ABSTRACT
The governments which are members of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) express their commitment to protecting labour standards by signing the ILO’s International Labour Conventions. Core labour standards refer to only five ILO Conventions which are considered to be basic trade union and worker rights. These include freedom of association, the right to organise and bargain collectively, freedom from forced labour, equal pay for equal work, and no child labour. The social clause proposal is based on the idea that if a member of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) violates one or more of the core labour conventions then a complaint can be made to the WTO by another member. This complaint is made like any other trade dispute under the WTO. A member of the WTO complains that part of a WTO agreement is being violated by another member, and the WTO then forms a panel to judge the case.
