformation of the International Labour Rights Regime”, European Journal of International Law, Vol. 15, No. 3, 2004, pp. 457–521; Colin Fenwick and Tonia Novitz (eds.), Human rights at work: perspectives on law and regulation, Oxford, Hart, 2010.

  4. 4.

    International Labor Office, Social Dimensions Of Free Trade Agreements, Geneva, International Labour Office, 2013, p. 1.

  5. 5.

    Roman Grynberg and Veniana Qalo, “Labour Standards in US and EU Preferential Trading Arrangements”, Journal of World Trade, Vol. 40, No. 4, 2006, pp. 619–653.

  6. 6.

    Cfr. Mathieu Rousselin, “The EU as a Multilateral Rule Exporter. The Global Transfer of European Rules via International Organizations”, Freie Universitat Berlin, Berlin, 2012, Transformative Power Europe Working Papers 48, p. 23.

  7. 7.

    Moonhawk Kim, “Ex Ante Due Diligence: Formation of PTAs and Protection of Labor Rights”, International Studies Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 4, 2012, pp. 704–719.

  8. 8.

    Roman Grynberg and Veniana. Qalo, Op. Cit.; Myriam Oehri, “Comparing US and EU labour governance “near and far”—hierarchy vs network?”, Journal of European Public Policy, Vol. 22, No. 5, 2014, pp. 731–749.

  9. 9.

    Agreement on Labour Cooperation Between Canada and The Republic of Colombia, article. 20.

  10. 10.

    Bart Kerremans and Myriam Martins Gistelinck, “Interest aggregation, political parties, labour standards and trade: Differences in the US and EU approaches to the inclusion of labour standards in international trade agreements”, European Foreign Affairs Review, Vol. 14, No. 5, 2009, pp. 692–694.

  11. 11.

    Australia—US Free Trade Agreement, available online at http://www.ustr.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/agreements/fta/australia/asset_upload_file148_5168.pdf [accessed February 13, 2015].

  12. 12.

    William H. Cooper, et al., The U.S.-South Korea Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA): Provisions and Implications, available online at http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R40967.pdf [accessed April 24, 2013].

  13. 13.

    Op. Cit., pp. 43–44.

  14. 14.

    Moonhawk Kim, Op. Cit.; Robert D. Putnam, “Diplomacy and Domestic Politics: The Logic of Two-Level Games”, International Organization, Vo. 42, No. 3, 1988, pp. 427–460.

  15. 15.

    Loretta Elizabeth Bass, Child Labor in Sub-Saharan Africa, Boulder, Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004, p. 4.

  16. 16.

    Human Rights Watch, A Poisonous Mix. Child Labor, Mercury, and Artisanal Gold Mining in Mali, available at http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/mali1211_insert_LOWRES_WITH_COVER.pdf [accessed February 13, 2015].

  17. 17.

    International Labour Organization, Children in hazardous work: What we know, what we need to do, Geneva, 2011.

  18. 18.

    Brock Williams, African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA): Background and Reauthorization, Washington, DC, Congressional Report Service, 2014.

  19. 19.

    The African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Trade and Development Act of 2000; P.L. 106–200, sec 104.

  20. 20.

    Myriam Oehri, Op. Cit.

  21. 21.

    Mary J. Bolle, Overview of labor enforcement issues in free trade agreements, Washington, DC, Congressional Research Service, 2014, p. 9.

  22. 22.

    Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Standing Up for Workers: Promoting Labor Rights through Trade, Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR), 2015, p. 40.

  23. 23.

    Op. Cit.

  24. 24.

    Op. Cit.

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Frankowski, P. (2016). Labor Standards in Trade Preference Laws Between the US and Africa. In: Burt, S., Añorve, D. (eds) Global Perspectives on US Democratization Efforts. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-58984-2_6

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