US: Improve Workers' Rights in Trade Accords

Labor provisions in US free
trade accords are weak and are not effectively enforced, Human Rights
Watch said in a new report released today. Major reforms are needed.

The 36-page report, "A Way Forward for Workers' Rights in US Free Trade Accords,"
provides a roadmap for a new US administration to strengthen the
requirements for workers' rights in these agreements and to improve
their enforcement.

"The US approach to labor rights in its free trade
agreements, beginning with NAFTA, has failed," said Carol Pier, senior
researcher on labor rights and trade at Human Rights Watch. "The
government needs to make dramatic changes in its strategy."

The Human Rights Watch report
outlines in detail elements needed to effectively guarantee labor
rights, including recommendations that US free trade agreements:

• Unambiguously require all parties to uphold core labor rights in their domestic laws;
  
  
• Require all parties to effectively enforce their labor laws in all cases involving trade or investment between the parties;
  
  
• Penalize corporations implicated in labor abuses; and
  
  
• Depoliticize
  enforcement mechanisms by significantly reducing state discretion
  throughout the labor complaint and dispute settlement processes.

The report
also includes specific proposals for a new US administration to make
compliance with trade accords' labor requirements a priority, including
to:

• Raise the
  subject of labor rights from the beginning of free trade talks and
  require that potential US trading partners remedy deficiencies before
  negotiations conclude;
  
  
• Create and finance mechanisms to assist private
  parties seeking to file labor complaints and to make local groups in US
  trading partners aware that the mechanisms exist; and
  
  
• Actively monitor agreements' labor requirements,
  including by conducting on-site inspections in countries that are US
  trading partners.

"US politicians have told workers for years that respect for their
rights and open markets go hand in hand," said Pier. "Only bold changes
can make this promise a reality."