INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED CORE LABOUR STANDARDS IN THE UNITED STATES

Transcription

1 INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU) INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED CORE LABOUR STANDARDS IN THE UNITED STATES REPORT FOR THE WTO GENERAL COUNCIL REVIEW OF THE TRADE POLICIES OF THE UNITED STATES (Geneva, 14 and 16 January 2004) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The United States has ratified only two of the eight core ILO labour Conventions. In view of restrictions on the trade union rights of workers and continuing problems with child labour, determined measures are needed to comply with the commitments the US accepted at Singapore and Doha in the WTO Ministerial Declarations over , and in the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. The US has not ratified the ILO core Convention on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining, nor the Convention on Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise. There is insufficient protection against anti-union discrimination. The right to strike and the right to collective bargaining are severely restricted, in particular for public sector workers. The US has not ratified the core ILO Convention on Equal Remuneration nor the Convention on Discrimination. Discrimination is prohibited by law but does occur in practice. Legislation requires equal pay but wage differences exist between men and women and among different ethnic groups. The US has ratified the ILO core Convention on the Worst Forms of Child Labour, but has not ratified the Convention on Minimum Age. Child labour remains a problem in US agriculture, where fewer regulations apply and where children are exposed to dangerous working conditions. The US has ratified the Convention on the Abolition of Forced Labour but has not ratified the Convention on Forced Labour. Forced labour exists in such forms as forced prostitution (trafficking of women and girls), and in the garment industry within the US territories. ******************

2 2 INTERNATIONALLY RECOGNISED CORE LABOUR STANDARDS IN THE UNITED STATES Introduction This report on the respect of internationally recognised core labour standards in the US is one of the series the ICFTU is producing in accordance with the Ministerial Declaration adopted at the first Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) (Singapore, 9-13 December 1996) in which Ministers stated: "We renew our commitment to the observance of internationally recognised core labour standards." The fourth Ministerial Conference (Doha, 9-14 November 2001) reaffirmed this commitment. These standards were further upheld in the International Labour Organisation (ILO) Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work adopted by the 174 member countries of the ILO at the International Labour Conference in June The ICFTU's affiliate in the US is the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO). In 2002, 13.2 per cent of the labour force was unionised (16.1 million workers). The US is the world s largest single economy and the largest trading party. It has an open trade and investment regime, and has strongly pursued a policy of trade liberalization. In a few areas substantial trade barriers exist, with the highest tariffs applying to agri-food imports, tobacco products, clothing, textiles and footwear. Tariff quotas apply to beef imports, dairy products, sugar, peanuts, tobacco and cotton. Quantitative restrictions apply to textiles and clothing. Substantial domestic support is given to the agri-food sector. In 2002, US exports accounted for US$ billion. Main exports are machinery and transport equipment, chemicals, manufactured goods, food and crude materials. Exports of services accounted for US$ in Imports accounted for US$ 1,164 billion in Main imports are machinery and transport equipment, manufactured goods and chemicals. Imports of services accounted for US$ billion. The main trading partners of the US are Canada, Mexico, China and Japan. The United States is part of NAFTA, together with Mexico and Canada, which are the biggest trading partners of the US. It has also signed free trade agreements with Chile, Singapore and Jordan. The United States is currently negotiating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Furthermore the US is part of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum and the Transatlantic Economic Partnership (TEP), and has enacted the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the Andean Trade Preferences Act (ATPA). I. Freedom of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining The US has not ratified Convention No. 87 on the Freedom of Association and Protection of the Right to Organise, nor Convention No. 98 on the Right to Organise and Collective Bargaining. 2

3 3 The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) is the primary Federal labour law in the United States, and is binding on the states. The NLRA guarantees the right to freedom of association, the right to bargain collectively, and the right to join trade unions to private sector employees. However, the statute excludes many categories of employees from its scope, including agricultural and domestic workers, supervisors, and independent contractors. Collective bargaining is recognised by law but in practice some 32 million civilian workers do not have the right under any law to negotiate their wages, hours or employment terms. Among this group are 8.5 million independent contractors; 10.2 million people in supervising or managing jobs; 6.9 million federal, state and local government employees; 532,000 household workers; and 357,000 agricultural workers. In the private sector, the law requires proof of majority status in order for a union to become the exclusive representative of employees within a bargaining unit. The National Labor Relations Board, the administrative agency that enforces the NLRA, will only certify a union that obtains a majority vote during a Board-supervised election. Employers have a statutory right under the NLRA to express their views during a union campaign so long as they do not interfere with employee free choice. In practice, in at least one in four campaigns, supporters of unions are illegally fired. 75 per cent of employers hire outside consultants and security firms to run anti-union campaigns, often based on mass psychology and distorting the law. Trade union supporters are isolated and their supervisors (who are not eligible to be represented by the trade union) are trained to intimidate workers. In fact, 92 per cent of employers, when faced with employees who want to join together in a union, force employees to attend closed-door meetings to hear anti-union propaganda and in 78% of all campaigns, workers are subjected to one-on-one meetings with their supervisors. Workers are spied on, threatened, and offered bribes and special favours. Sometimes employers threaten to relocate their business. Such threats occur in over half of all campaigns, and in 71% of campaigns in non-mobile, manufacturing, industries. And, finally, voting results are often challenged by the employer, delaying union representation and contract negotiations for months and years. And even after the union becomes certified as the exclusive representative of the workers, employers engage in bad faith bargaining in order to prevent the union from winning a first contract. Indeed, 40 percent of all attempts at winning a first contract fail. Remedies for intimidation and coercion are both limited and ineffective. A backlog of some 25,000 cases of unfair labour practices by employers existed in 2002 and it takes an average of 557 days for the NLRB to resolve a case, discouraging many workers from using them. In 2002 some 43 charges were brought against Wal-Mart in 25 states by the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), including illegal surveillance, threats and intimidation against union workers. Wal-Mart, the giant global retailer based in the USA, has repeatedly stated that it will not bargain with any union, and has repeatedly taken drastic steps to prevent workers from organizing in stores across North America. Wal-Mart stores routinely violate the legal rights of their employees that try to organize into a labour union. Since 1995, the government has issued at least 60 complaints alleging illegal anti-union activities. However until now the maximum penalty Wal-Mart has incurred by its illegal conduct has been a requirement 3

4 4 to post notices in various stores that it will no longer threaten employees who engage in "concerted activity", deny their right to organize, require employees to report their contacts with unions, or discipline or fire workers who engage in concerted activity. For the first time however an administrative law judge has issued a bargaining order against Wal-Mart, requiring it to bargain with a local branch of the UFCW at a Texas store for a unit of meat department employees. Wal-Mart is facing a grand jury investigation, and a civil racketeering class-action filed by cleaners who say they were underpaid when working for contractors hired by Wal-Mart. Despite ample evidence that Wal-Mart s campaign against the union is driven by and from headquarters and replicated at every store with union interest, no corporate-wide remedy has been sought by the NLRB. In the public sector some 40 per cent of all workers have no collective bargaining rights. The 1978 Federal Labor Relations Act applies to some 2 million federal government workers but outlaws strikes, proscribes collective bargaining over hours, wages and economic benefits and imposes extensive management rights further limiting the scope of collective bargaining. In some 13 states collective bargaining rights only exist for certain public employees, and 14 states do not allow collective bargaining at all. At the state level public sector workers generally do not have the right to strike. The NLRA and judicial decisions interpreting the law place limitations on the ability of workers to engage in concerted activity such as intermittent strikes, secondary boycotts and other forms of aid. The law also allows employers to permanently replace striking workers. Permanent replacement workers can vote in a de-certification election to eliminate union recognition. At the end of September 2002, a lockout took place by employers of the Pacific Maritime Association (PMA), which represents shipping lines and terminal operators on the West coast. 29 major ports were closed and 10,500 workers were locked out (members of ILWU, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union). The dockers had been working without contract since the 1 st of July and the dispute concerned the terms for a new labour contract. The lockout paralysed sea transport between the US and Asia for 10 days, costing the US economy between US $1 and US$2 million a day. On 8 October, President Bush invoked the Taft-Hartley Act which allows the president to seek court action to halt labour disputes that threaten national health and safety - and secured a court-ordered cooling-off period that sent the longshoremen back to work and got federal mediators to oversee a new round of negotiations. It was the first time that an injunction under this Act was sought in the context of a lockout. On November 24 an agreement was reached between ILWU and PMA. Since May 2002, the mostly immigrant, Spanish-speaking women who work at Azteca Foods, represented by UE (Union of Electrical Radio and Machine Workers), have been in contract negotiations. Workers efforts for improved wages and working conditions, including health and safety protections, fair retirement and health benefits and union security were met with company demands for cuts in medical and maternity leave, removal of seniority rights and a ban on union newsletters from the company premises. When workers protested with informational picketing outside the company, they were threatened with termination. Charges 4

5 5 against Azteca Foods for threats, interrogation and surveillance were filed and the workers went on strike in September The NLRA, anti-discrimination laws, and wage and hour standards apply to employees regardless of their immigration status. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that undocumented workers are not entitled to back pay as a remedy for unfair labour practices under the NLRA, and they are not entitled to reinstatement. These restrictions have made it difficult to enforce trade union rights on behalf of the millions of undocumented workers in the United States. Smithfield Foods, based in Smithfield, Virginia, is the world's largest hog producer and pork processor. Almost 6,000 men and women work at this plant. By the company's own estimates, turnover is 100% annually; in other words every year, 6,000 people are hired at the plant and 6,000 leave. An estimated 60 percent of the workforce at Smithfield s plant in Tar Heel, North Carolina, is Hispanic, and most of the rest are African American. Smithfield has deliberately promoted racial tension to separate the workers. A former supervisor at the plant testified that "Smithfield keeps Black and Latino employees virtually separated in the plant with the Black workers on the kill floor and the Latinos in the cut and conversion departments. The word was that black workers were going to be replaced with Latino workers because blacks were more favourable toward unions." In addition Smithfield sponsored a group of workers who were paid by Smithfield to spy on their co-workers and campaign against the union. In December 2000, an Administrative Law Judge of the NLRB issued a ruling against Smithfield for massive violations of federal law, finding that Smithfield conspired with law enforcement to instigate violence at the vote count. Meanwhile the 6000 workers at the Tar Heel plant still have no voice, no union representation and hence no protection against abusive behaviour by the company. Although Smithfield was ordered to recognize and bargain with the union it has refused to do so. Smithfield is undertaking a major drive to establish its presence globally, with major operations in Poland, France, Brazil and Mexico..John Sweeney, President of the AFL-CIO has said that, "The present administration is the most anti-worker government since Herbert Hoover. It has stripped 40,000 of its own employees of the freedom to bargain collectively, and threatened many more workers' freedom to form a union. It's outrageous in a nation where private sector employers block workers' organizing efforts with near impunity that our own government doesn't do more to protect workers' basic rights." The Employee Free Choice Act, currently before Congress, is the first legislation to be proposed in a long time that could lead to a real expansion of workers rights in America. The proposed Act would provide for certification of a union as the bargaining representative if a majority of employees in an appropriate unit sign authorisations designating the union as its bargaining representative. It provides for unions and employers engaged in bargaining for their first contract, if they are unable to reach agreement within 90 days, to refer the dispute to the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service (FMCS) for mediation and, after 30 days of mediation, if necessary for binding arbitration. The Act provides stronger penalties for violations of the National Labor Relations Act committed by employers against employees 5

6 6 during any period while employees are attempting to organize a union or negotiate a first contract with the employer. The NLRB would have to seek a federal court injunction against an employer whenever there is reasonable cause to believe that the employer has discharged or discriminated against employees or threatened to do so, or engaged in conduct that significantly interfered with employee rights during an organizing or first contract drive. The Act increases the amount an employer is required to pay when an employee is discharged or discriminated against during an organizing campaign or first contract drive to three times back pay. It also provides for civil fines of up to $20,000 per violation against employers found to have wilfully or repeatedly violated employees rights during an organizing campaign or first contract drive. Conclusions Workers have the right to organise, form trade unions, and engage in collective bargaining, but certain groups of workers are excluded from this right. In practice the right to organise is often violated and sanctions on employers in cases of violations do not provide sufficient deterrents. The right to strike is recognised but restricted. II Discrimination and Equal Remuneration The US has not ratified Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration nor Convention No. 111 on Discrimination (Employment and Occupation). Title VII of the Civil Rights Act is the principal federal statute governing discrimination in the US and prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex, or national origin. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of age, and the Americans with Disabilities Act prohibits discrimination against persons with disabilities. In addition, the principle of equality of opportunity and treatment, including in the field of remuneration is recognised in the United States. Equal pay for equal work is recognised in the Equal Pay Act of In 2002, nearly one-quarter of the 63.6 million employed women older than 16 worked in administrative or clerical positions. Another 19 percent of women worked in professional specialty fields, which includes engineering, doctors and teachers. Other areas of employment for women were service-related jobs and management and executive positions. Women hold nearly half the executive and managerial jobs in the United States, but they fall short of men at the top ranks of the salary ladder. At the time of the Equal Pay Act, women earned just 58 cents for every dollar earned by men. By 2001, nearly 40 years later, that rate had only increased to 76 cents. Women from minorities earn even less. African-American women earn just 64 cents to every dollar earned by white men, and for Hispanic women that figure drops to merely 52 cents per dollar. The wage gap between women and men exists within a wide spectrum of occupations. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in 1999 that female physicians earned 62.5% of the 6

7 7 average wages of male physicians, and women in sales occupations earned just 59.9% of men's wages in equivalent positions. The gender gap in wages has decreased most in administrative support and clerical occupations. In service occupations the wage gap narrowed by 8 per cent between 1983 and Table I: Median annual earnings of black, white and Hispanic men and women as a percentage of white men s median annual earnings Year White men Black men Hispanic men White women Black women % 69.0% n.a. 58.7% 48.2% n.a. Hispanic women Source: National Committee on Pay Equity According to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission s EEO-1 survey (which is collected annually from private employers with 100 or more employees or federal contractors with 50 or more employees), women represent 48 percent of all employment. Women exceed this representation as professionals, sales workers, office and clerical workers and as service workers. From 1990 to 2001 the percentage of women employed as officials and managers increased by 32 percent. The highest per capita allegations of gender-based discrimination was found in Automotive Dealers and Service Stations. African Americans represent 14 percent of all EEO-1 employment, the largest share of minority EEO-1 employment. African Americans exceed their total representation as office and clerical workers, operatives, laborers and service workers. African American employment as officials and managers increased by about one-third over the past decade. The industry with the largest per capita rate of race-based charge allegations was Transportation Services. Hispanic employment in the private sector nearly doubled from 1990 to 2001 reaching 11 percent in Hispanics employment as operatives, laborers and service workers exceeds 11 percent and Hispanic representation as officials and managers increased by about 50 percent over the past decade. 7

8 8 Table II: Occupational employment in private industry by participation rate, Officials/ managers Sales workers Office and clerical White employees African American employees Hispanic employees Asian employees Male Female Male Female Male Female Male Female Crafts Total employment Professionals Technicians Operatives Labourers Service workers Source: EEOC Asian employment while still a relatively small portion of the workforce (four percent) increased by 49 percent over that period. Asian Americans exceed four percent in their employment as professionals and technicians. Asian American representation as officials and managers increased by about 50 percent over the past decade. In 2002, the EEOC received 1,256 charges of compensation discrimination. The EEOC resolved 1,182 compensation discrimination charges in FY 2002 and recovered $10.3 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals. With regard to charges of national origin discrimination, the EEOC received 8,025 charges. Including charges from 8

9 9 previous years, 8,899 charges were resolved, and monetary benefits for charging parties totaled $48.1 million. Regarding race discrimination, the EEOC received 29,910 charges. The EEOC resolved 33,199 race discrimination charges and recovered $81.1 million in monetary benefits for charging parties and other aggrieved individuals. 9.2 per cent of all charges were settled and 3.6 per cent withdrawn. Conclusions Discrimination in respect of employment and occupation is prohibited by law. However, there is still a wage gap between men and women and between different ethnic groups. III. Child Labour The US ratified Convention No. 182, the Worst Forms of Child Labour Convention in The US has not ratified Convention No. 138, the Minimum Age Convention. The minimum age for child labour is 14, but only 12 years for farm work. Children are allowed to work on family farms at any age. Children under 16 are allowed to work a maximum of 3 hours a day during school days. In agriculture there is no limit on the number of hours worked per day. Overtime pay is not required for agricultural work (either for children or adults), unlike most other occupations. ILO statistics show 8,369,000 economically active children in the US between years in The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimates that 200,000 adolescents are injured in the workplace every year and more than 100 are killed on the job. Between 300,000 and 800,000 children are employed in agriculture under dangerous conditions. It is the most hazardous form of child employment in the US and at the same time the least protected. The children work in fields, orchards and packing sheds. Examples are picking of lettuce and cantaloupe, weeding cotton fields, and picking cherries in orchards. Many work twelve hours a day. They are exposed to dangerous pesticides, suffer rashes, headaches, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, often risk exhaustion or dehydration due to a lack of water, and have injuries frequently. They risk long-term consequences of pesticide poisoning including cancer and brain damage. They suffer a high rate of injuries from knives and heavy equipment. An estimated 100,000 children suffer agriculture-related injuries annually in the United States. A survey by Human Rights Watch showed that one-third of the interviewees earned significantly less than the minimum wage. 85 per cent of migrant or seasonal child farm workers are ethnic minorities. In Arizona for example, 99 per cent of the farm workers are Hispanic. Girls are routinely subject to sexual advances by farm labour contractors and field supervisors. Many do not speak English, do not know that sexual harassment is illegal, and fear losing their jobs or other retaliation if they report the abuse. 9

10 10 Very few inspections take place in agriculture, despite the fact that it is the second most hazardous occupation after mining. Most workers are hired through farm contractors, thus avoiding the employer s responsibility in cases of violations of workers rights. In the United States, child farm workers account for only 8% of working children, but 40% of all work-related fatalities among minors (ILO). There are also reports (for example carried by the Associated Press) of illegal child labour in garment industry sweatshops that also violates federal wages and hours laws, and illegal home-based garment work. Net primary school enrolment/attendance is 95 per cent. According to estimates, as many as two million American children are schooled at home, with the number growing as much as 15 to 20 percent per year. In the United States, only 55% of farm worker children finish high school. Conclusions Child labour in the US is mainly a problem in agriculture. Child labour in agriculture is the least protected form of child labour in the US and the most hazardous one. IV. Forced Labour The US has ratified Convention No. 105, the Abolition of Forced Labour in It has not ratified Convention No. 29, the Forced Labour Convention. Some forms of forced labour occur in territories under US control, for example the Northern Mariana Islands, where a garment industry has developed and where Convention No. 105 is not applicable. Shipment of products from these islands to the US is duty and quota free. Wage and immigration laws are locally controlled and have led to indentured servitude into the territory. Foreign-owned companies are allowed to recruit foreign workers, mainly young women from Thailand, China, the Philippines and Bangladesh. This recruitment is done by private agencies demanding exorbitant fees from the employees themselves, which are paid in advance or deducted from their pay in an arrangement that prevents workers from changing employer. In addition, those workers have to sign contracts where they agree to refrain from asking for wage increases, seeking other work or joining a union. Contract violations result in dismissal and deportation, obliging them to pay the travel costs to their home country. "An estimated 18,000 to 20,000 people are trafficked to the US annually." Approximately 30,000 women and children are trafficked annually from Southeast Asia, 10,000 from Latin America, 4,000 from the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe, and 1,000 from other regions. The primary source countries for the United States are Thailand, Vietnam, China, Mexico, Russia, Ukraine, and the Czech Republic. Most are employed in the sex sector, domestic and cleaning work (in offices, hotels, etc.), sweatshops and agricultural work. There have been reports of trafficking in at least 20 different states, with most 10

11 11 reported cases occurring in New York, California, and Florida. Research suggests that these figures on trafficking are just the tip of the iceberg. Trafficking cases are difficult to discover due to their clandestine nature and to language and cultural barriers which isolate the victims. The average age of the victims is around 20 years old. Under an employer visa scheme, migrant domestic workers can come to the US. There are reported cases of physical abuse, severe restrictions on freedom of movement and working conditions that are close to slavery. Many are paid less than the minimum wage and, under the terms of their visa, face deportation if they leave their employer to escape from these oppressive conditions. In the US compulsory prison labour is common. Legislation differs between states. In the case of prison sentences for striking workers, compulsory prison labour is not applicable, as persons who are jailed for contempt are considered pre-trial detainees and, as such, not subject to prison labour. Conclusions Forced labour is prohibited by law but does occur in the US in the form of trafficking for forced prostitution, forced domestic labour, and forced prison labour. There is also forced labour in the US territories. 11

12 12 Final Conclusions and Recommendations 1. There is a need for legislation to provide for adequate protection, with sufficiently effective and dissuasive penalties, against acts of anti-union discrimination for trade union membership or activities and against acts of interference by employers or their organisations in trade union affairs. The Government has to ratify Convention No. 87, bring legislation in line with the Convention and ensure enforcement. In particular, the Employee Free Choice Act needs to be enacted with the shortest possible delay. 2. The government has to ratify Convention No. 98 and bring legislation in line with the Convention in order to extend the right to collective bargaining and the right to strike to all workers, including federal or state government employees, agricultural workers, supervisors, independent contractors and household workers. 3. Wage inequalities and inequalities in access to employment still exist between men and women and between different ethnic groups, despite progress that has been made to diminish inequalities. The Government should focus more on reduction of inequalities in certain occupations, such as managerial, professional and sales functions. The Government should increase training and education for ethnic minorities and improve security, especially in certain sectors like agriculture, construction and manufacturing. 4. More progress has to be made with the effective elimination of hazardous forms of child labour in agriculture. Increased control and protection are needed. 5. There is a need for the effective elimination of forced prostitution and trafficking of women and children. A stronger enforcement of the law is needed as well as effective cooperation with the countries these women come from. The government has to enforce legislation with regard to some forms of forced domestic work. With regard to compulsory prison labour, the government should take effective measures to bring the legislation in line with the Convention No. 105, in particular at the state level. 6. Large differences exist between states with regard to labour legislation and enforcement. The Federal Government should make efforts to achieve more harmonization of legislation with regard to core labour standards among the different states. 7. There is an overall need for increased labour inspection and enforcement of the legislation. 8. In line with the commitments accepted by the United States at the Singapore, Geneva and Doha WTO Ministerial Conference and its obligations as a member of the ILO, the Government of the United States should therefore 12

13 13 provide regular reports to the WTO and the ILO on its legislative changes and implementation of all the core labour standards. 9. The WTO should draw to the attention of the authorities of the United States the commitments they undertook to observe core labour standards at the Singapore and Doha Ministerial Conferences. The WTO should request the ILO to intensify its work with the Government of the United States in these areas and provide a report to the WTO General Council on the occasion of the next trade policy review. References - AFL-CIO, various documents, and AFL-CIO website, - Armas, Genaro, Women still find wage gap despite executive jobs, Associate Press, March, Center for Women and Work, The Gender Gap in Wages, Rutgers University, Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, - Global March against Child Labour, Worst forms of child labour - US, - Human Rights Watch, Fingers to the Bone, ICFTU, Annual Survey of violations of trade union rights, 2001, 2002, ILO, Committee (CEACR) reports 2001/ ILO, Ratification of Core Labour Standards - ILO, Gender Website - Kramer, Farell, Children Working Illegally in United States, AP National Writer Associate Press, National Women s Law Center - O Neill Richard, Amy, International Trafficking in Women to the United States: A Contemporary Manifestation of Slavery and Organized Crime, DCI Exceptional Intelligence Analyst Program, April US Department of Commerce, Trade statistics, WTO, Trade Policy Review United States, Summary, WTO, Trade Policy Review United States, Report by the Government, 2001 ****************** 13