LABOR PROVISIONS IN TRADE AGREEMENTS: FROM THE NAALC TO NOWLabor Provisions in Trade Agreements • October 21st, 2009
The North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) was included as a side agreement to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), and entered into force on January 1, 1994 by the governments of Canada, Mexico, and the United States.1 This note begins with a brief de- scription of the background of the NAALC and then explores the process by which a private party can bring a complaint against one of the party governments for failing to comply with the agreement. Next is a short in- troduction to current American goals in free trade agreements, as expressed in the Trade Act of 2002. Following that is a discussion of some of the successes and shortcomings of the NAALC as found in the agreement it- self, and from its application over the last thirteen years. The next section is a survey of some of the trade agreements entered into by the United States since the NAALC. The final two sections examine how to improve the NAALC itself, and includes proposed guidelines that can be us
