Labor organizations accuse Mexico of not complying with NAFTA labor regs

Labor organizations accuse Mexico of not complying with NAFTA labor regs

Per POLITICO, the AFL-CIO and Mexico’s National Workers Union accused Mexico of not complying with its NAFTA labor obligations in a joint complaint filed today.

The unions argue Mexican businesses’ widespread use of so-called “protection contracts” — which allow an employer to sign an agreement with an employer-friendly union without the involvement of some workers — violates the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, the labor corollary to NAFTA.

“This system continues because the Mexican labor authorities allow it to happen,” the unions wrote in a filing to NAALC’s U.S. national administrative office. The filing also accuses the government of President Pena Nieto of endorsing labor legislation that “brazenly violates the central obligations of the NAALC.”

The complaint comes as House Democrats urged U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer to push Mexico for improved labor standards in a renegotiated NAFTA deal in a letter sent Tuesday.