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The three complainants in a NAFTA labour side agreement case against Mexico were conspicuously absent from a December 3 stakeholder consultation in Puebla, Mexico in which the governments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico were supposed to discuss Mexico’s commitment to freedom of association.
Five years after the Puebla case was filed, the Worker Assistance Center (CAT) of Mexico, the Maquila Solidarity Network (MSN) of Canada, and United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) of the United States announced they were boycotting the so-called “stakeholder seminar” citing serious flaws in the side agreement process.
Garrett Brown, Maquiladora Health and Safety Support Network, December 2004.
This report finds that after 10 years NAFTA's Labour Side Agreement, the NAALC, failed to protect Mexican workers' rights. The author attributes these failures to problems such as lack of political will, economic disincentives, and lack of transparency. He uses two submissions to the U.S. NAO as case studies-Han Young and Auto Trim/Custom Trim.
(2004) A summary of the public meetings and recommendations from the "Puebla Case" reviewed by the National Administrative Offices of the Canadian and U.S. governments. The complaint addressed worker rights violations at two factories located in the state of Puebla, Mexico: Matamoros Garment and Tarrant Ajalpan. It documented problems with failure to pay wages owing or legal overtime pay, long hours, and persistent health and safety violations. For more information click here
This study uses seven health and safety complaints to evaluate the effectiveness of the NAALC and finds that the agreement does little to support labor rights. The authors make recommendations for future agreements and note some positive side-effects such as increased solidarity and cross-boarder organizing.
In this article, Martín Barrios of the Human and Labour Rights Commission of the Tehuacán Valley describes the enormous changes the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has made in the lives of indigenous people in his region.
A report on the effects of free trade and the restructuring jean industry on workers, indigenous communities and the environment in the Tehuacan Valley, Mexico. Calls for local action and international solidarity, and cautions against extending the Tehuacan economic model to southern Mexico and Central America through the Plan Puebla-Panama. Also available in Spanish. PDF File
Lance Compa and American Center for International Labor Solidarity, 2003
This report looks at Mexico's century-long fight for independent, democratic trade unions and social justice. Compa suggests that with an increasingly democratic government, well-enforced labour laws, and strong trade unions, Mexico has the potential to be a leader on worker rights standards. As the violations documented in this report make clear, however, Mexico still falls short of international worker rights standards.
Human Rights Watch, Vol. 13 No.2 (B) April 2001.
An in-depth report on the effectiveness of NAFTA's Labour Side Agreement. Human Rights Watch reviews labour rights cases under the NAALC and makes recommendations to strengthen worker protections.
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