AFL-CIO Says Without Mexican Labor Law Change, It Will Oppose New NAFTA
The AFL-CIO said that it "will have no choice but to oppose" the new NAFTA if the Trump administration insists on a vote on it in its current form, in a lengthy March 14 post on its website. The coalition of labor unions, which has major influence in the Democratic party, made that statement just after saying that Mexico must pass its new labor law before Congress votes. That is also the position of the U.S. government.
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But the unions complained about far more than just the delay in getting that Mexican law passed. The AFL-CIO said "the new NAFTA includes some modest improvements," but said it "does little to stop the continued outsourcing of U.S. jobs to Mexico across all sectors, including aerospace, electronics, appliances, food processing, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) products, paint finishing systems and booths, and other manufacturing."
U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer has been counting on the disincentives to outsource in the auto industry to win over Democrats. The AFL-CIO said that for enforcement, the most critical feature would be an ability of workers to bring complaints about labor violations if governments are unwilling to act. "By design, NAFTA distorted power relationships in favor of global employers over workers, weakened worker bargaining power and encouraged the de-industrialization of the U.S. economy," the AFL-CIO said.
The unions also pointed to the biologics exclusivity period, which has been seized upon by Democrats. The treaty "will also keep drug prices high by expanding monopoly power for brand-name pharmaceutical companies. This provision will hurt workers in all three countries, but it will especially hurt Mexico’s workers. We cannot limit the future health policy choices for North American countries simply because Big Pharma seeks to use NAFTA to lock in and increase its profits."