Yesh Matsav

My letter to the editor below was published recently in the NYT in response to an op-ed by Nicholas Kristof, in which he argues that good hearted liberals (i.e. his average NYT reader) should oppose the inclusion of labor standards in trade agreements because they will lead to the loss of good factory jobs in developing countries. He uses Cambodia as an example, where he in the past has crusaded against prostitution (really bad job) by buying the freedom of some women.

To the Editor:

Nicholas D. Kristof’s argument against the inclusion of labor rights provisions in trade agreements is based on good intentions but a false premise — that international labor standards and trade-based labor protections necessarily cause job losses and thus harm workers.

In fact, raising labor standards can give a competitive advantage to countries in the global market.

In the Cambodia example Mr. Kristof negatively cites, the Cambodian government, manufacturers and unions have actually urged that the program continue because they believe that it attracts foreign investment and helps create stable industrial relations.

The World Bank’s International Finance Corporation — hardly a bastion of radical labor activists or economic protectionists — is encouraging similar programs elsewhere because it believes that good labor standards and workers’ rights protections are good for business and good for overall development.

A final point: When I speak with workers around the world in garment and other export industries, they don’t tell me “Yankee, go home, we are just grateful to have work,” as Mr. Kristof would suggest they should. Instead, they invariably ask, “Can you do anything to help us make our jobs better?”

Kevin Kolben
Tel Aviv, Jan.

15, 2009

The writer is an assistant professor at Rutgers Business School and currently visiting at the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Law.