ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the direction that the administration of George W. Bush (2001-9) has taken regarding the long-standing US commitment to the promotion of internationally recognized core labor standards (hereafter, core labor standards). US headlines and public discussions since September 2001 have been dominated by the war in Iraq, the “war on terror,” and other “national security” issues. While media and public attention has focused on the Administration’s initiatives to promote the security of the state, the Bush Administration has quietly undermined the ability of the US government to protect the security of US workers. The Administration has negotiated “free trade” agreements with three times as many governments as have all previous US administrations combined.2 Each of these agreements includes a chapter on labor, but effectively strips the US government of its ability to enforce the internationally recognized core labor standards. The chapter focuses on promotion of core labor standards through two US govern-
ment activities: trade agreements, negotiated by the US Trade Representative (USTR) and enacted by the US Congress, and labor diplomacy, engaged in by the US Department of State. Specifically, the chapter considers the impact of the Trade Act of 2002 on US promotion of core labor standards and examines the Administration’s use of the federal Advisory Committee on Labor Diplomacy, the central body for the coordination of US labor diplomacy activities. The study also considers the place of core labor standards in the US administration of Iraq after 2003. The chapter finds that the George W. Bush Administration, with the support of key
pro-trade Democrats, weakened the ability of the US government to protect core labor standards at home and to promote core labor standards abroad.3 Under previous administrations, trade sanctions (or threat of sanctions) had been used unilaterally and inequitably but also effectively. Trade agreements negotiated under the Bush Administration include language on labor but discard effective enforcement mechanisms. Additionally, the Bush Administration has blocked the work of the Department of State in advancing core labor standards.
