Content on the Daily Paul is the opinion of the original poster, not necessarily of the Daily Paul, its owner, moderators.

Union Uses NAFTA To Fight Alabama Immigration Law

Submitted by Charleston Voice on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 14:22

Gardening, Homesteading + Livestock

States Nullification of NAFTA called for by state assemblies...

Tuesday, May 01, 2012 2:18

Union Uses NAFTA To Fight Alabama Immigration Law

By SEAN HIGGINS, INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY
Posted 04/30/2012 06:10 PM ET

Opponents of Alabama's immigration law rally in Montgomery, Ala., on Feb. 14, 2012. The Service Employees International Union and Mexican National... View Enlarged Image
Big Labor is going a long way to challenge Alabama's new anti-illegal immigration law — all the way to Mexico.

The Service Employees International Union and a group of Mexican lawyers filed an official complaint Monday with Mexico's Labor Department, alleging that Alabama law HB 56 violates labor protections — under the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The complaint is highly unusual. The international trade pact has never been thought to govern immigration policy inside states. Eliseo Medina, secretary-treasurer of SEIU, admitted to IBD that this was a completely unprecedented claim.

There is also the irony of a major union turning to NAFTA, which Big Labor bitterly fought against when it passed in 1992 and has criticized ever since, as a legal remedy in a political fight.

"What it gets to, I don't know," Medina told IBD regarding their novel trade complaint. "But I do think it needs to be looked at seriously ... We want this (Alabama) law thrown out."

Bryan Riley, a senior policy analyst specializing in trade at the conservative Heritage Foundation, called it a legal "Hail Mary."

"It is very far-fetched to me to use the NAFTA language to raise a question about the Alabama law, which doesn't seem to say anything about (immigrant) working conditions," Riley said.

The Alabama Attorney General's office did not respond to a request for comment at press time.

The SEIU's complaint argues that the Alabama law violates provisions under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, a supplemental agreement to NAFTA. It obligates the countries to ensure certain basic labor rights and says those rights must extend to migrant workers...
Read more>> Union Uses NAFTA To Fight Alabama Immigration Law