International Labor Standards In The Context Of Globalization

"Labor standards" refer to the basic rules to protect the workers. The labor standards regulate the workers' payments (salaries and incomes, etc.), the working conditions (working time and safety, etc.), the welfare system (rest, medical care, education and living benefits, etc.) and other civil rights (the freedom of organizing, meeting, striking and speech). International Labor standards usually refer to the pacts and suggestions adopted by the ILO (the International Labor Organization). Nowadays, the ILO has adopted 185 pacts and 194 suggestions concerning the issues on the basic human rights, employment, social policy, labor management, working conditions, industrial relations, social security, woman's rights, child labors, immigrant workers and adult workers, etc. The international labor standards' basic idea to protect social justice and to achieve the goal to protect the labor's rights has been augmented by the development of the globalization.The accelerated development of trade liberalization is the first result of globalization. However, with the development of the trade liberalization, the behavior trade protectionism is changing, namely the weakening of tariff barriers and the strengthening of non-tariff barriers. Behind the technical barriers to trade, there come the social barriers to trade. The revealed form of social barriers is the SA8000, and without achieving the standards of which the goods from developing countries will not be allowed to enter some of the developed countries in Europe and America. The root of the social barriers is the application of the international labor standards in the area of international trade, and with the "stick" of trade restriction, the developed countries try to force the developing countries to improve their labor standards. As regards to this issue, there is a big gap between the developed countries and the developing countries. The developed countries consider the low labor standards in the developing countries leading to the dumping of goods, which violates the principle of fair competition and against the spirits of humanitarianism. While the developing countries deem it trade protectionism by generalizing labor standards without regarding the developmental stages of the developing countries, which will ultimately deprive the comparative advantages of the developing countries and drive them out of the international division of labor.As to China, the emergence of the social barriers to trade must affect adversely our countries' export seriously, because the labor-intensive industry is a pillar industry in our export sector. So, how to deal with the social barriers to trade becomes a very important issue in the area of international trade. However, looking at the issue from a different angle, we find the low labor standards are an indisputable fact in contemporary China, and we need to make a change to these and to improve the living conditions of the labors so as to contribute to the building of a harmonic society. In this view, how to use the international labor standards as a reference to improve our country's labor standards becomes a new task.The thesis put the international labor standards against the background of globalization and systematically studies it from angles of trade, law and empirical cases. The thesis consists of six chapters, and main content of each chapters are as follows:The first chapter is an introduction, which sets forth the significance of the topic, the status of the study at home and broad, the research framework and the main opinions of the thesis.The second chapter introduces the basic knowledge of the international labor standards, namely the origin, the meaning and the main content of the international labor standards.The Third chapter studies the labor standards normatively. First, the thesis sets forth the different opinions on the labor standards between developed countries and developing countries. Second, I explore the essence of the international labor standards theoretically and empirically. On the one hand, I agree that the nature of labor standards is to protect the labor rights. On the other hand, I disclose the fact that the developed countries are abusing the nature of labor standards using it as an excuse to practise trade protectionism. Lastly, by analyzing the effective methods to improve the labor standards of developing countries, I point out that the trade restriction will only bring more troubles to the workers in the developing countries and only by adopting free trade and pushing forward the globalization process would the labor standards be improved in the long run.The forth chapter puts the analysis of the international labor standards against the background of globalization. On the basis of the analysis of the inevitability of the emergence of the new trade protectionism and its features and economic effects, I emphasize the analysis on the reciprocal relationship between the globalization and international labor standards: globalization is the cause of the disputes on the labor standards; the disputes on the labor standards affect the process of the globalization inversely; to push forward the globalization process is the ultimate way to solve the disputes.The fifth chapter analyzes the combination of labor standards and international trade. I analyze the features of the combination from a historical perspective. And I also analyze the causes of the combination from the angle of the status of the development of the world economy, the developed countries and developing countries.The sixth chapter first analyzes the adverse effects of the labor standards as a barrier to trade, then finds out the causes and solutions to the issue by analyzing the legislative and international trade-related problems of our country's current labor standards problems. I argue dialectically that "we should not only recognize the adverse international political and economic circumstances, but also adhere to the open-door policy; we should not only fight the unilateral international labor standards, but also try our best to improve living conditions of the labors in our country."The innovations of the thesis are as follows:â‘ The objective, justice, practical and realistic view on the international labor standards. I recognize that the international labor standards, by its nature, is to protect the labor rights, hence it could be useful criteria for the developing countries to improve their labor standards; Meanwhile, I oppose the practice to link the international labor standards to the international trade, pointing out that it is an unrealistic hegemonic practice to use trade sanction to unify the international labor standards, which is an epitome of practice of concealing and legitimatising the trade protectionism against the background of globalization. So, the developing countries should fight against this practice and never accept the unilateral international labor standards.â‘¡The analysis of interaction of globalization and international labor standards in this article is very unique. Globalization is not only the background of disputes of labor standards but also the cause of the disputes between the developed countries and the developing countries, and these very disputes are the factors blocking the process of the globalization. And most importantly, to solve the problem downrightly and improve the labor standards of the developing countries can only rely on the deepening of the globalization. Hence, the globalization and labor standards form a very complex and reciprocal relationship.â‘¢In the process of analyzing the nature of the labor standards, the author combines the theoretical and empirical method to refute the developed countries' opinion accordingly, disclosing the unilateral nature of their labor standards which are not based on the humanitarianism and fair competition but motivated by the narrow national interests to practise trade protectionism. â‘£The author analyzes rationally the international labor standards coming up against us, recognizing the weakness in setting down and enforcing the labor standards and the fact of low labor standards in China so as to summarize the problems in field of China's labor security and international trade.