{"id":6431,"date":"2018-01-02T20:03:39","date_gmt":"2018-01-03T01:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=6431"},"modified":"2018-01-02T20:03:39","modified_gmt":"2018-01-03T01:03:39","slug":"how-trumps-nafta-renegotiations-could-help-mexican-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/latinamericasecurityreport.com\/?p=6431","title":{"rendered":"How Trump\u2019s NAFTA Renegotiations Could Help Mexican Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Long before Donald Trump dubbed it \u201cthe worst trade deal ever signed<\/a>,\u201d the North American Free Trade Agreement<\/a> had been portrayed as a threat to U.S. workers.<\/p>\n

In 1992, for example, independent presidential candidate Ross Perot accused<\/a> Mexico of paying \u201ca dollar an hour for labor\u201d and warned that NAFTA would create a \u201cgiant sucking sound\u201d as investment went south of the border. And that\u2019s before NAFTA even came into effect, on Jan. 1, 1994.<\/p>\n

Fears that Mexico\u2019s allegedly substandard labor conditions have hurt American workers reached new heights<\/a> under Trump, who has threatened to withdraw the U.S. from NAFTA if Mexico doesn\u2019t stop \u201ctaking advantage<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a Mexican citizen, I find such rhetoric offensive. But as a human rights professor and lawyer, I also feel compelled to examine Mexico\u2019s record on labor rights. If Trump is right that Mexico doesn\u2019t respect workers\u2019 rights, then NAFTA\u2019s current renegotiation could be an opportunity to improve labor standards in my country \u2013 and help keep NAFTA alive in the process.<\/p>\n

A failed experiment<\/strong><\/p>\n

From a strictly legal perspective, American notions about Mexico\u2019s bad working conditions are unsubstantiated. Article 123<\/a> of the Mexican Constitution grants workers the right to organize and strike, provides protections for women and children, mandates an eight-hour workday and establishes a national minimum wage.<\/p>\n

Mexicans take pride<\/a> in their 1917 constitution, which was the first in the world to include social rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, when NAFTA was in development, both the U.S. and Canada feared that free trade would lead working conditions in their countries to decline. So in 1993, the three North American governments signed a NAFTA side agreement, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"NAFTA was controversial before then-President Bill Clinton signed it into law in 1993. Now it\u2019s up for renegotiation.<\/span>
\nAP Photo\/Doug Mills<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n

The document dictates that certain labor rights \u2013 including freedom of association, collective bargaining and equal pay for men and women \u2013 must be respected in all NAFTA countries. It also prohibits forced labor and guarantees protections for migrant workers.<\/p>\n

In theory, these principles are enforced<\/a> cooperatively in each NAFTA signatory nation through intergovernmental consultations, independent evaluations and dispute settlement.<\/p>\n

Workers left unprotected<\/strong><\/p>\n

After two decades, however, the experiment on cross-border labor cooperaton<\/a> seems to me to have failed. It\u2019s mostly Mexican workers, though \u2013 not their American or Canadian counterparts \u2013 who have suffered from substandard working conditions south of the border.<\/p>\n

American manufacturing jobs have indeed decreased since 1994<\/a> \u2013 some 5.6 million of them disappeared between 2000 and 2010 alone \u2013 but estimates suggest that 87 percent were lost to automation rather than trade.<\/p>\n

\"\"President Donald Trump has pressured U.S. manufacturers like Carrier not to reduce costs by outsourcing jobs to Mexico.<\/span>
\nAP Photo\/Evan Vucci<\/span><\/span><\/h6>\n

Meanwhile, Mexico\u2019s minimum wage<\/a> \u2013 currently 88.36 pesos a day, around US$4.60 \u2013 is not enough money<\/a> to buy what economists call the \u201cbasic basket of goods\u201d for a single worker \u2013 beans, tortillas, eggs, some meat \u2013 much less to support a family.<\/p>\n

In 1994, the minimum wage of 15.27 pesos<\/a> a day amounted to $4.92<\/a>. So, thanks to inflation<\/a>, low-skill Mexican workers actually have less purchasing power than they did before NAFTA.<\/p>\n

For decades, separate and apart from NAFTA, the Mexican government has also been violating<\/a> the constitutional rights of workers. Under the Revolutionary Institutional Party, which ruled Mexico uncontested for nearly the entire 20th century, federal officials exerted extensive power over labor unions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Through an alliance with the Confederation of Mexican Workers<\/a>, a powerful group of unions, the PRI empowered labor bosses who supported its agenda, whether they represented union members well<\/a> or not. To marginalize more independent unions, it created a series of legal hoops<\/a> that few manage to actually jump through.<\/p>\n

This system hobbled collective bargaining<\/a> throughout the 20th century, preventing labor rights from progressing apace with Mexico\u2019s economic growth<\/a>. When the opposition National Action Party finally wrested the presidency from the PRI in 2000, it did not tackle this problem.<\/p>\n

In fact, in 2012, Mexican labor law was actually reformed<\/a> to give employers more flexibility in determining working conditions.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s solution<\/strong><\/p>\n

Paradoxically, then, I believe NAFTA may have actually worsened working conditions in Mexico over the past quarter century. It incentivized businesses to invest in the country accompanied by a side agreement that did nothing to establish unified worker protections across the North America region.<\/p>\n

Over the past 23 years, workers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico have filed nearly 40 complaints<\/a> before national labor authorities, decrying union busting, shoddy health conditions and lax safety regulations. None has resulted in concrete action like legislative reform.<\/p>\n

Today, the failure to effectively address differing labor conditions in NAFTA countries has put the entire deal\u2019s future at risk.<\/p>\n

Unlike Trump, who wants to simply repeal NAFTA, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has proposed modernizing it by implementing strong and progressive labor standards<\/a> across North America.<\/p>\n