US labor unions say NAFTA replacement doesn’t go far enough for workers

Labor union officials said Tuesday that the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), a replacement for the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), does not go far enough to protect workers.

Officials stressed to lawmakers during a House Ways and Means subcommittee hearing Tuesday that USMCA doesn’t do enough to assure that wages and working conditions will improve, according to Reuters.

{mosads}“All the NAFTA renegotiation efforts in the world will not create U.S. jobs, raise U.S. wages or reduce the U.S. trade deficit if the new rules do not include clear, strong and effective labor rules that require Mexico to abandon its low wage policy,” said Celeste Drake of the AFL-CIO, according to Reuters.

Additionally, Josh Nassar, legislative director of the United Auto Workers union, said Tuesday that USMCA “takes some positive steps but doesn’t measure up to being able to make more good-paying jobs now and going forward.”

President Trump and leaders from Canada and Mexico last year signed USMCA, the North American trade agreement that is meant to replace NAFTA, which Trump long railed against.

Trump still needs congressional support for the agreement, and Democrats have yet to commit to working to pass the pact.

“This agreement is a continuation of the assault on the American middle class,” Rep. Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.) said at Tuesday’s hearing, according to Reuters.