The White House released a study showing it had used recent international negotiations to make “unprecedented” gains in international labor rights, an effort to pre-empt liberal criticism of its trade agenda.
The report cites eight cases in particular, but concedes that even in those cases much remains to be done.
The document, titled “Standing Up for Workers: Promoting Labor Rights through Trade” was released jointly by the Labor Department and the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office and says the two entities are improving “labor laws and working conditions with trading partners in virtually every region of the globe.”
“With both American values and interests at stake, the administration is committed to maintaining the effort to ensure that the benefits of trade are broadly shared and to supporting a growing and vibrant middle class around the world,” the agencies say in the report.
The document is an unambiguous effort by the administration to address criticism by liberal Democrats before it seeks a vote in Congress on the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a 12-nation trade deal with Pacific Rim countries. The document says the administration is pursuing “the highest-ever labor commitments with the Trans-Pacific Partnership.”
The White House has the support of congressional Republican leaders on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and related legislation, such as Trade Promotion Authority, which would limit lawmakers to an up or down vote on trade deals. A majority of Democrats and some Republicans are expected to oppose the Pacific pact, claiming the deal would hurt U.S. workers and businesses.
The report does not appear to have many converts. A spokesman for one trade skeptic Democrat scoffed, saying it was an effort to “put lipstick on a pig.” A spokesman for the AFL-CIO labor federation did not respond to a request for comment.
The report highlights efforts in Guatemala, Bahrain, Colombia, Jordan, Burma, Haiti, Bangladesh and Swaziland. Only one of those cases, Guatemala, involved the administration actually leveling charges of labor violations under a free-trade deal, the first in U.S. history, according to the report. The rest concerned the administration claiming it was raising the issue in negotiations with a country or offering them incentives in trade deals if they agree to labor reforms.
For example, in the case of Bahrain, the administration said it is seeking to “address concerns regarding the treatment of labor leaders” during the 2011 Arab Spring uprising. It said it had succeeded in reinstating workers fired during the incident but conceded that “significant challenges remain and [the Trade Representative’s Office] and [Department of Labor] are continuing to engage to try to resolve them.”
Similarly, the administration said it is working on a plan with leaders in Colombia to ensure the protection of labor leaders from acts of violence there. “Important progress has been made, but much more work remains and the United States will continue to work closely with Colombia in this process.”
