Core Labour Standards and the WTO

The purpose of this paper is to suggest ways in which core labour standards can be incorporated into the WTO. Though regarded by some as simply a vehicle for protectionism, the campaign for core labour standards is based on sound economics that extends the logic of trade regulation to the international dimension of labour. Getting agreement on core labour standards and enforcing them will be a difficult task, but one best conducted through the WTO - simultaneously bringing to that organisation much-needed legitimacy, and increasing the chances that it can deliver a world of prosperous, open and free trade.