Get the latest on USMCA's labor chapter and other North American free trade agreements here

The 2019 update to the monograph NAFTA, NAALC, and Labor Provisions in North American Free Trade Agreements, part of Kluwer's International Encyclopaedia of Laws, is now available online.

This comprehensive and up-to-date 270-page resource contains essential

background on the structure and operation of labor provisions in North American free trade agreements, including NAFTA, USMCA, CAFTA-DR, TPP, CPTPP, TTIP, CETA, EU-Mexico, and Canadian and US bilateral free trade agreements with partners in Latin America and around the world - not to mention a complete digest of every petition filed under the NAALC and labor provisions of other North American FTAs.

Highlights from the last 5 years in the new edition include:

• New labor petitions filed under NAALC, Canadian and US FTAs with Colombia, and the US-Peru FTA;
• The latest developments in pending cases filed under CAFTA-DR and the US-Peru FTA;
• Addition of the 2006 labor petition filed under the US-Jordan FTA;
• New sections comparing labor provisions in multi-lateral FTAs such as TPP, CPTPP, CETA, and the proposed TTIP; and
• A new chapter comparing the NAALC to labor provisions in the signed, but not-yet-ratified USMCA.

This monograph will be published as a book by Kluwer in late 2019.

Rijken and de Lange edit ground-breaking volume on Decent Labour Market for Low Waged Migrant Workers

Conny Rijken of Tilburg University Law School and Tesseltje de Lange of University of Amsterdam recently released their ground-breaking edited volume Towards a Decent Labour Market for Low-Waged Migrant Workers (2018).

Towards a Decent Labour Market for Low-Waged Migrant Workers asks the important question of whether the law and policy of the European Union and member states promote decent working standards for migrant workers both from EU member states and from outside the EU.

Excellent chapters by Mijke Houwerzijl and Annette Schrauwen, Jan Cremers and Ronald Dekker, Margarite Helena Zoeteweij, and Lisa Berntsen and Tesseltje de Lange assess whether EU laws such as the Posting Directive, Freedom of Movement, the Seasonal Workers Directive, and the Employer Sanctions Directive contribute to decent working conditions for migrant workers. A common theme in these chapters is the way the EU's common market roots frequently outweigh its social policy roots to the detriment of migrant workers.

In addition to analysis of EU and national law, the book contains fascinating original research on local and national initiatives and policy measures affecting migrant workers in (and near) the EU. Petra Herzfeld Olsson and Lucia della Torre explore local cases involving Thai berry pickers in Sweden and undocumented migrant workers in the canton of Geneva in non-EU Switzerland, showing how local initiatives can improve the working conditions of migrant workers. At the same time, Tesseltje de Lange explores the impact of limitations in Dutch law which prohibit asylum seekers from working for the first six months after they file their asylum application. In her discussion of the findings of research on the impact of the 6-month limitation, de Lange comments, "[H]anging around in an asylum seekers' residence centre can be detrimental to one's health."

Other chapters provide readers with the tools for understanding the migrant labor market, especially Conny Rijken's chapter on the continuum of exploitative labor conditions, differentiating between decent work, exploitative labor conditions, human trafficking, and forced labor.

As this book shows, the EU and Europeans have by no means developed a model for ensuring decent work for low-waged migrant workers. For those of us on the American side of the Atlantic, the book shows that Europeans have at least started asking the right questions.

A hardback copy of the book can be purchased from the University of Amsterdam Press for 95 Euros. For those of us on a budget, a PDF ebook can be downloaded for free.

Coming later in 2019! 2nd edition of NAFTA and the NAALC 25 Years of Trade-Labour Linkage

Look in this space later in 2019 for more information about the release of the Second edition of NAFTA and the NAALC Twenty(Five) Years of North American Trade-Labour Linkage!

The new edition will contain a new chapter comparing NAFTA's labor provisions in the NAALC with the labor chapter in the recently negotiated but not ratified United States Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA).

Other new information to be included:

• labor provisions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and its post-US withdrawal successor agreement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTTP);
• sustainable development and labor provisions in the Canada-European Union Trade Agreement (CETA); 
• The European Union's 2016 proposal for trade, sustainable development, and labor provisions in stalled FTA negotiations between the US and the European Union for a Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP);
• recent labor-related developments in the renegotiation of the EU-Mexico free trade agreement; and
• the latest on recent petitions filed under North American FTA labor provisions in Jordan, Guatemala, Honduras, and Colombia - 
• not to mention four new NAALC petitions related to Mexico's ongoing labor justice reform, freedom of association at a grocery chain in Mexico, and sexism in recruitment for agricultural labor visa programs in Canada and the United States.

Stay tuned!

Nuno Ferreira publishes nuanced and balanced analysis of EU Roma policy

Nuno Ferreira of Sussex University has published an excellent nuanced and balanced analysis of the EU's Roma policy.

Ferreira's 2019 contribution A Roma European crisis road-map: a holistic answer to a complex problem, a chapter in the book Constructing Roma Migrants European Narratives and Local Governance, dissects each element of the EU's law and policy designed to address discrimination, deprivation and inequality in the Roma community in Europe.

The chapter outlines each of the frameworks applied by EU law and policy - which cover anti-discrimination, integration, and human rights and minority protection laws and policies - cogently parsing the achievements and limits of each. The chapter also contrasts the EU's legal and policy framework with that of the Council of Europe (CoE), embedding a comparison of case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU).

The author goes on to recommend a holistic approach that blends all of the approaches discussed, writing,

The complex and web-like vicious circles described here are extremely hard to address by isolated or sectoral policies, and thus require a holistic, complex and dynamic approach by the EU institutions (p. 40).

Of particular interest is the author's critique of the EU's integration policy toward the Roma. As an alternative, the author recommends that the EU and member states adopt a stance of convivencia, which would respect the dignity and culture of the Roma, and policy measures involving cultural mediators and intense consultation and dialogue to develop bottom-up solutions rather than top-down solutions.

A highly recommended read! Better yet, the entire Constructing Roma Migrants book is open access and can be downloaded in its entirety.

Europe and the World law review dedicates issue to EU extraterritoriality, human rights, and trade

For all you free trade and human rights nerds out there, Europe and the World a Law Review - a new peer-reviewed, open access law review -  dedicated its second issue to the inter-relationship between extraterritoriality of EU human rights law and social norms with EU free trade and public procurement policies.

Edited by Professor Christina Eckes of the University of Amsterdam, Professor Piet Eeckhout of University College London, and Associate Professor Anne Thies of the University of Reading, Europe and World a Law Review has a companion blog for shorter pieces.

The October 2018 issue of Europe and the World a Law Review is guest-edited by Dr. Vassilis Tzevelekos of the University of Liverpool and Dr. Samantha Velluti of University of Sussex. The issue focuses on extraterritoriality of EU Law and Human Rights after the 2009 Lisbon Treaty.

The articles in the issue are based on a 2017 workshop held at the University of Sussex on EU human rights obligations in relation to external action. The articles raise the question of whether conditionality in EU international agreements - particularly free trade agreements in the area of human rights and social norms - falls under the concept of extraterritoriality.

Of particular interest to trade and human rights and social norms nerds is the obligation in Article 3(5) of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) that the EU contribute to free and fair trade, eradication of poverty, and the protection of human rights. Professor Gammage explores this obligation in the excellent article "A critique of the extraterritorial obligations of the EU in relation to human rights clauses and social norms in EU free trade agreements."

Other articles in the issue explore the binding nature of human rights norms toward individuals outside member state territory who are affected by EU trade and investment policies (Berkes); the EU's extraterritorial obligations in occupied territories (Ryngaert & Fransen); extraterritoriality of human rights norms in public procurement in the context of global supply chains (Corvaglia and Li); and the effectiveness of EU public procurement standards as applied through external trade policies (Sanchez-Graells).

The adoption of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals by the UN in 2015 obligates the world community to end poverty, improve health and education, reduce inequality, protect our planet, and spur economic growth. Achieving these goals will require an overhaul of our global trading system and its priorities - not an easy task. The authors' exploration of extraterritoriality of EU human rights and social norms in the context of free trade agreements and public procurement in this special issue of Europe and The World a Law Review is a thought-provoking springboard for the hard work ahead of us.