The Fifth Fundamental Labour Right in EU Free Trade Agreements
本文比较分析欧盟、美国和加拿大在自由贸易协定中对安全健康工作环境权利的处理，发现欧盟正将贸易优惠与约束性义务挂钩，并揭示其背后除2022年承认该权利外的其他动机。
Abstract This article examines the status of the right to a safe and healthy working environment (OHS) in European Union (EU) Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) by employing a comparative approach. It analyses OHS in EU FTAs using diachronic and synchronic methods and compares the EU’s stance with the positions of the United States and Canada. The article determines that transnational labour governance relating to OHS is increasingly being streamlined as the EU has started linking trade concessions to binding OHS obligations. The convergence of the substantive coverage of labour obligations in FTAs has to date remained understudied. The European Commission has stressed that the described shift is due to the recognition of OHS as the fifth fundamental labour right in 2022. However, this article argues that there are also other motivations. The EU already started negotiating binding OHS obligations following the negotiation of the FTA with Canada (2014) and after the adoption of the ‘Trade for All’ strategy (2015) under pressure from advocacy networks. Such networks—who have long considered OHS as the next frontier in transnational labour governance—found an ally in EU-based workers experiencing wage erosion against the backdrop of retreating multilateralism and increased trade in global value chains.