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Thomas, Chantal --- "The WTO and Labor Rights: Strategies of Linkage" [2009] ELECD 552; in Joseph, Sarah; Kinley, David; Waincymer, Jeff (eds), "The World Trade Organization and Human Rights" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2009)

Book Title: The World Trade Organization and Human Rights

Editor(s): Joseph, Sarah; Kinley, David; Waincymer, Jeff

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847206619

Section: Chapter 10

Section Title: The WTO and Labor Rights: Strategies of Linkage

Author(s): Thomas, Chantal

Number of pages: 28

Extract:

10. The WTO and labor rights: strategies
of linkage
Chantal Thomas

1. INTRODUCTION
While the Members of the World Trade Organization (`WTO') have yet to
adopt affirmative labor obligations, the link between trade and labor has been
pressed in much academic and policy discourse.1 The judicial body of the
WTO has been called on to identify some of the contours of appropriate link-
age between such `nontrade' issues and WTO rules in a series of closely
watched disputes. The holdings of these cases have shifted since the WTO's
establishment in 1995, away from a deep suspicion about the propriety of link-
ing trade with nontrade issues, and towards a nuanced view that accepts the
validity of linkage as long as it meets certain formal parameters.
Some have applauded this shift, while others have excoriated it. As the
shape of WTO jurisprudence on linkage has shifted, calls for resolution
through political negotiations have increased. Some perceive a `legislative'
solution to offer greater legitimacy because it would represent a more `demo-
cratic' solution negotiated by the entire membership, rather than adjudicated
by a panel of judges to resolve a dispute between particular members. Yet
political negotiations are fraught with a host of separate problems. What might
be called the `decision costs' of a legislative solution are high, possibly prohib-
itively so.2 A knotty problem arises for those concerned with linkage: there


1 See generally Jagdish Bhagwati and Robert E Hudec (eds), Fair Trade and
Harmonization: Prerequisites for Free Trade? ( ...