[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1827 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1827
To provide permanent authorization for International Labor Affairs
Bureau to continue and enhance their work to alleviate child labor and
improve respect for internationally recognized worker rights and core
labor standards, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
December 13, 2001
Mr. Harkin (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. Baucus) introduced the
following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide permanent authorization for International Labor Affairs
Bureau to continue and enhance their work to alleviate child labor and
improve respect for internationally recognized worker rights and core
labor standards, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Fair International Labor Standards
in Trade and Investment Act of 2001''.
SEC. 2. OBJECTIVES; DUTIES OF ILAB.
(a) Objectives.--The policy objectives of Congress with respect to
international labor issues are as follows:
(1) Fundamental economic, political, social, technological,
and cross-cultural changes are proceeding in ways that
accelerate global integration and interdependence.
(2) The United States national interest is served by more
open markets, expanding trade, and investment liberalization
within the community of nations, balanced by increased respect
and enforcement of universal human rights as defined in the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the ILO Declaration
of Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
(3) The American people believe that more open
international trade, investment, and market access are not ends
in themselves, but means for attaining greater economic
justice, social responsibility, and sustainable development in
both the United States and the global economy.
(4) A principal objective of the international economic
policy of the United States is to spread the benefits of trade
and investment liberalization as broadly as possible within all
trading nations and not just between them.
(5) United States international economic policy should
emphasize the following 4 principal goals:
(A) The achievement of steadily increasing
purchasing power throughout the global economy in
tandem with expanding global productive capacity that
leads to--
(i) the elimination of abusive child labor;
(ii) rising living standards in developing
and developed national economies; and
(iii) the acceleration of broad-based
consumer markets within all trading nations.
(B) The discouragement of economic development by
any nation based on the commercial exploitation of
child labor and the systematic denial of
internationally recognized worker rights and core labor
standards, in order to gain illegitimate competitive
advantage in international trade and investment.
(C) The expansion of global trade and investment,
not protectionism, based on growing public confidence
that the rules governing international flows of
capital, goods, services, technology, and labor are
structured, in law and practice, to end abusive child
labor and promote the rights and interests of working
people as well as those of other parties to
international agreements.
(D) The alleviation of poverty, hunger, abusive
child labor, and illiteracy through the empowerment of
working people in all trading nations so that they can
more fully participate in policy-making and benefit
equitably from the fruits of their labor in the conduct
of global trade, investment, and commerce.
(b) Duties of ILAB.--Under the guidance of the Secretary of Labor,
the International Labor Affairs Bureau shall have the primary
responsibility for advancing the policy objectives and goals set out in
subsection (a) and for coordinating all related United States
activities.
SEC. 3. FUNCTIONS.
The Secretary of Labor is authorized to act through the
International Labor Affairs Bureau, to carry out the following
activities to promote fair international standards in trade and
investment:
(1) Represent the United States in the International Labor
Organization (ILO) and support that Organization's activities,
consulting with the organizations that represent employers and
employees in that body.
(2) Provide bilateral and multilateral technical assistance
to enable developing countries in particular to--
(A) implement core labor standards;
(B) strengthen governmental capacity to enforce
national labor laws and protect internationally
recognized worker rights; and
(C) develop policies to assist workers who are
adversely affected by shifts in trade and investments
flows, structural adjustments, and macroeconomic
changes within national economies and the global
economy respectively.
(3) Provide bilateral aid to foreign countries to eliminate
abusive child labor and other trade and investment-related
worker rights violations and to support workforce development
programs to foster broad-based, equitable, and sustainable
economic development in recipient countries.
(4) Compile and report annually to Congress, on the extent
to which each foreign country that has a trade and investment
agreement with the United States protects the free exercise of
internationally recognized worker rights, as required under
United States law, and promotes core labor standards as
embodied in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and
Rights at Work.
(5) Conduct research and analysis on the relationship
between internationally recognized worker rights and core labor
standards and the conduct of international, trade, commerce,
and investment and related trends.
SEC. 4. GRANTS.
The Secretary of Labor may award grants and enter into cooperative
agreements and contracts to carry out the functions described in
section 3.
SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF FUNDS.
There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secreatry of Labor
such sums as are necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act.
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