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

• 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

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.

孟加拉国拉纳广场大楼倒塌等最近发生的引人注目的事件表明，需要在地球仪各地更好地保护和加强工人的权利。国际贸易协定中的可持续发展条款为欧洲联盟等主要贸易集团试图这样做提供了一个重要的机制，本项目调查欧盟改善其边界以外的劳工标准的承诺。报告重点阐述了欧盟的承诺，即“在双边和多边贸易谈判中，将其更多的商业影响力用于促进社会标准和体面工作的努力”，这一承诺在“新一代”自由贸易协定所载的劳工标准条款中得到宣扬，成为促进第三国劳工标准的一个关键政策机制。自2011年与韩国签订自由贸易协定以来，所有新的欧盟自由贸易协定都包含“贸易和可持续发展”的专门章节，承诺尊重核心劳工标准（结社自由、消除强迫劳动和废除童工）。协定还载有监测和审查这些标准遵守情况的体制机制，包括协定双方代表组成的联合委员会、处理申诉的独立专家机构和民间社会审查机制。该模式具有新颖性和创新性。这不是一个用制裁来强迫遵守的“硬性法律”机制。它也不是一个“软”法律机制（如公平贸易），因为国家承诺采取行动，他们的表现受到监督和审查。因此，对现有保护劳工标准机制的研究无助于理解欧盟新模式的有效性。也没有现有的研究直接调查这种新模式对与欧盟签署“新一代”自由贸易协定的国家的工人的影响;国际机构注意到了这一缺失。因此，本研究项目填补了这一重要空白。我们将考察最近与欧盟签署此类协议的三个国家（韩国、摩尔多瓦和圭亚那），调查：（1）每项协定的谈判过程，以及这些过程是否有助于各国国内联盟推动更好地保护劳工标准;（2）贸易协定建立的体制机制正在发生什么，以及提出和处理关键劳工标准问题的程度;（3）各国的主要出口部门（汽车，（分别是糖和衣服）审查贸易协定中的谈判进程和体制机制对第三国的工厂和农田有何影响;对本课题至关重要的是，要认识到FTA中的劳动标准条款对第三国工人的生活可能会产生非常不同的影响，这取决于一系列因素，包括：（1）每个贸易伙伴的实力如何，以及这如何影响欧盟影响其政策和做法的能力;（2）执行每项协定的地缘政治背景（自由贸易协定（韩国），更广泛的经济伙伴关系协定的一部分（圭亚那），或作为更深入的经济一体化的一部分（摩尔多瓦）;以及（3）不同的经济部门如何受到影响，因此我们的研究将着眼于三个不同的行业：资本密集型制造业（汽车）;劳动密集型制造业（服装）和农业生产加工（糖）对这一“新一代”模式的评估将是一个重要的证据来源，为欧洲委员会、国际劳工组织、和工会/非政府组织团体就自由贸易协定的实施和谈判。

项目成果

Labour Regimes and Global Production

劳工制度和全球生产

• 发表时间: 2022
• 作者: Schling, H

Labour standards in EU free trade agreements: working towards what end?

欧盟自由贸易协定中的劳工标准：朝着什么目标努力？

• 发表时间: 2016
• 期刊: GREAT Insights
• 作者: Harrison J

South Korea's Automotive Labour Regime, Hyundai Motors' Global Production Network and Trade-Based Integration with the European Union

韩国汽车劳工制度、现代汽车的全球生产网络以及与欧盟的贸易一体化

• DOI: 10.1111/bjir.12506
• 发表时间: 2019
• 期刊: British Journal of Industrial Relations
• 影响因子: 2.6
• 作者: Campling L

Free Trade Agreements and Global Labour Governance: The European Union's Trade-Labour Linkage in a Value Chain World

自由贸易协定和全球劳工治理：价值链世界中欧盟的贸易与劳工联系

• 发表时间: 2020
• 作者: Smith

Labour Standards Provisions in EU Free Trade Agreements: Reflections on the European Commission's Reform Agenda

• DOI: 10.1017/s1474745618000204
• 发表时间: 2019-10-01
• 期刊: WORLD TRADE REVIEW
• 影响因子: 1.3
• 作者: Harrison, James;Barbu, Mirela;Smith, Adrian
• 通讯作者: Smith, Adrian