Douglas sees WTO role

By BRIAN FALLOW

WELLINGTON - The Seattle World Trade Organisation meeting was a watershed, says Ken Douglas, the former Council of Trade Unions president who attended as part of New Zealand's official delegation.

"No future conference will be able to ignore the general public pressure and expectation that the world trading system has to be comprehensive, coherent and integrated with other global issues, like the environment, human rights and trade union rights," Mr Douglas said.

It was wrong to assume the labour protesters at Seattle were anti-WTO. "We support a rules-based system and want labour standards in that system."

To that end, the United States sought to have a WTO working group set up on trade and labour, a move supported by the incoming Labour Government but widely opposed by developing countries who see in it the potential for protectionism by developed countries.

Such fears were misplaced, Mr Douglas said, because developed countries, and more importantly their union movements, had said they were committed to not using it for protectionist reasons.

"But in some cases it should be used against them. Take Malaysia. It doesn't allow unions in its electronics industry, doesn't allow collective bargaining. Why shouldn't they get sorted out for that?"

Bolivia was very loud in its opposition to labour standards. "They murdered six union officials there last year. Why shouldn't they get sorted out?"

The standards to be enforced would be set by the International Labour Organisation, such as its conventions on child labour and forced labour. Another test would be whether a country has a legal framework for collective bargaining and whether collective bargaining is practised.

Mr Douglas quoted with approval an International Farmers Organisation document which said: "It is important to recognise developing countries have a competitive advantage with lower labour costs and trade barriers must not be invoked to counter this advantage."

"Trade should not entrench a country's lack of core labour standards, rather it should have a dynamic effect with the goal of expanding opportunities, improving working conditions and raising wage levels within developing countries.

"WTO should cooperate with the ILO in dealing with labour standards. The ILO has the necessary competence in this area, while the WTO has the necessary rule enforcement ability."