Global Policy Forum

Most members of the World Trade Organization are opposed to linking trade policy and labor standards. But this issue will come up again in Seattle next month when the WTO kicks off the next round of global trade talks. Labor standards are highly important but are not a subject for the WTO. President Bill Clinton has acknowledged the danger of pitting the haves against the have-nots and said he wants an ''expansive trade round.'' Those are the two best reasons for dropping the trade-labor link.

But he is on the right track in proposing that the United Nations' International Labor Organization be made an observer at the trade organization. Pressure must be applied on countries where sweatshops and child labor are common. The ILO has recently adopted international conventions setting core labor standards and banning the most atrocious forms of child labor. Governments, employers and the labor unions themselves should apply pressure on countries with unacceptable labor practices to make sure that these conventions are implemented.

But imposing trade sanctions on countries with poor labor records would only deepen the economic woes of these people. Most of the countries depend on exports to developed nations for their incomes. Denying them access to foreign markets would exclude them from the process of economic globalization, the driving engine behind development.

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