The International Labour Standards Debate in the Brazilian Labour Movement: Engagement with Mercosur and Opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas

Abstract

The social dimensions of economic integration have become an increasingly significant feature of trade agreements, particularly those between developing countries. In the Brazilian case trade-related labour standards have not become a major feature outside of the regional organization Mercosur (Common Market of the South), yet we know relatively little about the reasons for this discrepancy. Paradoxically one of the main stakeholders in this debate, Brazilian trade unions, has broadly supported social and labour clauses in the regional context but union activists have opposed labour provisions in trade negotiations between asymmetric partners. A comparative analysis of the labour campaigns in Mercosur and the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) negotiations explains this ambiguity in terms of Brazilian labour strategies towards free trade negotiations and explores their implications for evaluations of labour attitudes to trade-related labour standards in developing countries. The labour movement's own conflicting perspectives on the trade-labour connection are a key explanation of these outcomes, reinforcing the need for a greater appreciation of the complexity of trade union views in the debate on labour standards.

Labour Standards and Trade: In Search of Impact and Alternative Instruments

“…Such studies provide a more detailed insight into the nature of the impact and the reasons for (a lack of) direct impact. The country studies in this volume on South Korea (Van Roozendaal, 2017), Peru (Orbie, van den Putte, & Martens, 2017), and also to a certain extent Brazil (Riethof, 2017), are illustrations of this approach. Also Oehri (2017) departs from a local perspective, examining civil society complaints in the Dominican Republic and Mexico.…”

“…However, while the provisions may have made FTAs more acceptable in the eyes of those concerned about the effects of free trade, it does not mean that the trade-labour linkage has silenced the opposition to free trade or resulted in unequivocal support. The article by Riethof (2017) on Brazilian trade unions in this issue shows clearly that the debate on the underlying motivations for the labourtrade linkage continues to be relevant.…”

“…The articles by Orbie et al (2017) and Van Roozendaal (2017) in this issue show that there is very limited impact. Riethof (2017) is more positive in terms of how Mercosur has created space for civil society. She also shows that civil society empowerment can be an unintended consequence of trade agreements, as opposition to the Free Trade Area of the Americas has fostered regional civil society collaboration.…”

“…In this way, institutions provided for by an FTA may also increase empowerment of individuals who do not have international back-up, specific expertise or broader support (such as Father Hartley in the Dominican Republic). In addition, legal improvements were found in Brazil, where national courts made use of Mercosur's Declaration of Social and Labour Rights (see, e.g., Riethof, 2017, in this issue).…”

Salience of multiple actors involved in formal and informal governance systems encouraging corporate social responsibility in an emerging market

“…In countries with prominent labour unions, firms tend to perform better on CSR practices since powerful unions can push for benefits for employees by focusing on health and safety provisions, progressive labour-relations policies and more workplace amenities (Kristensen and Rocha, 2012). During the period of our research, the labour movement was an influential participant in the Brazilian government, which made it prominent on the national political scene, and it has broadly supported social and labour clauses regionally (Riethof, 2017). Given these arguments, the following hypothesis is proposed:H2: There is a positive association between the perception of pressure from labour unions and the extension of CSR practices.Investors are likely to present different sorts of identities and interests with respect to how their relations with companies are defined (e.g.…”