Can labor standards improve under globalization? / Kimberly Ann Elliott, Richard B. Freeman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Elliott, Kimberly Ann, 1960-

Contributor:

Freeman, Richard B. (Richard Barry), 1943-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

International labor activities.

Labor laws and legislation, International.

Labor laws and legislation--Developing countries.

Labor laws and legislation.

Globalization--Moral and ethical aspects.

Globalization.

Environmental policy.

Child labor.

Sweatshops.

Wages.

Industrial safety.

Developing countries.

Physical Description:

xii, 179 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Washington, DC : Institute for International Economics, 2003.

Contents:

Globalization and Labor: From Abolition to the Antisweatshop Movement 3

1 Globalization Versus Labor Standards? 7

Evaluating the Debate 9

Core Standards and Cash Standards 11

Do Globalization and Growth Make Labor Standards Unnecessary? 14

Do Labor Standards Undermine Comparative Advantage? 17

Catch-22: Protecting International Capital and Intellectual Property but Not Labor 22

Implementing Labor Standards and Globalization 25

2 The Market for Labor Standards 27

Consumer Demand for Labor Standards 28

The Supply of Standards 45

Activists in the Market for Standards 46

3 Vigilantes and Verifiers 49

The Work of Vigilantes: Antisweatshop Campaigns 50

The Work of the Verifiers: Code Development and Monitoring 58

Competition among Codes

A Race to the Top? 63

The Missing Element: The Voice of Developing-Country Workers 69

4 Labor Standards and Trade Agreements 73

What Do Sanctions Do? 75

The Danger of Protectionist Capture 80

Labor Links in US Trade Agreements 84

A Role for the WTO 89

5 The ILO to the Rescue? 93

The ILO's Tools 95

The Burma Case 104

The Role of the United States 107

6 Globalization and Labor Standards in Action 111

The Bangladeshi Garment Sector 112

Pakistani Soccer Balls 114

West African Cocoa 115

The US-Cambodia Textile and Apparel Agreement 116

Can Globalization Improve Labor Standards in China? 119

A Bottom-Line Assessment 126

7 When Does Doing Good Do Good? 127

Assessing the Achievements of the Antisweatshop Campaigns 128

Increasing the Effectiveness of Antisweatshop Campaigns and Spreading the Benefits of Globalization 130

Appendix A US-Based Transnational Labor Rights Activist Organizations 143

Appendix B Timeline of Antisweatshop Activities in the 1990s 147

Appendix C Workers' Rights Conditionality in the US Generalized System of Preferences 151

Table 2.1 Findings from three surveys on the expressed consumer demand for labor standards 30

Table 2.2 Experimental evidence on willingness to sacrifice some personal gain for the well-being of others 36

Table 4.1 Cases of success and failure with workers' rights conditionality under the Generalized System of Preferences 77

Table 4.2 Use and effectiveness of economic sanctions 79

Table 4.3 Approaches to linking trade and labor standards 85

Table C.1 Limitations on eligibility for the Generalized System of Preferences 153

Table C.2 Value of Generalized System of Preferences to beneficiary countries, 1991-98 155

Table C.3 A portrait of countries challenged over workers' rights protections, 1985-96 156

Table C.4 Top beneficiary countries in the Generalized System of Preferences program, 1998 157

Figure 2.1 Estimated demand curves for labor standards 34

Figure 3.1 The chain of production for a typical US retailer 52

Box 2.1 Excerpts from Timberland Statement on its Code of Conduct and Monitoring 44

Box 3.1 Guide to an activist campaign 51

Box 5.1 ILO institutional structure and supervisory mechanisms 94

Box 5.2 Government delegates abstaining from the vote on the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work 99

Box 7.1 Scorecard for labor standards campaigns 131

Box 7.2 Recommendations for the labor standards movement and international institutions 132.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 159-166) and index.

ISBN:

0881323322

OCLC:

51234439