What a new NAFTA complaint can tell us about the TPP
Ricardo Icaza
As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) debate intensifies, a
coalition of U.S. and Mexican labor and civil society groups are taking
an unprecedented legal approach to protect workers’ rights that will
test the strength of labor protections in international trade
agreements.
The coalition, led by the Frente Auténtico del Trabajo (FAT) union in
Mexico and the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 770 in
the United States, on behalf of locals 324, 770, 1167 and 1428, filed
“double barrel” complaints today under the North American Free Trade
Ageement (NAFTA) and Organization for Economic Cooperation and
Development (OECD) guidelines. The complaints seek to halt Mexican
retail giant Chedraui Commercial Group’s abuses of workers’ rights
abuses on both sides of the border.
Chedraui is a multinational firm that should live up to the labor
standards set by NAFTA and the OECD guidelines. In both Mexico and the
United States, the company has silenced employees’ voices and trampled
their rights, and we believe an international solution is necessary to
this international problem.
