This article investigates the impact of trade‐based social clauses on labor rights enforcement. Drawing on insights from recent theoretical work on transnational advocacy networks and labor rights, the study examines how transnational groups and domestic actors engage the labor rights mechanisms under the NAFTA labor side agreement, the NAALC. A statistical analysis of original data drawn from NAALC cases complements interviews with key participants to analyze the factors that predict whether the three national mediation offices review labor dispute petitions. This study suggests that transnational activism is a key factor in explaining petition acceptance. Transnational advocates craft petitions differently from other groups and, by including worker testimony in the petitions, signal to arbitration bodies the possibility of corroborating claims through contact with affected workers.

Governance in the developing world is fraught with problems of corruption, weak institutions, and inadequate expertise among bureaucrats. Failing to enforce laws and regulations is one way in which these problems manifest themselves. In this paper, we evaluate changes across three institutions charged with oversight or administration of labor justice in Mexico. We find that both autonomy from the executive and professionalization are necessary to improve compliance with labor law over time. Our study shows that professionalization can occur in several ways, including through training, merit hiring, and introducing experienced external administrators. The implications of the study are that reforms that increase the independence and legal authority of oversight institutions should be complemented by efforts to strengthen the professionalism of bureaucrats.

This article offers an account of cooperation between Mexico and the United States around labor issues from 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) labor side agreement first made labor issues relevant to United States–Mexico foreign relations, to the present, where that cooperation has broken down substantially. I offer a panorama of the scope and content of labor cooperation between Mexico and the United States, across both formal channels of representation, such as the NAFTA institutions and bilateral meetings, as well as the informal channels, including those forged by civil society and labor unions across borders. I then provide insight into the erosion of labor cooperation in recent years, discuss the wavering commitment to labor issues across successive administrations in both Mexico and the United States, and speculate as to what impact this may have on U.S.–Mexican relations more broadly. Este artículo ofrece un recuento de la cooperación entre México y los Estados Unidos acerca de temas laborales desde 1994, cuando el acuerdo paralelo del Tratado de Libre Comercio de América del Norte (TLCAN) hizo relevantes por primera vez temas laborales para las relaciones exteriores de ambos países, hasta el presente, cuando la cooperación ha fracasado substancialmente. Ofrezco un panorama del alcance y contenido de la cooperación laboral entre México y los Estados Unidos, a través de tanto canales formales de representación tales como las instituciones del TLCAN y las reuniones bilaterales, como también de canales informales, incluyendo aquellos creados por la sociedad civil y sindicatos a través de las fronteras. Proveo entonces una visión de la erosión de la cooperación laboral en años recientes, discuto el vacilante compromiso en temas laborales a través de las administraciones tanto en México como en los Estados Unidos, y especulo sobre el impacto más amplio que esto puede tener en las relaciones Estados Unidos‐México.

No abstract

No abstract