Thread: Mexican government reviewing complaint that Alabama's immigration law violates NAFTA

Mexican government reviewing complaint that Alabama's immigration law violates NAFTA labor rules

Published: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 2:52 PM Updated: Thursday, September 20, 2012, 2:58 PM

By Mary Orndorff Troyan -- Washington Bureau Follow

WASHINGTON -- Mexico is reviewing a complaint by an American labor union that Alabama's immigration law violates a clause of the North American Free Trade Agreement that is intended to protect the rights of migrant workers, the union said Thursday.

The Service Employees International Union filed a complaint in April with Mexico's Department of Labor and Social Welfare that Alabama's law, often referred to as HB 56, violated the Labor Principles and Obligations in the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation by "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 accepted the complaint and agreed to consult with the U.S.
government about it, according to a Sept. 3 letter Mexican officials sent to SEIU. SEIU's complaint also was joined by Mexico's National Association of Democratic Lawyers.

"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," SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Eliseo Medina said in a prepared statement.

Mexican government reviewing complaint that Alabama's immigration law violates NAFTA labor rules | al.com

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