Does the passage of Arizona’s new anti-immigration law signal the need for a single, continent-wide standard on how to treat workers – migrant or otherwise? Continuing with our coverage of Mexican reaction to the law, this article from La Jornada suggests that the signatories to NAFTA – Canada, the U.S. and Mexico – in addition to creating a fund to ‘reduce the economic imbalances among the three countries,’ should agree to ‘an equalization of working conditions in the three countries that guarantees respect for and protection of worker rights.’
For La Jornada, columnist Cuauhtemoc Cardenas writes in part:
In a frankly fascist way, Bill SB 1070 is persecutory and racist. … Now is the opportunity for the Mexican government to go beyond rejecting SB 1070 and to make a proposal that will fully resolve the issue of irregular migration from our country to the United States.
It’s time to propose an addendum to the North American Free Trade Agreement, which will allow for the creation of compensation fund to reduce the economic imbalances among the three signatories to the pact, as well as the adoption of a declaration or social commitment that establishes mechanisms by which, when implemented, allow within a reasonable period of time, an equalization of working conditions in the three countries that guarantees respect for and protection of worker rights, wherever they are, and that allows for the free movement of people.
The defense of the rights of Mexican migrants, who already face countless threats in the United States and which have only been compounded by SB 1070, will be more effective if the attitude of the Mexican government isn’t just a reaction to the direct effects of putting this arbitrary and repressive law into force.
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