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Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date. Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.
For more information call: (202) 219-6373 ext. 4
Secretary of Labor Alexis M. Herman and Mexican Secretary of Labor and
Social Welfare Jos‚ Antonio Gonz lez Fern ndez have agreed to
carry out ministerial consultations on labor law dealing with women in the
workplace in the United States and Mexico. Canadian Minister of Labour Lawrence
A. MacAulay endorsed the agreement and commited Canada to participate in the
consultations process.
"My discussions with Secretary Gonz lez were very constructive,"
Secretary Herman said. "I am pleased that we share a commitment to enforce the
rights of women workers. I am confident that we will make meaningful progress
in these ministerial consultations."
The call for ministerial consultations resulted from a review of
allegations submitted under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation
(NAALC), often referred to as the NAFTA labor side agreement. The allegations
were filed in 1997 by three human rights groups -- Human Rights Watch, the
International Labor Rights Fund and the National Association of Democratic
Lawyers of Mexico. They contend that maquiladora employers in Mexico frequently
require pregnancy tests for female job applicants; that some employers mistreat
or discharge pregnant employees; and that Mexico does not enforce its own laws
or provide access to labor tribunals or recourse to other protections.
The U.S. National Administrative Office (NAO), which oversees the
NAALC, conducted public hearings on the case in 1997 and issued a report early
in 1998 recommending that ministerial consultations be held to address the
issue. The agreement on consultations was negotiated earlier this month during
a recent meeting of the three labor secretaries in Prince Edward Island,
Canada, and signed on Oct. 21 while the three were attending a meeting of
hemispheric labor ministers in Vi¤a del Mar, Chile.
The consultations agreement commits the parties to designate
representatives to meet and confer on the issues raised in the submission and
to conduct a conference, open to the public, on government mechanisms in the
three countries that protect the rights of working women. The U.S. and Mexico
also agreed to conduct information and outreach sessions near the U.S. - Mexico
border to disseminate information on the rights and protections afforded women
workers of both countries.
Archived News Release — Caution: Information may be out of date.
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