Juchipila, MexUSA

Human Rights are Transnational(?) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948): Article 23. (1) Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment. (3) Everyone who works has the right to just and favourable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection. (4) Everyone has the right to form and to join trade unions for the protection of his interests.

Article 25. (1) Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control.

And migration? Article 13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.

How clean is the line?

Ambos Nogales

How clean is the line? Transnational space Processes of inclusion and exclusion –LA as quintessentially American place –LA as quintessentially “glocal” place –LA as Mexican place –LA and ideologies of the Mexican –Inglewood and Boyle Heights History of US-Mexico Relations –Late 19 th Century –Revolution 15% of Mexican labor force employed in US 1 of 4 workers migrates to the States Julio rests in Resurrection Cemetery

What is Neoliberalism? 1.Rule of the market Free enterprise and markets More international trade and investment No price controls 2.Cutting public budgets –Reducing “safety nets” for “fiscal responsibility” 3.Deregulation –Including workplace and environmental protections 4.Privatization –Selling public enterprises to private investors 5.Individual responsibility –You can do it! (i.e., you’re on your own) –And if it doesn’t work out….

NAFTA in a nutshell To reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade and investment

Growth = Prosperity How do you measure growth? What matters and what doesn’t?

Competition = Efficiency

Free Markets and Freedom Does neoliberalism promote or limit democracy?

two-way commerce between the United States and Mexico roughly tripled, from $81 billion to $232 billion. dramatic economic and political transformation from a centralized economy under an authoritarian state to an open and dynamic market democracy.

Encouraged higher regulatory standards in Mexico and more cross-border cooperation on sensitive environmental issues. “A stable, democratic and modernizing Mexico is profoundly in America's national interest, and the pact has helped to make that a reality.” encouraged higher regulatory standards in

No "giant sucking sound“: 18 million new jobs Automobile industry: produces same number of cars more cost-effectively. Output up 41% First 5 years: half-million new manufacturing jobs

Economic Policy Institute The Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit Washington D.C. think tank, was created in 1986 to broaden the discussion about economic policy to include the interests of low- and middle- income workers. Today, with global competition expanding, wage inequality rising, and the methods and nature of work changing in fundamental ways, it is as crucial as ever that people who work for a living have a voice in the economic discourse.

NAFTA’s impact in the U.S. obscured by boom and bust cycles Trade deficits and job losses: 759,000 NAFTA-related jobs lost between April 1998 and 2001 and rising

In Mexico Employment statistics are notoriously unreliable (if you worked one hour…) NAFTA has created about ½ the jobs needed to cover yearly demand—hence rising numbers of migrants Surge in well-educated migrants from cities Urbanization slowed

Maquiladoras in a changing Mexican Economy

North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation A NAFTA side agreement to protect workers’ rights Governments do not have to meet existing minimum international labor standards (e.g. those encoded in UN-sponsored declarations and covenants) May shame countries that have persistently failed to enforce their own labor laws

NAALC SCORE CARD Number of Submissions Received U S Mexico Canada Total Number of Cases Heard U S Mexico Canada Total Outcomes Ministerial Consultation Beyond Consultation Improved Conditions Issues in Hearings re Mexico Freedom of Association Health and Safety Gender Discrimination Child Labour