• The NAALC
• Objectives, Obligations and Principles
• Full Text of the Agreement
• ECEs and Arbitral Panels
• Four Year Review
• Introduction: Process for the Review
• Part One: Conclusions of the Council
• Part Two: Highlights of Consultation Process
• Part Three: Overview of Operations
• Annex 1: Report of the Independent Advisory Committee on the Operation and Effectiveness of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation
• Annex 2: Report of the Mexican National Advisory Committee on the First Four Years of the Operation of the NAALC
• Annex 3: Report of the United States National Advisory Committee Reviewing the First Four Years of the Operation of the NAALC
• Introduction
• Section I: Objectives and Obligations Established by the NAALC
• Section II: Objectives and Obligations Under the NAALC as Benchmarks for Assessing Effective Implementation
• Section III: Structures and Activities Established by the NAALC to Accomplish its Objectives
• Section IV: Cooperative Activities, Research, and Public Information and Education
• Section V: Interpretation, Application, and Enforcement
• Section VI: General Observations
• Section VII: Recommendations
• Appendix A: NAO-Conducted Cooperative Activites
• Appendix B: Status of Submissions Under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (April 10, 1998)
• Footnotes
• Annex 4: Mexican Survey
• Annex 5: Public Comments
• Annex 6: Bibliography
• ILO Conventions Ratified by NAALC Countries

 

Section I: Objectives and Obligations Established by the NAALC

The NAALC was adopted to support the commitments of Canada, the U.S. and Mexico, inter alia, "to create new employment opportunities and improve working conditions and living standards in their respective territories, and to protect, enhance, and enforce basic workers' rights."⁸ A key premise of the Agreement was that ensuring a high and increasing level of labor rights and labor standards would advance the progress of the three Parties' economies toward high productivity, high performance economies.⁹

Part One of the NAALC amplifies these broad, general goals through adoption of an ambitious set of ultimate objectives to be furthered by the Agreement. As the primary benchmark against which to measure the success of the Agreement in accordance with its own terms, these objectives bear reiterating here. The fundamental goals of the NAALC are to:

1. improve working conditions and living standards in each Party's territory;

    

2. promote, to the maximum extent possible, the Labor Principles set out in Annex 1,

    

3. encourage cooperation to promote innovation and rising levels of productivity and quality;

    

4. encourage publication and exchange of information, data development and coordination, and joint studies to enhance mutually beneficial understanding of the laws and institutions governing labor in each Party's territory;

    

5. pursue cooperative labor-related activities on the basis of mutual benefit;

    

6. promote compliance with, and effective enforcement by each Party of, its labor law; and

    

7. foster transparency in the administration of labor law.¹⁰

There are 11 guiding Labor Principles to which the Parties commit in Annex 1, incorporated by reference in Article 1(b) of the Agreement, to promote through their respective domestic laws: (1) freedom of association and the right to organize; (2) the right to bargain collectively; (3) the right to strike; (4) the prohibition of forced labor; (5) labor protections for children and young persons; (6) assurance of minimum labor standards; (7) elimination of employment discrimination; (8) equal pay for women and men; (9) prevention of occupational injuries and illnesses; (10) compensation in cases of occupational illnesses and injuries; (11) protection of migrant workers.¹¹ The subjects addressed in the 11 Labor Principles are substantially the same as the topics comprising the definition of "labor law" applicable throughout the NAALC.¹²