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pampango

(24,692 posts)
9. You make a good case that enforcement should be outside the sole control of politicians.
Tue May 19, 2015, 06:48 AM
May 2015

If a labor union or environmental group could bring a case against a country such as Qatar, we would not have to wait for politicians to do their usual balancing act with politics, foreign policy, national security, etc. before taking any enforcement action.

Of course, when you involve groups outside of national governments involved in the enforcement process, the issue of national sovereignty arises. Should an American or European labor union be able to challenge labor practices in Qatar, for example, if an international agreement allowed it to do so? (Should a European union be allowed to challenge our 'right-to-work' laws since they weaken our unions and lower our wages, thus hurting European unions?) Should we wait until American or European politicians decide that the balance of issues merits a government-backed challenge? Or should we just leave workers in Qatar to the tender mercies of their government since it is a sovereign nation?

The first option seemed to be what FDR and Truman envisioned for the ITO which would have relied on arbitration to resolve disputes, including those with regard to labor rights, business regulation, investor protection, full employment, etc. Having witnessed the level of corporate control over government that existed under republicans for the 12 years before FDR was elected (and that we see today), they realized that relying solely on government to challenge labor practices (and by extension environmental practices in our time) in other countries, was a recipe for inaction.

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