Worker rights petitions allowed for under special U.S. trade programs have been the single most effective source of U.S. leverage for promoting worker rights in Latin America. However, passage of free trade agreements, e.g. CAFTA, replaces these special trade programs and eliminates the worker rights petition process and their stronger labor standards, greatly weakening the ability of USLEAP and others to try to apply U.S. trade leverage to support worker rights abroad.  Trade agreements like CAFTA and NAFTA provide for a much weaker labor complaint process.

Some U.S. trade programs (e.g. GSP, ATPA) provide for a process under which an organization can file a petition with the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR).  The petition asks the U.S. government to investigate ("review") a country's treatment of workers to determine whether or not GSP benefits should be suspended for lack of progress in respecting worker rights.  USTR can decide to dismiss a petition out of hand or accept it for review. Review essentially puts a country on probation. After a review period (which can last for years), USTR can end the country's review, suspend duty-free treatment on one or more products (e.g. sugar), or suspend the country from the program in its entirety.

USLEAP filed numerous petitions on Guatemala, no longer applicable under CAFTA, and on Ecuador, which is still pending.  Click here [1] to learn about how USLEAP and other organizations used trade pressure to improve worker rights in Guatemala.  The AFL-CIO filed the first CAFTA labor complaint, on Guatemala [2], in 2008, with six Guatemalan trade unions.  In July 2010, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union filed a second CAFTA labor complaint, on Costa Rica, [3] with Costa Rican unions. The Costa Rican complaint was withdrawn in 2011 after a constitutional court ordered the reinstatement of union leadership who had been fired by the government.

Passage of free trade agreements, e.g. CAFTA, is gradually wiping out the petition process of U.S. trade programs and weakening the potential of U.S. leverage to support worker rights abroad.

A USLEAP worker rights petition is currently pending on Ecuador but is on the backburner until Ecuadorian unions want to move it forward.

See our GSP section [4] for a listing of selected worker rights petitions.