The Limits of Regionalism: NAFTA's Labour Accord by Robert Finbow

Author:Robert Finbow [Finbow, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, General
ISBN: 9781351146142
Google: rpxADwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 36983762
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2006-11-11T00:00:00+00:00

Expanding the Protective Net: The Yale INS Case

The Yale/INS case (MEX NAO 9804) alleged a failure to provide minimum wages and overtime pay to foreign nationals because of a memorandum of understanding between the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and the Department of Labor.91 The Clinton policy, called ‘interior enforcement’, sought to reduce the flow of illegal migrants by targeting them at work, which was the major magnet drawing them to the US. Workers faced dismissal if they could not prove legal residency. The INS used visa status, collected by employers on the I-9 form, to make the determination, and cooperated with Labor inspectors and the Social Security administration, to uncover illegal workers.

Employers allegedly volunteered visa information on union activists to dissuade labour organizing. This discouraged valid complaints and allowed violations of standards by firms hiring illegal migrants. The chilling effect was discriminatory and led to suboptimal enforcement of standards, as many cases never came forward. INS’ reporting ‘policy amounts to a gag order on immigrant workers ... If no one can complain about slave wages, sweatshop owners have a green light to ignore minimum wage and overtime laws.’92 INS raids and deportations ensured that the chilling effect was widely known among migrants, who remained silent about violations. INS actions against apple pickers in Washington, janitors in San Francisco, furniture workers in Los Angeles, meat packers in Nebraska and asbestos removers in New York and New Jersey confirmed employer predictions of deportations if workers backed unions. 93

A coalition of US and Mexican groups, led by the Yale Law School Workers’ Rights Project and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Foundation Immigrants’ Rights Project submitted the case to the Canadian and Mexican NAOs. Supporting groups included the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF), Asian Pacific American Legal Centre of Southern California (APALC), Korean Immigrant Workers Advocates (KIWA) and Asian Law Cuacus (ALC), indicating the broader constituency. They were joined by the Latino Workers Centre (LWC) and the Mexican-American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF). Several organizations with a general interest in immigration joined the case, including the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Centre, NELP, Legal Aid Society of San Francisco and National Immigration Law Centre.

The submitters noted that the memorandum undermined the Labor Department’s obligation to protect workers by ‘requiring the Department to play the role of agents’ for INS. Inspectors were given no discretion to keep immigration status confidential, even if this aided investigation of labour violations.

This policy sends a clear signal to exploitative employers that they need not pay their immigrant workers a legal wage, because such workers are aware that filing a wage and hour complaint can easily lead to deportation for themselves or their co-workers, friends and family. The inevitable result is to depress the terms and conditions of employment for all workers in the United States.94

The memorandum suggested that workers seek DOL ‘assistance at your peril’ and caused ‘systematic under enforcement of U.S. minimum wage and maximum hour laws’.95

There was resurgence in sweatshops, as violations of standards became the norm in sectors with many migrants, like garments.

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