What does the CPTPP mean for labour?

Summary/overview

The CPTPP’s chapter on labour seeks to ensure that economic development is not achieved at the expense of workers’ rights. It encourages the parties to work collaboratively with each other, aims to promote awareness regarding labour rights, and ensures that the parties live up to their commitments. The labour chapter also:

• includes obligations to protect and promote internationally recognized labour principles and rights;
• commits the parties to protect and promote labour rights as established in the International Labour Organization’s 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work;
• includes commitments to ensure that national laws and policies provide protection for the fundamental principles and rights at work, including:
• the right to freedom of association and collective bargaining
• the elimination of child labour, forced labour or compulsory labour, and of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation
• prevents the parties from derogating from their domestic labour laws to attract trade or investment;
• includes mechanisms to enforce provisions and monitor compliance;
• encourages cooperation and voluntary corporate initiatives related to labour issues; and
• establishes recourse to the dispute settlement mechanism of the CPTPP in cases of non-compliance.

Dispute settlement and the CPTPP labour chapter

The CPTPP allows for the application of trade sanctions or monetary compensation if a party is found in violation of its labour obligations. To encourage and monitor compliance with the commitments, the labour chapter establishes ways for:

• a party to request consultations with another on any matter covered by the labour chapter to jointly decide on a course of action; and
• members of the public to raise concerns about labour issues related to the chapter.