Social Clause in Trade Agreements

Question 2: Trade Agreements
By (Name)
Department/University
Course Code/Name
City/State
Instructor's Name
Due Date
Question 2: Trade Agreements
Contractual trade arrangements between organizations, governments, and persons that could be bilateral or multilateral are essential to check on factors that may lead to unprofitable and biased business transactions hence creating a room that enables all the parties involved in the business dealings to benefit. For several years now, better trade agreements have been realized to be important to the resilient section of the world's trading patterns even though the discussions on economic impacts of reliance on the agreements as an alternative to the regional and global enactment have not been ultimately achieved. According to Yao et al. (2021), business agreements increase economic integration, but the preferred business arrangements are not enough to evaluate job market penetration and existence.
Cognizant of the failed attempts to incorporate the multilateral regulations to speak to the prevention of such retrogressive trade occurrences, efforts have been put to focus on addressing the issues of unhealthy labor rules to realize corporation between members with a motive to have in place working remedies of trade (Tang, 2014). Dominating the discussions globally is the talk on workers' rights and trading activities. The workers' rights activists submit that states, organizations, and persons must be compelled to enact and faithfully observe tightly binding labor standards while giving dimension defense for the thought (Burtless, 2001).
Worker's Rights and Regulations
The profound belief and deliberation with the basis that several labor standards like the freedom to freely associate and the abolition of forcing persons to labor and guarding core human rights. Every country that would desire to be given access to the global wealthiest workforce should keep the natural human dignity and values with the assurance of guaranteed labor rights. Of most significant concern should be the efficiency of policies on labor standards. Improving human rights takes center stage with concern on what happens if there is impeded progress on the growth of human rights through using the country's political muscle to frustrate workers and business partnerships. By holding on to stringent labor standards, established democratic organizations and states could excuse the good moral business setups. This could imply they could let go of the binding business agreements that could positively impact the workforce and intended market but instead increase the income, not benefiting the immediate workers.
Focusing on establishing demanding and punitive labor standards at the expense of stress-free workers' welfare and putting efforts on unidirectional trade motives. Failing to enact the principles of workers' protection will give an undue advantage to the employer and give an upper hand against competitors in the global market against those organizations with strong labor standards. It is, therefore, essential to have labor standards as part of trade pacts in regions of collaboration to enhance and keep effective the protection of workers.
Important to note is the implications of the labor standards. According to DEAKIN et al. (2014), employment figures never accurately view what transpires in the labor market. Various informal labor laws to demystify the aftermath of labor standards affect employment operations and results comprising profits, production rate, job orientation, and acquisition of basic skills, salaries, and wages.
With most jobs resulting from recent creation revolving around retail services, service firms, and most eateries, several jobs of this nature are associated with minimal returns as wages, undefined job schedules, low economies of scale, and unguaranteed space for self-growth. There should be a need to advance the standards and conditions of these jobs and conditions to raise the labor standards through elevating the minimum wage bill and incorporating paid leaves and sick days off.
Although labor stands being the guiding model for mutual benefits between organizations and their employees, there are also notable drawbacks that come with it. The arrangements can be ended at any time, provided the law informs the conditions for revocation to its initiation. The employee can also quit at will. There are countable advantages and disadvantages of such labor standards;
Advantages of Labor Standards
* The terms of agreements signed by the parties involved can help settle disputes that may arise should some issues arise from pay difficulties without seeking the intervention of a legal practitioner.
* The agreement can itself be submitted to the court of law to act as evidence.
* It helps define clearly the position of both the employer and the employee.
* It will ensure an encouraging and friendly working relationship between the parties to achieve objectives in the organization. It spells as well the job security and employment surety.
Disadvantages of Labor Standards
* There is a possibility that the agreed standards may hinder the parties' flexibility should there rise a crisis that may need an adjustment.
* Some agreement standards may be so binding on the employee's side regarding the contract period to the point that even upon finding another lucrative opportunity, the employee may be barred from moving out till the period agreed is over. Even though the employee may still maneuver ways and negotiate in such circumstances, the employer is at liberty to seek compensation due to a breach of contract and damages incurred.
The argument that trade agreements contain a social clause that would link trade rules to compliance with specific core labor standards has attracted long engagements. Of great significance is the program's efficiency in seeing that all social questions are appropriately attended to when factoring in the relevance to the diverse economic integration.
According to Haworth & Hughes (1997), competition in the global market where uncontrolled relocation of products and services and ethnic engagements are principally common are surprisingly rising with the corporations under transition are coming into place as the reason for the present world wave. The corporations struggle to alter their manufacturing industries abroad to states at the apex of effective establishment targeting low-cost labor to profit from the low-cost incurrence globally attributed to the systematic opened up regulations and the fall in transport cost due to the rapidly advancing technological input.
On the same note, this has seen the corporations rush to settle on recruiting low pay workers to accrue more profits. It has been partially discussed as not fair to the firms that do not also participate in the process and a breach of the labor rights of employees. Therefore, the social clause is seen as a remedy to talk about the disastrous competition, which undermines and puts a negligible impact on the efforts to increase the levels of trade. Despite all the efforts to curtail the proposal, there is a remarkable reservation that it is undoubtedly effective and can bridge the noticeable gap to solve the problem (Scherrer, 1998).
Therefore, this legal enactment in trade agreement should distinctively do away with any overboard kinds of labor exploitation in countries that do exportation by granting countries that import freedom to take preventive measures against those that do not honor the set of universal trade agreements. The labor standards in conjunction with the social clause propose;
* There is a need for the right to have a duly signed collective bargaining agreement, stringent measures against forced labor, and employment devoid of discrimination.
* Guaranteed freedom of association.
* Restricting child labor and ensuring strict observance of human rights.
According to (Chen 2015), several misconceptions have been leveled on social clauses. With the knowledge of several publications on the dangers of associating trade and labor standards, there are still touchy issues of misunderstanding that the social clause is likely to overlook what precisely forms the basis of fundamental labor standards, initiating with no consensus a universal lowest wage bill, impede the growth of economies and destroy the global trading patterns. Therefore, he refutes the following misunderstandings;
No consensus based on the formation of fundamental labor standards
It should be known that fundamental labor standar...