Labor Unions Use NAFTA to Attack Immigration Laws

An American labor union has recently filed a complaint stating that Alabama’s new immigration law  – HB 56 – violates the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

As reported by the Huffington Post, the complaint alleges that HB 56 violates NAFTA side agreement, the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC). The NAALC protects migrant workers by requiring that they are afforded legal protections equal to U.S. citizens where conditions of employment are concerned. According to the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), HB 56 violates the NAALC “by creating a climate of fear and intimidation that chills immigrant workers and their co-workers who seek to form trade unions, bargain collectively or participate in other worker advocacy organizations.”

The Mexican government has accepted review of the complaint, and is now seeking a consult with the U.S. Government. The review will determine whether HB 56 is indeed “discriminatory” and “abusive” towards immigrant workers, as the complaint alleges. In a prepared statement, SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina said, “we hope that further review of Alabama’s racial profiling law will make clear its devastating impact on workers, on the law’s potential for minimum wage and overtime violations, and on workers’ freedom of association which are supposed to be protected under the NAFTA labor clause.”