ABSTRACT
Demands for international labour standards have been advanced in international economic relations for more than 200 years. The diplomatic efforts have taken various forms, from minor initiatives by individual philanthropists in the form of memoranda and petitions, to the actual formation of organizations and agreements (Hansson 1983, 2003: 1–5 and references therein). A frequent argument in these activities has been the assumed or witnessed relationship between working conditions and international competitiveness. As labour costs are essential for competitiveness, it is obvious that increased requirements for working conditions in an individual country can easily result, at least in the short term, in higher costs of production and therefore in reduced international competitiveness. As a result, trade unions and governments in some ‘old’ industrial countries have found great incentives to invest in various types of political activities for establishing internationally valid labour standards that are linked to the rules of international trade.
