Trading In Labor Rights

Bangladesh, El Salvador, Malaysia, Sudan and Turkey seriously violate worker rights and should be denied preferential trade treatment by the United States, argues a petition filed by the AFL-CIO with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR). The U.S. labor federation has asked the USTR to deny these countries benefits under the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a program which grants developing countries the right to import goods duty-free into the United States.

An amendment to the 1974 Trade and Tariff Act, sponsored by Rep. Donald Pease, D-OH, requires that countries receiving GSP benefits enforce international labor standards, induding the right to association, the right to organize and bargain collectively, a prohibition against compulsory labor, a minimum age for the employment of children and regulations governing minimum wages, hours of work and occupational safety and health. The Pease amendment is designed to ensure that U.S. workers will not be forced to compete with workers in countries which do not enforce basic labor rights.

Under the Reagan and Bush administrations, the Pease Amendment has been minimally enforced. Since its passage in 1984, the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) has found only five countries in violation of the Pease Amendment: Nicaragua, Chile, the Central African Republic, Paraguay and Romania. These findings are widely held to reflect Cold War imperatives as much as an accurate assessment of countries' respect for labor rights.

Although the AFL-CIO's choice of countries is not without political and Cold War influences itself, the labor federation has documented serious labor rights violations around the world.

Bangladesh

The AFL-CIO claims that the Bangladeshi government denies the right of freedom of association to a large portion of its labor force. It is illegal for workers in export processing zones (EPZs), which are designed to attract the manufacturing operations of multinational corporations, to form unions, and employees in the EPZs face particularly harsh working conditions.

Outside the EPZs, where unions are permitted, the AFL-CIO criticizes Bangladesh's legal requirements that unions represent workers only within a single establishment or company. This and other government and company policies and practices cause "systematic fracturing of worker solidarity," according to the AFL-CIO.

The petition asserts that unions formed in Bangladesh serve as "labor fronts of political parties, useful for election campaigns and for political agitation." Almost all of the 20 registered national trade union federations "owe their founding, funding and continued existence to the government's ruling party or to one of that party's factions or to one of the opposition parties."

The AFL-CIO also accuses the Bangladeshi government of failing to enforce standards for minimum wages, working hours and occupational safety and health, and of tolerating serious abuses of child labor.

In a response filed with the USTR, the Bangladeshi government acknowledges that it exempts EPZs from labor regulations, but points out that many countries grant EPZs special dispensations in order to promote economic growth. It claims that Bangladeshi workers' right to freedom of association is evidenced by the large numbers of trade unions and trade union federations within the country.

The government asserts that it is attempting to expedite the formation of unions, rather than fracture the strength of the labor movement, by allowing up to three unions to be established in any one industry. It points to a recent incident in which the government's attempt to consolidate the 115 unions in the banking sector was met with strong resistance from labor as an indication that the multiplicity of unions in Bangladesh reflects workers' choices, not government policy.

In responding to AFL-CIO charges of ties between political parties and trade union federations, the government notes that "such linkages do not violate [Inter-national Labor Organization] conventions. ... [The] fact that Bangladeshi labor federations and political parties interact differently than do those in the United States should not be surprising."

The government says that it is strengthening its enforcement of minimum wage and working condition standards and seeking to address the problem of child labor.

El Salvador

In the midst of a civil war, El Salvador's workers find their basic rights threatened by a ruthlessly repressive government. The AFL-CIO charges that since the March 1989 election in which the ARENA party gained control of the government, respect for worker rights has declined dramatically.

The AFL-CIO petition asserts that the prevailing conditions in El Salvador make it "painfully obvious that the elected government ... has been unable or unwilling to create a 'climate that is free from violence' as advocated by the International Labor Organization. Until it can do so, worker rights, and the democratic process itself, will be threatened."

The AFL-CIO reports violations of Salvadoran workers' rights to associate, assemble, demonstrate, bargain collectively and strike. Workers involved in union activity have been arrested and dismissed from their jobs. In more extreme cases, they have been disappeared and assassinated. On October 31, 1989, the offices of the National Trade Union Federation of Salvadoran Workers (FENESTRAS) were bombed. Ten people were killed, including FENESTRAS leader Febe Elizabeth Velasquez [see "Labor in El Salvador: New Thoughts, New Hope," Multinational Monitor, May 1988 and "Unions Under Fire," Multinational Monitor, March 1989]. The government has not brought charges against anyone in connection with this crime.

In briefs submitted to the USTR, the government of El Salvador insists that it respects worker rights as much as possible in view of the country's political situation. The government claims that losing GSP benefits, necessary to the political and economic development of El Salvador, would only worsen labor conditions within the country.

Malaysia

The AFL-CIO accuses the Malaysian government of sacrificing the rights of its workers in an attempt to promote economic development. The labor organization's petition states that Malaysia's "record on those rights stands in sharp contrast to its macroeconomic progress toward achieving the select 'newly industrialized country' (NIC) status."

The AFL-CIO's charges focus on the Malaysian government's power to restrict its workers' freedom of association. The government's Director General of Trade Unions has a broad range of controls over the organization of labor, induding the authority to decide whether a union will be registered, a mandatory step in gaining a legal identity. The AFL-CIO asserts that these controls go virtually unchecked by law, charging that legal guidelines are "so meager and so vague" that courts generally rule that the Labor Ministry is free to do whatever it wishes in administering trade union legislation.

The petition alleges that the Director General's discretionary powers have favored the establishment of "in-house" unions, set up by management and representing management interests. According to the AFL-CIO, these unions often enter into collective bargaining agreements that strengthen government and industry control over workers.

The petition points to a bitter labor dispute at Harris Solid State Malaysia [see "Malaysia's Workers: Jolting the Electronics Industry," Multinational Monitor, September 1989]. When forced by the Labor Ministry to recognize the country's first electronics industry union, Harris shifted operations and some 2,500 workers to a nearby non-union subsidiary. The AFL-CIO calls this a "glaring [example] of how far public and private powers in Malaysia can and will go to deny a human right when it suits their purposes."

The AFL-CIO further alleges that the collective bargaining powers of recognized unions, especially those representing workers employed in "pioneer enterprise" industries, are severely limited and that the right to strike in Malaysia is effectively nullified by government intervention. The petition also points to the use of child labor, occupational safety hazards and the lack of a minimum wage in all but a few service industries as reasons the USTR should revoke Malaysia's GSP privileges.

In a response filed with the USTR, the Malaysian government flatly denies AFL-CIO allegations that the right to freedom of association is abused in Malaysia and that the Director General has final and arbitrary power in deciding if a trade union is to be registered. The response dismisses the charges that in-house unions serve to bolster government control over workers and that collective bargaining powers are restricted in Malaysia. The government claims that the right to strike is protected by law. The government says it has taken steps to improve workplace health and safety conditions, eradicate child labor and establish a mini-mum wage in several industries.

Sudan

The AFL-CIO claims that the 1989 coup d'etat in Sudan resulted in the loss of all trade union freedoms for the country's workers. In July 1989, the new government abolished unions and announced that union assets and property were to be confiscated. Unionists who protested these actions were detained or placed under house arrest.

In November 1989, Dr. Maamum Hussein chaired a meeting of the Sudan Doctors' Union which preceded a strike action. Hussein was arrested, charged with "participating in a calling for a strike" and sentenced to death. Although his death sentence was commuted, Hussein remains in prison.

A September 1989 government announcement that some restrictions on union activity would be lifted has done little to improve the labor situation in Sudan. The government repealed the 1987 Trade Union Laws and has not drafted replacement legislation to govern union activity. Union meetings, grievance proceedings and strike actions are circumscribed, and unionists continue to be arrested and harassed.

The AFL-CIO petition further charges the Sudanese government with discrimination in its mass firings of women from military and government jobs, "using as justification the Islamic doctrine requiring women to be confined to the home."

A representative of the Sudanese embassy told Multinational Monitor that the AFL-CIO did not take into account the chaotic conditions that existed in Sudan at the time of the coup. He claims that trade unions had become highly politicized and contributed to the turmoil in Sudan through strikes designed to disrupt social services in the country. He adds that trade unions are in the process of being reformed through conferences set up by the government, but led by former union leaders.

Turkey

The AFL-CIO accuses the government of Turkey of placing severe restictions on the rights of public sector employees, focusing on the government's refusal to allow teachers to organize or to bargain on wages and work conditions.

The AFL-CIO's petition refers to the U.S. State Department's 1989 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices which states, "Under Turkish law, teachers employed by the state may not organize." An association called EGIT-DER represents retired teachers and teachers fired since 1980, but Turkish law prohibits active teachers from becoming full members of the association. The petition also claims that the Turkish government has "systematically harassed" EGITDER's officers and members "in an effort to force the group to cease operations."

No response to the the AFL-CIO's petition is on file at the USTR's office, and Turkish officials refused to respond to the U.S. labor federation's charges.

Ongoing requests

The AFL-CIO has also renewed requests that the GSP privileges of Benin, Haiti, Nepal and Syria be revoked. It filed its petition before the recent election of Haiti's new radical president, Jean Bertrand Avril, and before political changes took place in Nepal; these developments promise to improve respect for labor rights in the two countries.

After its 1990 review, the USTR declined to take action against arty of the four countries against which the AFL-CIO filed petitions. In the case of Benin, the USTR acknowledged labor rights violations, but concluded that "[positive] development and/or trends in worker rights can be identified" and declined to revoke the country's GSP privileges. Regarding Syria, the USTR determined that the country provided art extensive and complex legal structure for the protection of worker rights, but that it did not have sufficient information concerning the country's actual labor practices. It decided to extend its review of the Syrian worker rights situation for another year.

The USTR is expected to respond to the latest petitions in spring 1991. Observers are not optimistic, however, that the USTR will improve on its record of ignoring worldwide labor rights violations.