Unions lay out NAFTA labor chapter priorities in wake of Guatemala ruling

摘要

Unions and groups that support upgrading and defending the rights of migrant workers panned the current labor agreement between the three NAFTA countries while laying out their vision of what a labor chapter should look like in a revised NAFTA agreement, at a June 28 hearing on the renegotiation of the trade deal. Witnesses testifying about labor obligations that could be negotiated into a redone NAFTA pointed to the recent decision in a labor dispute brought by the U.S. against Guatemala under the CAFTA-DR to argue that a new labor chapter in NAFTA must not merely mirror language used in past agreements. The U.S. did not succeed in proving Guatemala violated its labor obligations under that free trade agreement because it could not prove that Guatemala's failure to enforce its labor laws was affecting trade.