US to use every tool to improve labour rights in partner countries
The Obama administration will use its every tool, including the trade privilege schemes like the GSP and AGOA, to improve labour laws and working conditions in the countries that have trading relations with the US, said US Trade Representative Michael Froman.
Protecting labour rights is a core priority of President Barack Obama's trade agenda, the chief trade negotiator in the US said in a statement.
Froman also announced that he will hold a hearing in January on several countries' labour rights situation under the generalised system of preferences (GSP).
The hearing, which will include the reviews of worker rights situation in Thailand, will be based on a petition submitted by the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO), the largest trade union in the US.
Worker rights criteria are a key component of the US trade preference programmes and trade agreements and have helped in boosting worker rights in many countries that are trading partners of the US, according to the statement.
On using the trade tools for advancing the labour rights, Froman cited examples of Bangladesh and Swaziland. Following the Rana Plaza building collapse in April 2013, the USTR suspended the GSP benefit for Bangladesh in June of the same year, mentioning serious shortcomings in workplace safety and poor labour rights in the country.
With the suspension of the GSP, the USTR has also given a set of 16 conditions as Bangladesh Action Plan to be fulfilled by the government and the private sector to regain the trade benefit.
The country has submitted the progress report on the improvements done under the Action Plan twice to the USTR.
It has also been lobbying the USTR through the Ticfa meeting to reinstate the trade benefit, although the American government is saying that they will review the progresses further for reinstating the GSP for Bangladesh.
Similarly, the USTR also suspended the trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act for Swaziland.
“The United States is committed to working cooperatively with our trading partners to improve respect for labour rights.”
But the Obama administration is equally committed to taking strong action when progress is not made, as it did in suspending trade benefits for Bangladesh under GSP in 2013 and for Swaziland under AGOA in 2014.
The US has also brought the first-ever labour rights-related dispute settlement action under a free trade agreement against Guatemala under the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States free trade agreement, the statement said.
In addition, the US recently completed negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which contains the strongest protection for workers in any trade agreement in history, according to the statement.
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