Labour Provisions of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and how they may Affect Southeast Asian Countries

Abstract

This paper provides an overview of the TPP labour chapter; looks at ways that the US and the Southeast Asian signatory countries (mainly Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam) have treated labour issues in their bilateral or regional trade agreements; and discusses the state of labour rights and commitments of the Southeast Asian countries that are part of the agreement. The paper finds that the TPP’s labour provisions are unprecedented, especially for most Southeast Asian countries. Although countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have to undertake significant reforms to comply with TPP labour commitments, there are flexibilities too. For example, the TPP provides Vietnam with a five-year grace period to implement its labour provisions, followed by an assessment period of two years. In case of any labour dispute, the TPP offers a dialogue mechanism before the dispute is referred to the agreement’s dispute settlement provision. That way, Vietnam has about 10 years from the time the TPP comes into play and a labour dispute escalates all the way up to the dispute settlement panel. Nevertheless, the TPP’s labour chapter has the potential to be a pathfinder for future multilateral trade agreements covering the labour-trade nexus.