Panel discusses workers? rights and sustainability in trade agreements

LO recently hosted a roundtable discussion on sustainability and workers? rights in trade agreements which saw active participation from representatives from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Confederation of Danish Industry, LO?s unions, the European Commission, and many others.

Associate professor, Jens Ladefoged Mortensen from the University of Copenhagen presented his discussion paper, ?Towards more efficient sustainability provisions in future European trade agreements: Can Europe learn from the US?? which provided an interesting backdrop to the subsequent debate.

Why is LO so invested in the debate on globalization and trade agreements?

The adoption of UN?s 17th development goal has made the promotion of decent work in future trade agreements a key objective. It is in this light that LO considers trade agreements as a tool to promote decent working conditions and social rights.

Furthermore, this summer, the EU Commission launched a consultation on how to more effectively implement and enforce workers? rights in bilateral trade agreements. LO would like to respond and contribute to this in the most informed and qualified way possible.

LO?s responses ? 11 recommendations

In order to qualify and provide a basis for decisions on how to create more efficient provisions on workers? rights in trade deals, LO has asked Professor Jens Ladefoged Mortensen from the University of Copenhagen to prepare a discussion paper (60 pages which will be available in English for download in April). It analyses and compares the different methods applied by the EU and the US in trade agreements.

LO has also prepared its own policy paper More effective provisions on workers’ rights in trade agreements which lists 11 specific recommendations for more effective provisions in future trade agreements. These are a few of the recommendations:

  • Strengthening CSR; A strengthened CSR-chapter would be an important tool for EU-based companies to take actual responsibility for improved conditions for workers in the countries in which they operate.
  • Enforcement and economic incentives; LO recommends using economic incentives to strengthen conditions for workers instead of opening to the use of sanctions. Economic sanctions, however, need to be in place. LO also suggests that the EU remove all doubt as to what will happen if the recommendations of the Expert Committee are not observed. The EU has so far been too hesitant.
  • Strengthening the multilateral track; It cannot be stressed enough that the ILO and WTO need to join forces in order to secure fairer conditions for trade as wells as strengthening the multilateral track.

Read the remaining 8 in the policy paper  More effective provisions on workers’ rights in trade agreements