Are OSHA-type regulations and rules covered in the NAFTA side agreements?
Brown: The labor side agreement allows organizations in North America to file complaints that one of the three governments is persistently failing to enforce its own regulations related to labor practices. It was tacked on to NAFTA as a kind of window dressing by the Clinton administration. It spells out eight or nine specific types of practices about which people can file complaints. Only three of the categories go all the way through the NAFTA process and could theoretically end up with monetary sanctions against one of the governments involved. Those three issues are wages, child labor and health and safety. So, for example, a complaint can be filed against the U.S. government on child labor in U.S. agriculture by somebody in Canada or Mexico. Then, theoretically, if there were no changes made by the U.S. government on the issue over the very extended, lengthy resolution process – there are about 10 or 12 different steps – monetary sanctions could be levied against the United States
