‘Oops!’ We Did It Again

I live in a country where the Foreign Ministry does not pay attention to what they say in the United States.

Last Tuesday, I repeat, last Tuesday, in a press release by the Ways and Means Committee (with oversight for the approval of the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement in the U.S. Congress), the chair of the committee reported what he considered to be his success in negotiating the treaty. On labor matters, he wrote of robust monitoring; House Democrats had demanded new mechanisms and resources to ensure that the U.S. government effectively monitors compliance with the labor obligations of the specific agreement with Mexico:

• Creation of an inter-institutional committee to oversee the implementation of labor reform in Mexico and the fulfillment of labor obligations. Creation of recurring reports to Congress;

• Establishment of key process benchmarks for implementing labor reform in Mexico. Failure to comply will result in measures proposed in the agreement; and

•Establishment of labor attachés based in Mexico, who will provide information from the field on labor practices in Mexico.

That same day, the leader of the most important U.S. labor union said similar things.

When this information was published by the Mexican press, the negotiator, Jesús Seade,* angrily denied it. The treaty implementation proposal sent by the U.S. executive to Congress includes exactly what Democrats had announced.

On Saturday, Seade claimed to be both surprised and angry. This time, with the American negotiator. He sent a letter and caught a plane to Washington to express his displeasure. The truth is that not much can be done. Monitoring is a unilateral American decision that was not signed. Meanwhile, each side will monitor the other as desired, according to the degree of confidence held.

The collection of labor data will increase in the U.S. embassy, where they will monitor and report. It is like the Drug Enforcement Agency, but for the workplace. Mission accomplished!

Last week, Mexican Foreign Secretary Marcelo Ebrard said, “but of course.”

* Translator’s note: Jesús Seade is the undersecretary for North American affairs at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs.