[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 44 (Wednesday, April 20, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
        THE WORKER RIGHTS AND LABOR STANDARDS TRADE ACT OF 1994

                                 ______


                        HON. PETER J. VISCLOSKY

                               of indiana

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, April 20, 1994

  Mr. VISCLOSKY. Mr. Speaker, today, I am introducing legislation--with 
53 of my House colleagues as original cosponsors--directing the 
President to seek the establishment of a working party on worker rights 
and international labor standards within the General Agreement on 
Tariffs and Trade [GATT], as well as a standing committee on this issue 
within the World Trade Organization [WTO] when it comes into being next 
year.
  This bill, the Worker Rights and Labor Standards Trade Act of 1994, 
follows-up on House and Senate letters--signed by 68 U.S. 
Representatives and 20 U.S. Senators, respectively--sent to President 
Clinton in March urging him to marshall international support to 
establish a standing committee on worker rights and labor standards 
within the WTO, and, on an interim basis, a GATT working party on this 
issue.
  I commend the President and U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor 
for expressing their support for addressing worker rights through the 
GATT/WTO. In January of this year, President Clinton and the leaders of 
the European Union discussed the next generation of trade issues to be 
dealt with as the successor agenda of the Uruguay Round of the GATT. 
The President specifically identified labor standards as something that 
must be addressed. With the support of the President, Ambassador Kantor 
worked tirelessly to convince our trading partners to establish a 
working party on worker rights and labor standards.
  Unfortunately, the Marrakesh Ministerial Declaration signed in 
Morocco on April 15 did not provide for the establishment of a GATT 
working party or WTO standing committee on this issue because of strong 
foreign opposition to talking about the relationship between the 
trading system and internationally recognized labor standards. Instead, 
an 11th-hour agreement was reached whereby countries will be able to 
raise new issues, including labor standards, in the preparatory 
committee, which is charged with establishing the agenda for WTO.
  While this small step forward is better than nothing, it does not 
guarantee that a working party or standing committee on worker rights 
will be established within the GATT/WTO.
  Many of our trading partners objected to the creation of a GATT 
working party on worker rights, claiming that it was a ``new'' issue. 
However, linking respect for worker rights and labor standards is not a 
new or radical concept in U.S. or international policy discussions. 
Indeed, for nearly 50 years, the GATT has turned a deaf ear to 
addressing worker rights and labor standards despite repeated 
entreaties from U.S. trade negotiators in both Democratic and 
Republican administrations.
  In 1988, the United States formally proposed for the first time 
during the Uruguay round a GATT Working Party on Worker Rights and 
Trade. The purpose of this working party would have been to clearly 
establish that it is unjustifiable for any country or any of its 
industries to seek to gain competitive advantage in international trade 
through the systematic denial of fundamental internationally recognized 
worker rights. It would not have been within the purview of this 
working party to consider the comparative advantage that many 
developing countries, with sizeable numbers of unemployed workers, 
derive from lower unit labor costs in different modes of production.
  The objectives of the proposed working party were to explore ways in 
which to link the conduct of international trade to respect for those 
fundamental worker rights--including the freedom of association, the 
right to organize and bargain collectively, and the prohibition of 
forced or compulsory labor--which empower workers everywhere to help 
themselves and to share more fully in the benefits of trade within 
countries, as well as among them. The imposition of uniform labor 
standards, such as wages and hours, was not an objective.
  Last week in Marrakesh, the international community once again balked 
at a golden opportunity to examine the relationship between the global 
trading system and internationally recognized labor standards through a 
working party in the GATT and a standing committee in the WTO. Now, 
more than ever, it is up to the United States to take a decisive 
leadership role and insist that this long-neglected issue be addressed.
  My bill is a way to demonstrate political support for the Clinton 
administration's efforts to convince our trading partners that this 
issue will not go away, since it will be up to the Congress to approve 
the implementing legislation for the Uruguay round.

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