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NAALC
North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC)
The NAALC, adopted by the US, Mexico and Canada in September of 1993, commits the three governments to “protect, enhance and enforce basic workers’ rights,”; the NAALC is the labor component of the wider North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the three aforementioned countries. This agreement establishes both national and international structures to promote the observance of the following Labor Principles: freedom of association, the right to organize, to bargain collectively and to strike, prohibition of forced labor, labor protections for children and young persons, minimum employment standards, elimination of employment discrimination, equal pay for women and men, prevention of and compensation in cases of occupational injuries and illnesses, and protection of migrant workers.
Unfortunately, the enforcement mechanisms in the NAALC remain inadequate. First, this agreement acts more as a forum in which public meetings focusing on governments’ failures to enforce existing labor codes are discussed, rather than the activities of employers; more so, the NAALC does not have the capacity to punish or regulate those that disregard its policies. Another detriment is that very few investigations of labor abuse have come from the NAALC despite numerous complaints, and those investigations that have been undertaken have been restricted to fact finding missions.
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