ABSTRACT
The link between trade and labour has a long history (Charnovitz 1987; Leary 1996; Molatlhegi 2000; Salazar-Xirinachs and Martinez-Piva 2003). It has become one of the most contentious contemporary issues in trade and labour policy circles. When U.S. president Bill Clinton stated at the Seattle ministerial meetings of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in December 1999 that trade sanctions should be available under the WTO multilateral system against countries violating international labour standards, it provoked an intensely hostile reaction from developing countries. Indeed, it was a significant factor in the failure of WTO members to agree at that time on the launch of a new multilateral round. The subsequent ministerial declaration that launched a new round at Doha in 2000 confirmed the 1996 Singapore ministerial decision to remit all international labour standards issues to the International Labour Organization (ILO). However, the issue of a trade-labour link seems unlikely to go away. Regionally, the potential expansion of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) into the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas (FTAA) will raise the scope and status of NAFTA's side agreement on labour in this context. And unilateral trade actions by states on account of labour practices prevailing in other states may well provoke trade disputes that will require adjudication by international trade dispute settlement bodies.
