Labor:
- Bring the labor provisions into the core of the Agreement rather than in a side agreement.
- Require NAFTA countries to adopt and maintain in their laws and practices the
internationally recognized core labor standards as recognized in the ILO Declaration,
including:
Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining;
Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor;
Effective abolition of child labor and a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor; and
Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.
- Require NAFTA countries to have laws governing acceptable conditions of work with
respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety and health.
- Establish rules that will ensure that NAFTA countries do not waive or derogate from their
labor laws implementing internationally recognized core labor standards in a manner
affecting trade or investment between the parties.
- Establish rules that will ensure that NAFTA countries do not fail to effectively enforce their
labor laws implementing internationally recognized core labor standards and acceptable
conditions of work with respect to minimum wages, hours of work, and occupational safety
and health laws through a sustained or recurring course of action or inaction, in a manner
affecting trade or investment between the parties.
- Require that NAFTA countries take initiatives to prohibit trade in goods produced by forced
labor, regardless of whether the source country is a NAFTA country.
- Provide access to fair, equitable, and transparent administrative and judicial proceedings.
- Ensure that these labor obligations are subject to the same dispute settlement mechanism that
applies to other enforceable obligations of the Agreement.
- Establish a means for stakeholder participation, including through public advisory
committees, as well as a process for the public to raise concerns directly with NAFTA
governments if they believe a NAFTA country is not meeting its labor commitments.
- Establish or maintain a senior-level Labor Committee, which will meet regularly to oversee
implementation of labor commitments, and include a mechanism for cooperation and
coordination on labor issues, including opportunities for stakeholder input in identifying
areas of cooperation.