[CTC] Canada demands U.S. end ‘right to work’ laws as part of NAFTA talks

[Arthur Stamoulis]

https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/canada-demands-
us-end-right-to-work-laws-as-part-of-nafta-talks/
article36160015/?ref=http://www.theglobeandmail.com&

Canada demands U.S. end ‘right to work’ laws as part of NAFTA talks

ADRIAN MORROW <https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/authors/adrian-morrow>

MEXICO CITY

58 MINUTES AGOSEPTEMBER 3, 2017

Canadian negotiators are demanding the United States roll back so-called
"right to work" laws – accused of gutting unions in some U.S. states by
starving them of money – as part of the renegotiation of the North American
free-trade agreement. The request is part of a push by Ottawa to get the
U.S. and Mexico to adopt higher labour standards under the deal.

Mexico, meanwhile, is campaigning to include its oil and gas sector in the
deal.

These major moves on the labour and energy files came over the weekend at
the second round of NAFTA renegotiations in Mexico City.

Read more: Trump's rhetoric has Mexico bracing for worst in NAFTA talks
<https://beta.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/mexico-braces-for-worst-in-nafta-talks/article36156973/>

One group of negotiators spent all day Sunday working on the labour file,
according to a schedule of the talks obtained by The Globe and Mail. One
source familiar with the discussions said Canada wants the United States to
pass a federal law stopping state governments from enacting right-to-work
legislation; the source said the United States has not agreed to such a
request. Canada believes that lower labour standards in the United States
and Mexico, including right to work, give those countries an unfair
advantage in attracting jobs.

Jerry Dias, the leader of Canada's largest private-sector trade union, said
Ottawa's negotiators are: pushing Mexico on its corporate-sanctioned
unions, which are accused of negotiating collective agreements unfavourable
to workers; agitating for both countries to offer a year of paid family
leave, as Canada does; and targeting American right-to-work laws that allow
workers in unionized shops to refuse to pay dues, draining money from
unions.

"I'm very pleased with the position the Canadian government is taking on
labour standards," Mr. Dias, president of Unifor, told reporters outside
the talks. "Canada's got two problems: The low wage rates in Mexico and the
right-to-work states in the United States."

Mr. Dias, whose union represents a broad swath of occupations from auto
makers to paperworkers, met on Sunday with Canada's chief NAFTA negotiator,
Steve Verheul, and members of the team working on labour matters. He argued
lax labour standards in the other two NAFTA countries are bleeding jobs out
of Canada.

Another major, if significantly less controversial, subject at talks was
Mexico's desire to enshrine its newly-opened energy market in NAFTA. When
the deal was originally signed in 1994, oil and gas in the country was
under a government-run monopoly. President Enrique Pena Nieto, however, has
begun welcoming private foreign investment. Now, Mexico wants these open
market rules written into NAFTA to ensure they are not rolled back by a
future government.

Kenneth Smith Ramos, Mexico's chief negotiator, told reporters Saturday
that his country wanted "mechanisms that allow us to integrate ourselves in
a positive way in the energy sector" in order to "reflect the reform Mexico
established."

Government and industry sources familiar with the United States and
Canadian thinking on the subject say both countries like the idea of Mexico
putting its energy market under NAFTA, as it would allow American and
Canadian companies more opportunities to do business there.

Among the subjects dealt with over the weekend, said one source with
knowledge of the discussions, was wine, a potentially touchy subject for
Canada, where some provinces have tightly controlled distribution systems
that make it harder for other countries to import their product.

Mexico has long supported NAFTA, but U.S. President Donald Trump's
relentless rhetorical attacks on the country are testing that resolve and
fuelling a popular backlash against the American government.

On top of his attacks on NAFTA – which Mr. Trump calls the "worst trade
deal ever negotiated" – the President has repeatedly portrayed Mexicans as
criminals responsible for bringing "tremendous drugs" into the United
States. He has insisted Mexico will pay for a wall along the border, which
the Mexican government has adamantly refused. On Sunday, Politico reported
that Mr. Trump would also follow through on a plan to abolish Deferred
Action for Childhood Arrivals, a provision that allowed undocumented
immigrants brought into the United States as children to stay – a move
certain to further inflame tensions.

As the talks unfolded, tens of thousands of supporters of a presidential
candidate critical of the deal took to the streets of the capital for an
energetic campaign rally. Former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez
Obrador is leading in the polls, threatening to wrest the presidency away
from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in next year's elections.
Sporting burgundy baseball caps emblazoned with Mr. Lopez Obrador's slogan
– "Mexico's hope" – they held aloft a massive, inflated effigy of their man.

While a Pew Research survey in May found 60 per cent of Mexicans believed
NAFTA had been good for their country, Mr. Lopez Obrador's supporters
expressed increasing exasperation with Mr. Trump and some suggested Mexico
would be better off walking away from talks with Washington rather than
trying to appease the U.S. President.

"Trump is a racist right now, and doesn't know much about Mexico," said
Marco Antonio Paez, an 18-year-old high-school student, as he stood with a
group of friends at the back of the rally. "If the United States wants to
leave NAFTA, then they should leave. Then Mexico can find a way, maybe with
Canada, to go on without the U.S."

Juanita Ramirez, a 40-year-old trash collector attending the event with her
family, said she wanted her government to do more to stand up to the U.S.
"The Mexican goverment should be telling Trump to treat the Mexicans
better," she said, adding that she believed Mr. Lopez Obrador would do more
than the current administration to fight back.

It's all put Mr. Pena Nieto in a tough spot: He wants to preserve NAFTA but
fears courting public anger if he is seen to make concessions to Mr. Trump.
In an address to lawmakers Saturday, he vowed not to "accept anything that
goes against our national dignity."

The second round of negotiations continues until Tuesday. The next round of
talks is scheduled for Canada in late September. Discussions will rotate
between the three countries, with the aim of reaching a deal by the end of
the year.



Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826
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