FTAs in Asia-Pacific: 'Next Generation' of Social Dimension Provisions on Labor?

Abstract

FTAs in Asia-Pacific: “Next Generation” of Social Dimension Provisions on Labor?

Recent years have brought a proliferation of Free Trade Agreements (“FTA”), bilateral and multilateral, often regional, with even larger ones being negotiated, such as the European Union (“EU”) and United States (“U.S.”) Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and the Transpacific Partnership (TPP). The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (“APEC”) forum members recently discussed plans to “phase out regional free trade agreements” (or supplement them) in favor of creating a singular Free Trade Agreement Asia Pacific (“FTAAP”), covering much of the Asia Pacific Region. While inter-Asian business grows and FTAs flourish in and with Asia, the inclusion of social dimension provisions in FTAs or Bilateral Investment Treaties (“BIT”) is practically non-existent, except where the Western influence appears to dominate, and social dimension provisions are included, such as in FTAs with South Korea and with Singapore.

The thesis of this paper is straightforward; there are workers throughout the world, particularly in developing countries, who are subjected to substandard labor standards, and their countries are targeted for investment because of their countries’ low wages or lax enforcement of labor laws. The existence of domestic labor laws and ratification of ILO Core Labor Conventions do not necessarily provide labor protection for the workers. Likewise, international treaty obligations under FTAs with social dimension provisions on labor do not necessarily bring labor protections. There are a number of emerging FTAs in the Pacific Region and the several very significant ones on the cusps of conclusion are discussed below so as to evaluate current approaches of labor protections by FTAs. This paper proposes the “new generation” of FTA social dimension provisions should embrace a marriage of international obligations, which incorporate mandates for private contractual remedies under International Framework agreements (“IFA”), CSRs, and Codes of Conduct, with the private obligations contractually enforceable by private parties.

Keywords: Free Trade Agreements, Social Dimension Labor protections, Asian FTAs, TPP

JEL Classification: K