Legal Research On International Labor Standards As Trade Barrier

The interaction of labor standards and international trade has become a key issue in the relations between the advanced industrialized and developing countries,including China,in the past decade.Proponents of the international enforcement of labor standards present two lines of argument.First,organized labor and social activists in the United States and other industrialized countries argue that "unfair" labor practices and conditions exist in many developing country trading partners,and especially in China as a leading country in world trade,and need to be offset by appropriate trade policy measures in order to establish equality.Second,many social activists argue,that workers in China are subject to exploitative and abusive working conditions,and that their wages are restrained,even international mass media has published a lot of proof of such point of view,for example letters from factory workers,begging to help them rescue from "slavery".The proposed solution is for the United States and other industrialized countries to take steps to ensure that labor standards are enforced through mechanisms such as the World Trade Organization(WTO)and bilateral and regional trade agreements.While set the goal of improving the wages and working conditions of workers in China,in my opinion,position that attaching labor standards to the WTO and trade agreements will not achieve this goal,and it will not have the desired effect of keeping more jobs in the developed countries.In fact,such a policy could make things even worse for many workers in developing countries.Alternative policies and existing institutions must be resort to ensure that:(a)workers in industrialized countries will not be unfavorably affected by freer trade and globalization in general;and(b)wages and working conditions of workers in China can be improved at a sustainable pace.This dissertation consists of 7 chapters.First chapter is devoted to purpose,meaning and innovation of this research,as well as briefly introduce science research in this area in China and Foreign countries.The second chapter analyses labor standards as trade barriers theoretically,including concept,background and characteristics.The third chapter is analyzing the influence of labor standards as trade barriers on Chines Export Trade,including positive and negative affection.The Fourth chapter is a research of Chinese and International legislation related to Labor Standards.International Legislation Research mainly include International Organization Regulations,but also focuses on Regional agreements in this sphere.The Fifth Chapter provide analyses of situation in China related to labor standards from 3 points of view:government,industries and trade unions.Fifth Chapter also analyses situation on International level towards China,mainly relationship between China and America,as 2 largest economy countries in the world,as well as relationship between China and WTO,considering WTO the main force of international trade stability.The Sixth chapter provides solutions for problems raised in previous chapter.The Seventh chapter summarizes findings of legal research on Labor standards as trade barrier.Following appendix is devoted to analyses of Wal-Mart case,as an example of labor standards problems in China.