Working Beyond the Border: European Union Trade Agreements and International Labour Standards

跨境工作：欧盟贸易协定和国际劳工标准

基本信息

批准号：
ES/M009343/1
负责人：
Adrian Smith
金额：
$ 51.09万
依托单位：
Queen Mary University of London
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Research Grant
财政年份：
2015
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2015 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FM009343%2F1
关键词：
Working Beyond Border European Union

项目摘要

Recent high profile incidents such as the collapse of the Rana Plaza Building in Bangladesh demonstrate the need for workers' rights to be better protected and enhanced across the globe. Sustainable development clauses in international trade agreements provide one important mechanism by which major trading blocs, such as the European Union, are attempting to do this.This project investigates this commitment of the EU to improve labour standards beyond its borders. It focuses on the EU pledge "to put more of its commercial weight behind efforts to promote social standards and decent work in bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations", which has been trumpeted in the labour standards provisions contained in "new generation" free trade agreements (FTAs) as a key policy mechanism for promoting labour standards in third countries. This project investigates the impact of these new FTAs on workers in third countries.Since the 2011 free trade agreement with South Korea, all new EU FTAs contain a specific chapter on 'Trade and Sustainable Development', with commitments to respect core labour standards (freedom of association, eliminating forced labour and abolishing child labour). They also contain institutional mechanisms to monitor and review compliance with those standards including a joint committee of representatives of the two parties to the agreement, an independent body of experts to handle complaints, and a civil society review mechanism. This model is novel and innovative. It is not a 'hard law' mechanism where sanctions are used to force compliance. Nor is it a 'soft' law mechanism (like Fair Trade) because states are making commitments to take action, and their performance is monitored and reviewed. Consequently, research into existing mechanisms for protecting labour standards is not helpful in understanding how effective the EU's new model is. There is also no existing research which directly investigates what the impact of this new model is on workers in countries that have signed a 'new generation' FTA with the EU; an absence noted by international agencies. This research project therefore fills this important gap.We will examine three countries that have recently signed such agreements with the EU (South Korea, Moldova and Guyana), to investigate: (1) the negotiating process for each agreement, and whether these processes have helped domestic coalitions in each country to push for better protection of labour standards; (2) what is happening in the institutional mechanisms created by the trade agreements and the extent to which key labour standards issues are raised and dealt with; (3) key export sectors in each country (automobiles, clothing and sugar respectively) to examine what the impact of the negotiating processes and institutional mechanisms in the trade agreements are in the factories and fields of third countries; Vitally important to this project is the recognition that labour standards provisions in FTAs may have very different effects on workers' lives in third countries depending on a number of factors, including:(1) How powerful each trading partner is and how this effects the EU's ability to influence its policies and practices;(2) The geo-political context in which each agreement is implemented (a free standing trade agreement (South Korea), part of a wider economic partnership agreement (Guyana), or as part of much deeper economic integration (Moldova); and(3) How different economic sectors are affected, hence our research will look at three different industries; capital-intensive manufacturing (automobiles); labour-intensive manufacturing (clothing) and agricultural production and processing (sugar).Evaluation of this 'new generation' model will be a vital source of evidence to inform the work of international organisations such as the European Commission, the ILO, and trade union/NGO groups over FTA implementation and negotiations.

最近的备受瞩目的事件，例如孟加拉国的Rana Plaza大楼的崩溃表明，需要在全球范围内更好地保护和增强工人的权利。国际贸易协定中的可持续发展条款提供了一种重要的机制，欧盟等主要交易集团正在尝试这样做。该项目调查了欧盟对提高其边界范围之外的劳动力标准的承诺。它的重点是欧盟承诺“将更多的商业权重放在促进社会标准和双边和多边贸易谈判中的体面工作的努力之后”，该谈判在“新一代自由贸易协定（FTAS）中包含的劳动标准规定（FTAS）中已蒙上了高音，作为促进第三国劳动力标准的关键政策机制。该项目调查了这些新FTA对第三国工人的影响。由于2011年与韩国达成了自由贸易协定，所有新的欧盟FTA都包含有关“贸易和可持续发展”的特定章节，并承诺尊重核心劳工标准（消除了强迫劳动和消除童工）。它们还包含机构机制，以监视和审查遵守这些标准，包括该协议两方的代表联合委员会，专家独立的专家机构来处理投诉，以及公民社会的审查机制。该模型是新颖而创新的。这不是使用制裁来强制合规的“硬法”机制。这也不是“软”法律机制（例如公平贸易），因为各州正在做出采取行动的承诺，并且对其绩效进行监控和审查。因此，对保护劳动标准的现有机制的研究无助于了解欧盟的新模式的有效性。也没有现有的研究直接研究这种新模型对与欧盟签署“新一代” FTA的国家的工人的影响；国际机构缺席。因此，该研究项目填补了这一重要差距。我们将研究三个最近与欧盟（韩国，摩尔多瓦和圭亚那）签署了此类协议的国家，以调查：（1）每项协议的谈判过程，以及这些过程是否有助于每个国家 /地区的国内联盟，以推动对劳动劳动标准更好地保护劳动标准的更好的推动；（2）贸易协定创建的机构机制以及关键劳动标准问题的提出和处理程度的程度；（3）每个国家（分别是汽车，服装和糖）的关键出口部门，以检查谈判过程和机构机制在贸易协定中的影响在第三国的工厂和领域中； Vitally important to this project is the recognition that labour standards provisions in FTAs may have very different effects on workers' lives in third countries depending on a number of factors, including:(1) How powerful each trading partner is and how this effects the EU's ability to influence its policies and practices;(2) The geo-political context in which each agreement is implemented (a free standing trade agreement (South Korea), part of a wider economic partnership agreement (Guyana), or as更深层的经济整合（摩尔多瓦）和（3）如何影响不同的经济部门，因此我们的研究将考虑三个不同的行业；联合/非政府组织组织FTA实施和谈判。