NAFTA

Norms, Practices and Perceptions: Labour Enforcement in Mexico's Garment Industry

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 05:00:00 +0000

Coordinator: Graciela Bensusan, UAM-X
Collaborators: Melba Casella, Patricia Juan Pineda, Soledad Aragón and Aldo Reyes

This paper focuses on the institutional dimension of the current labour situation in Mexico as well as the perception of these by involved groups.

NAFTA's 10 Year Failure to Protect Mexican Workers' Health and Safety

Tue, 21 Dec 2004 02:09:22 +0000

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.

The Puebla case under the NAFTA Labour Side Agreement

Sat, 29 May 2004 02:03:30 +0000

(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

NAFTA’s Labor Side Agreement: Fading Into Oblivion? An Assessment of Workplace Health and Safety Cases

Thu, 01 Apr 2004 02:12:54 +0000

UCLA Center for Labor Research and Education - Linda Delp, Marisol Arriagua, Guadalupe Palma, Haydee Urita and Abel Valenzuela, March 2004.

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.

Maquilatitlán: City of Indians becomes Jean Capital of Mexico

Tue, 02 Mar 2004 01:52:22 +0000

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.

Trading Away Rights: The Unfulfilled Promises of NAFTA’s Labor Side Agreement

Mon, 02 Apr 2001 02:21:55 +0000

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.

Complainants in NAFTA labour side agreement case boycott tri-national consultation

Tue, 09 Dec 2008 15:41:28 +0000

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.