Labor-Management Bargaining, Labor Standards And International Rivalry

Using the labor union's bargaining power as an indication of government policy on labor standards issues, the authors analyze the competition between a domestic (North) firm and a foreign (South) firm, and their relationship with optimal Labor Standards (LS). First, they show that the optimal level of LS is higher when labor unions are employment-oriented than when they are not. Second, it is higher under free trade than under the optimal tariff system if labor unions are employment-oriented. Third, 'A race to the bottom' of LS occurs in the case of wage-oriented unions. Fourth, the North's imposing a tariff to force the Southern government to raise its LS is effective only if the Southern union is wage-oriented.