Does the Tpp Work for Workers?

Analyzing the labour chapter of the TPP Summary Contemporary trade agreements commonly include a chapter on labour, or a labour side accord, which is supposed to guarantee that the agreement will not contribute to the tendency toward a “race to the bottom” in the global economy.1 For example, Chapter 19 of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) treaty includes provisions that are supposed to ensure t [...] According to the text of the NAALC, Canada, the United States, and Mexico committed to “improve working conditions and living standards in each Party’s territory,” and to promote, “to the maximum extent possible,” the 11 labour rights set out in an annex to the agreement.7 6 Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Government summary of the TPP labour chapter6 • Contains enforceable commitments to [...] In the case of Canada, the effectiveness of the pro- cess is further limited by the constitutional mandates of the provinces, as only five (Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, Prince Edward Island, and Nova Sco- tia) have ratified the NAALC.11 In Mexico, the country where workers might have been expected to bene- fit most from the labour side accord, systematic violations of labour rights abound in a broad [...] For example, in the case of the Canada–Colombia agreement, civil society organizations (CSOs) question the effectiveness of the labour agreement in the context of widespread violations of labour rights and the large number of murders of labour activists in Colombia.19 Similarly, Gerda van Roozendaal’s careful analysis of the impact of the DR–CAFTA on labour rights in Guatemala argues that the agre [...] The first requirement is somewhat limited because it refers to the ILO Declaration alone, and not the details of the eight core conventions relating to those fundamental rights or to the procedures found in the “follow-up” to the 1998 ILO Declaration.