[CTC] Mexican labor leaders stage rally to demand more transparency in NAFTA talks

[Arthur Stamoulis]

INSIDE US TRADE
 
Mexican labor leaders stage rally to demand more transparency in NAFTA talks

September 01, 2017 
MEXICO CITY -- Thousands of Mexicans today called on their government to provide more transparency in the NAFTA renegotiation, staging a labor rally on the first day of the second round of talks.

The rally, organized by Mexican independent labor union leaders, took place in front of the Palacio Legislativo de San Lázaro -- which houses the Mexican Congress -- on the day that President Enrique Peña Nieto was slated to submit his annual report to the legislative body.

Transparency in the NAFTA talks was one of the demands the labor groups made on Friday, Héctor de la Cueva Díaz, general coordinator of the Center for Labor Research and Trade Union Advisory (CILAS), told reporters at the rally.

Mexican labor groups fear the renegotiation could result in an even worse deal for Mexican workers, Cueva Diaz said. The groups believe that increasing the transparency of the talks will allow them to better assess the deal than they could when the original agreement was hammered out. Back then, Cueva Diaz said, Mexican workers were told NAFTA would bring them out of poverty and better their standard of living.

Jerry Dias, the president of Canada's largest private-sector union, told the crowd that workers from Mexico, Canada and the U.S. should unite to demand that the NAFTA renegotiation result in a progressive trade deal that prioritizes workers and furthers “free collective bargaining through justice."

He demanded that the parties ratify all eight International Labor Organization core conventions. Canada is the only NAFTA party to ratify all eight ILO core convetions; Mexico has ratified seven and the U.S. two.

According to Dias, the Canadian government “has definitely raised the eight ILO standards” during the negotiations.

If the negotiations are not headed in a direction that focuses on benefits for workers, Dias said the governments must walk away from the talks entirely -- and he is confident the Canadian government will do just that.

“They know that we will go right off the falls if in fact it is all rhetoric and it remains the status quo,” Dias said. “I think they're much more progressive than that. I'm convinced that they know what the right thing to do is and I'm convinced that they have enough intestinal fortitude to walk away from a deal that doesn't drive up the standard of living for Mexican workers, give workers in the United States the opportunity for free collective bargaining as well.”

If the negotiations do fall apart, Dias said Canada and the U.S. should institute “meaningful tariffs” on Mexican goods to compel companies to raise wages.

“That is the only way that corporations are going to raise the standard of living for Mexican workers,” he said.

The labor community has a chance to effect change in NAFTA more so than in previous trade negotiations because President Trump has brought the deal into the limelight, Dias said.

“For the first time in the debate on trade, horrible trade is at the front of citizens' of Canada and Mexico's [minds],” he said. “We all realize we got screwed but nobody talks about it. It took Trump ... with all of his insanity, all of his sexisms and everything that goes along with him, to start talking about how trade has left working-class citizens behind.... The reality is he was right when he said American workers got screwed. And now he can't go back on what he said.” 
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