When representatives of the countries that make up the Group of Twenty major world economies convened in Washington, D.C., in April, the meeting was hosted not by the Treasury secretary and the federal reserve chairman, but by U.S. Department of Labor secretary Hilda Solis. To the nation’s unions, Solis’s prominent role at the multilateral talks is a hopeful sign that workplace issues are moving to the top of the international economic agenda.
High on Big Labor’s wish list is linking stricter labor standards to the trade advantages the United States doles out to its favored partners. It’s an issue that’s simmering on a number of fronts, as various trade pacts are revised or negotiated. While the nation’s model bilateral investment treaty undergoes State Department review, Congress is considering renewal of the so-called generalized system of preferences, which affords favorable trade treatment to many developing nations. Meanwhile, ratification is pending for new free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea, and Panama. And in March, the United States trade representative began negotiating a new multilateral treaty known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership Trade Agreement with Chile, Peru, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, and Vietnam.
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