From NAFTA to the TPP: Trade agreements and their impact on workers' health and wellbeing in a globalized economy

Trade agreements the US has signed since the 1990s have included occupational health provisions to a varying degree and are heralded by their proponents as tools to protect workers. From The North America Free Tree Agreement (NAFTA), signed by the US, Canada, and Mexico in 1994, to the expectation of a soon-to-be-signed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) which encompasses a broader range of countries, we will analyze how these occupational health provisions have been implemented and what effects they have had on workers’ lives, both in the US and among the trading partners.  We look at labor rights (e.g. freedom of association) and occupational health and safety rules (e.g. mandatory occupational health committees), discuss the mechanisms for enforcement, and take an on-the-ground look at the effects of policy changes on workers’ lives.

Trade agreements have helped make occupational health more explicit in some countries (such as Peru). In other countries, trade agreements have eroded the role of unions and organizing, effectively depriving workers of needed protections to defend their rights and health.

Trade agreements are negotiated in secret, without input from the workers who will be most affected by them. This lack of inclusion has meant that well-worded policies may be added to national laws but without regard to capacity or will for enforcement. Trade agreements cannot function as a tool to improve the occupational health and safety of workers in the US and abroad unless workers, their unions, and organizations are ensured an active role in their design.