U.S. Department of Labor Accepts NAFTA Complaint Over Mexico's Failure to Enforce Worker Health and Safety Laws. Move Could Lead To First-Ever NAFTA Fines
Contact: Martha Ojeda Coalition For Justice in The Maquiladoras 210-732-8957
The National Administrative Office (NAO) of the U.S. Department of Labor announced today that it has accepted for further action a complaint that the Mexican government engaged in a persistent pattern of failure to enforce its own labor laws regarding worker health and safety conditions.
The complaint was filed June 30 under provisions of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), the NAFTA labor "side deal." Complainants include workers and former workers of Breed Technologies maquiladora factories in Mexico the Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, 25 labor and religious organizations, and two U.S. law school clinics.
This is the first NAFTA labor complaint that could lead to fines being imposed. The NAALC provides for possible sanctions against a NAFTA government for persistent failure to enforce certain of its own labor laws. Monetary sanctions up to .007 percent of the annual total trade in goods between the NAFTA countries are possible for the failure to enforce health and safety, child labor, or minimum wage laws.
The NAO will now consult with the parties to set a time and location for a public hearing on the complaint. The hearing is expected to be held in Texas toward the end of this year. According to NAO guidelines, after the NAO has completed gathering information, including information received as a result of consultations with the other NAOs, the submitters, companies, experts, and testimony received at the hearing, it will issue a public report of its findings and recommendations. If the matter is not resolved, the NAALC provides for ministerial consultations and other dispute resolution mechanisms, and may order monetary sanctions.
According to Martha Ojeda, Executive Director of the San Antonio, TX-based Coalition for Justice in the Maquiladoras, workers at Breed's Auto Trim and Custom Trim maquiladoras in Valle Hermoso and Matamoros suffer from a wide variety of injuries and illnesses related to indiscriminate and unsafe exposure to chemicals, and from repetitive motion injuries. The factories produce leather-covered steering wheels and shift knobs for automotive makers including General Motors, Daimer-Chrysler, BMW, and Mazda.
Workers required to use toxic chemicals lack adequate protective gear, and the factories lack adequate ventilation systems. As a result, workers suffer chronic skin and eye irritations, dermatitis, rashes, headaches, nausea, respiratory difficulties, chronic sore throats and coughs, dizziness, fainting, memory loss, and high rates of miscarriages and birth defects in their children, including spina bifida and anencephaly. Chronic hand, wrist, arm, and back pain, permanently diminished mobility, carpal tunnel syndrome, and cuts and gashes are also endemic.:
