Labor complaint to be included in GSP assessment

PHILIPPINE PROGRESS in addressing labor issues is slated to come under review next year as the United States Trade Representative (USTR) office studies a complaint involving the Philippines’ status as a Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) beneficiary.

“As part of past GSP annual reviews … [the USTR] accepted for review petitions to modify the GSP status of certain … beneficiary developing countries because of country practices,” it said in a Dec. 12 notice calling for a January 24 public hearing on a four year-old case.

“[T]he ongoing reviews of outstanding country practice petitions [are] related to concerns about internationally recognized worker rights and/or child labor in Bangladesh, Niger, Philippines, Sri Lanka, and Uzbekistan,” the USTR added.

The GSP, renewed by US President Barack Obama last month, grants eligible developing and least developed economies affordable access to the US market in a bid to stimulate domestic productivity among America’s partners. Over 4,800 products from 129 beneficiary countries are allowed to enter the US duty-free through the scheme.

The program, however, requires beneficiaries to take effective steps toward upgrading and implementing labor standards. They stand to lose preferential treatment otherwise as in the case of Belarus, which was suspended in 2000 for failing to protect workers’ rights to association and collective bargaining.

The Philippines was the subject of a 2007 complaint from the International Labor Rights Forum, a US-based non-profit entity, which asked the USTR to investigate unionist killings between 2001 and 2007, systematic denial by government of workers right to freedom of association, and Dole Philippines, Inc.’s alleged exploitation of contractual pineapple farmers.

The case involving Dole Philippines was suspended in 2008 but the others remain subject to ongoing reviews.

Sought for comment, Labor Secretary Rosalinda D. Baldoz said in a text message yesterday: “We are regularly reporting progress on government commitments on cases in legislative agenda.”

The renewed GSP is scheduled to remain effective until July 31, 2013. — EJD, Businessworld