Annex 4: Mexican Survey
In the later part of 1997, the Mexican NAO distributed a questionnaire to a wide variety of commentators (500 in all). In general, the respondents had direct or indirect involvement with NAALC-related issues. The respondents included public officials, academics and representatives from labor and management.
The survey consisted of two parts. The first part comprised two sets of statements. First, 10 statements focused on the respondents' opinion on a variety of NAALC-related issues. Among others, the topics included whether the NAALC has furthered the cooperation and interaction between the governments, workers and employers, the effectiveness of NAALC activities, and the dissemination of NAALC principles to the public. The respondents were asked to concur with the statements at one of five possible levels. These levels began at "0 percent" concurrence and increased in increments of 25 percent up to complete concurrence. Part two of the questionnaire focused on what areas of increased NAALC activities would interest the respondents. Some of these topics included child labor and safety and health in the workplace. The respondent's concurrence was rated in the same manner as for the statements in part one of the questionnaire.
The second part of the survey asked the responder to freely comment on the NAALC. No general format was proposed for this section, but a few lines were reserved on the survey for these comments.
Responses
In total, 121 surveys were received by the Mexican NAO and delivered to the Secretariat. The respondents were grouped as belonging to one of the following sources: 1) Government (68 responses-56%); 2) Business (41 responses-34%); 3) Academia (6 responses-5%), and 4) Unions (6 responses-5%). Of the total number of surveys, approximately 15 were returned incomplete.
The answers to the questionnaire were tabulated, and a simple percentage breakdown was calculated for each statement. (See Table 1; note that the percentages are calculated from the responses at hand; i.e., approximately seven returned surveys consisted only of written comments.)
Questionnaire Part One
The first 10 statements can be grouped into three categories. The first category include those statements that tested the responder's views on the general success of the NAALC with respect to labor-related cooperation, interaction, and the understanding of labor-judicial topics between the Parties. These include statements 1, 2, 3, and 6. The next group of statements asks the responder to rate NAALC-related activities, their effectiveness, and what the respondent learned from them. These are statements 4, 5, 7 and 8. Finally, statements 9 and 10 focus on the dissemination of the content of the NAALC and its Labor Principles.
Table 1
RESPONSES TO MEXICAN SURVEY
| How much do you agree with the following statement?: | 100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | N/A |
| Q#1. The NAALC has stimulated labor-related cooperation between the three parties. | 22% | 25% | 30% | 8% | 3% | 12% |
| Q#2. The NAALC has furthered interaction between government, employers and workers in the respective countries. | 13% | 21% | 32% | 19% | 2% | 13% |
| Q#3. The Agreement has contributed to the observance and effective application of the labor laws of each of the parties. | 15% | 27% | 22% | 21% | 2% | 13% |
| Q#4. Trinational cooperation activities (e.g., conferences, seminaries and workshops) have contributed to the interchange of experiences and information about the labor markets of the three countries. | 34% | 31% | 17% | 7% | 1% | 10% |
| Q#5. Thanks to NAALC-related cooperation activities, there has been an increase in understanding of the labor markets found in the three countries. | 15% | 30% | 31% | 6% | 3% | 15% |
| Q#6. The NAALC has contributed to a better understanding of the judicial-labor systems of Mexico, Canada and the United States. | 17% | 25% | 29% | 13% | 3% | 13% |
| Q#7. The cooperation activity I attended lived up to my expectations. | 19% | 30% | 21% | 11% | 3% | 16% |
| Q#8. In that event, information was disseminated about programs and/or innovative practices for the benefit of workers, managers and/or of the labor market. | 22% | 18% | 25% | 15% | 2% | 18% |
| Q#9. Information as to the content (objectives, functioning, and structure) of the NAACL has been adequately disseminated. | 9% | 10.5% | 34% | 24.5% | 15% | 7% |
| Q#10. Information as to the labor principles espoused by the NAALC has been adequately disseminated. | 9.5% | 10.5% | 28% | 30% | 15% | 7% |
Questionnaire Part Two
The second part of the questionnaire asked the responder to rate his or her interest in increased number of cooperative activities in 13 areas. The responses to these topics are found in Table 2. Sixty percent or more of the responders completely concurred for increased frequency in four topics. These included workplace health and safety (80%), methodology programs and experience with respect to increased productivity (67%), equal workplace treatment for both men and women (64%) and work conditions and their application (63%). In addition, 50 percent or more of the responders completely concurred for an increased frequency in four topics. These topics were work statistics (58%), human resource development (56%), migrant workers (53%) and worker's compensation for work-related accidents or disease (52%). Finally, 40 percent or more of the respondents completely concurred for increased frequency in five topics. These topics included manners of cooperation between the worker, management and the government (47%), employment-associated terms and conditions (49%), child labor (49%), worker-employer relations and collective negotiation proceedings (40%), and legislation related to the formation and functioning of unions, collective negotiation and labor dispute resolution, as well as its application (40%).
Table 2
RESPONSES TO PART TWO OF THE MEXICAN SURVEY
| I would be interested in the increase of the number of cooperation activities, (within the framework of the NAALC) in the area of: | 100% | 75% | 50% | 25% | 0% | N/A |
| Q#1. Manners of cooperation between the worker, management and the government. | 47% | 20% | 17% | 3% | 5% | 8% |
| Q#2. Work conditions and their application. | 63% | 19% | 9% | 4% | 1% | 4% |
| Q#3.Employment-associated terms and conditions. | 49% | 20% | 17% | 5% | 3% | 6% |
| Q#4. Methodology programs and experience with respect to increased productivity. | 67% | 19% | 7% | 2% | 1% | 4% |
| Q#5. Workplace health and safety. | 80% | 12% | 4% | 2% | 0% | 3% |
| Q#6. Worker's compensation for work-related accidents or disease. | 52% | 19% | 15% | 8% | 1% | 6% |
| Q#7. Equal workplace treatment for both men and women. | 64% | 13% | 11% | 5% | 3% | 4% |
| Q#8. Child labor. | 49% | 17% | 16% | 7% | 7% | 4% |
| Q#9. Migrant workers. | 53% | 26% | 8% | 5% | 4% | 4% |
| Q#10. Human resource development. | 56% | 20% | 12% | 5% | 1% | 6% |
| Q#11. Worker-employer relations and collective negotiation proceedings. | 40% | 35% | 11% | 4% | 4% | 7% |
| Q#12. Legislation related to the formation and functioning of unions, collective negotiation and labor dispute resolution, as well as its application. | 40% | 30% | 15% | 5% | 5% | 6% |
| Q#13. Work statistics. | 58% | 21% | 11% | 4% | 2% | 4% |
Individual Responses
Sixty-three of the 121 surveys were returned with written commentary, five with extensive comments and 58 with very brief comments. For over half of the 58 "short response" comments there was one overriding suggestion. These comments focused on the need for greater dissemination of information regarding the structure, function and primary objectives of the NAALC. All these comments are included verbatim in Annex 5: Public Comments.