Minister Hajdu to travel to Mexico City to meet with Mexico's Secretary of Labour and Social Welfare, Luisa María Alcalde

GATINEAU, QC, July 31, 2019 /CNW/ - Tomorrow, the Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, will travel to Mexico City, Mexico to meet with Luisa María Alcalde, Mexico's Secretary of Labour and Social Welfare. They will discuss ways that Canada can support Mexico's efforts to implement the new NAFTA's labour protections and standards. This is part of Canada's ongoing commitment to help improve labour standards and working conditions in Canada and Mexico, through the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) labour chapter.

Quotes

"Canada and Mexico enjoy a close trading relationship. I am very much looking forward to meeting with Secretary Luisa María Alcalde to discuss the upcoming implementation of the new labour chapter of the new NAFTA and creating a level playing field for workers in all three partner countries."
– The Honourable Patty Hajdu, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour

Quick Facts

• On November 30, 2018, Canada, the United States and Mexico signed the new CUSMA. Parties are now undertaking their domestic processes towards ratification and implementation of the CUSMA.
• The CUSMA labour chapter includes new provisions to prohibit the importation of goods produced by forced labour, address violence against workers exercising their labour rights and ensure that migrant workers are protected under labour laws.

Associated Links

Labour chapter summary
Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement

Backgrounder

The labour chapter of the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement

• The labour chapter commits all three countries to protect and promote internationally recognized labour principles and rights, as found in the 1998 International Labour Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.
• The chapter includes a number of key provisions, namely to address violence against workers exercising their labour rights, provide protection for migrant workers and prohibit the import of goods produced by forced or compulsory labour.
• To address labour rights violations in Mexico, particularly the use of "protection contracts" or employer-dominated collective agreements, the chapter includes an Annex on Worker Representation in Collective Bargaining in Mexico, under which Mexico commits to specific legislative actions to provide for the protection and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining. This means, once implemented, Mexican workers must be afforded appropriate legal protections as afforded to workers in Canada.
• If a partner country does not comply with the rules set out in the labour chapter, a complaint can be filed and governments can take specific action to address it, if prior attempts to resolve the matter through consultations have failed. As a last resort, trade sanctions can be imposed through the agreement's dispute settlement chapter.

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SOURCE Employment and Social Development Canada

For further information: For media enquiries, please contact: Media Relations Office, Employment and Social Development Canada, 819-994-5559, [e-mail]; Véronique Simard, Press Secretary, Office of the Honourable Patty Hajdu, P.C., M.P., Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Labour, [e-mail], 819-654-5611

Related Links

www.hrsdc-rhdsc.gc.ca