[CTC] House Democrats: Mexican labor leader’s arrest a sign NAFTA won’t ensure reforms

[Arthur Stamoulis]

House Democrats: Mexican labor leader’s arrest a sign USMCA won’t ensure reforms
 
06/30/2020, Inside US Trade
Nearly 60 Democratic House members on Tuesday called on State Secretary Mike Pompeo to “aggressively work” toward the immediate release of Mexican labor lawyer Susana Prieto Terrazas, contending her recent arrest suggests the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement will not ensure the labor reforms Democrats and activists had hoped for.
Prieto, who was leading strikes to secure safer working conditions in Mexican factories amid the coronavirus pandemic, was arrested earlier this month “on charges of inciting riot, threats and coercion against public officials,” according to press reports <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trade-mexico-labor/arrest-of-mexican-labor-activist-raises-concerns-for-worker-rights-idUSKBN23H02P>.
“We write to request that your department aggressively work to help secure the immediate release of imprisoned Mexican labor lawyer Susana Prieto Terrazas,” the 59 U.S. lawmakers, led by Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), wrote in a letter <https://insidetrade.com/sites/insidetrade.com/files/documents/2020/jun/wto2020_0290.pdf> to Pompeo. “As we approach the July 1 entry into force for the renegotiated NAFTA, the arrest of Ms. Prieto sends the wrong signal that the renegotiated NAFTA is not on track to deliver the improved Mexican labor conditions and thus diminished incentives for U.S. job outsourcing promised by this administration.”
USMCA says Mexico must implement and uphold sweeping reforms to its labor laws. As part of those reforms Mexico has committed to end “protection contracts,” which are signed between companies and company-dominated unions without workers’ consent. Prieto has been working to replace a protection contract with a new independent union, “which is a core protection guaranteed” by USMCA, the lawmakers noted.
The lawmakers urged Pompeo to raise Prieto’s arrest “at the highest levels with your counterparts in Mexico, including in the lead up to and at the reported upcoming White House summit between Donald Trump and the President of Mexico, and ask you to demand Ms. Prieto’s immediate release.” Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador last week said <https://insidetrade.com/node/169088> he planned to visit the U.S. soon to celebrate the USMCA’s entry into force.
“While it was encouraging to see the Mexican Ministry of Labor and the National Commission for Human Rights call for due process in Ms. Prieto’s trial, it is a tragic commentary for labor reform in Mexico that judicial proceedings on this matter are even occurring given Ms. Prieto is being detained because she sought to organize independent unions and help Mexican workers defend their rights,” the lawmakers wrote. Prieto’s “life is at risk while awaiting a final resolution to her case because Mexican jails, like those in the United States, are hotbeds for COVID-19 transmission,” they added.
The lawmakers pointed to a recent comment made by U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during a June 17 Ways & Means Committee hearing on the administration’s 2020 Trade Policy Agenda. Lighthizer called Prieto’s arrest a “bad indicator.”
Prieto’s arrest “is something that we're working very closely with our embassy on and also people who are looking out for their interests,” Lighthizer testified. “You know, we're aware of it. We're working on it. It's something we're going to monitor. We'll take action if it's appropriate.”
U.S. labor and civil society groups last week also cited Lighthizer’s remarks <https://insidetrade.com/node/169098> in a letter to Mexican human rights officials, warning that Prieto’s arrest was overshadowing USMCA’s entry into force.
 
Arthur Stamoulis
Citizens Trade Campaign
(202) 494-8826




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