Neither a Gem Nor a Scam: The Progress of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation

The North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC) is essentially an intergovernmental labor agreement that attempts to promote high labor standards among member states, in light of free trade, without transgressing their sovereignty. In effect since January 1994, the NAALC has experienced mixed fortunes. In this paper, we analyze the effectiveness of the agreement by focus ing on its two main components, viz., the cooperative activities and the "complaint mechanism." We find that although the NAALC's accomplishments are modest, the agreement does have the capacity to advance the struggle for labor rights.