Trade unions and other workers’ rights groups often oppose trade liberalization, especially agreements with developing countries where labor is relatively cheap. To have any chance of securing organized labor’s support, preferential trade deals must, they insist, include references to International Labor Organization norms (which include things like the right to organize and the right to bargain collectively ).
The labor groups commonly give two plausible-sounding justifications for these demands: First, the requirements are supposed to protect American workers in import-competing industries from facing competition from “sub-standard” employers abroad. Second, they say that access to the U.S. market is a compelling incentive to encourage countries that would not normally sign up to ILO standards to do so. In other words, there is an element of international union solidarity in their insistence on enforceable labor standards.
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