NAFTA POSTSCRIPT

WHEREAS, reports of violations of workers' rights continue to emerge from post-NAFTA Mexico; and

WHEREAS, some American corporations located in Mexico have resisted and thwarted efforts of Mexican workers to organize independent unions; and

WHEREAS, the Mexican government, by virtue of one-party control, has made it difficult for workers to organize and dissent; and

WHEREAS, AFT and AFL-CIO played significant roles helping independent unions to emerge in Communist-dominated Eastern Europe; and

WHEREAS, company- and state-controlled unions stifle economic initiative and cause lower living standards; and

WHEREAS, NAFTA, as presently written, does not contain sufficient guarantees for advancing labor's civil and human rights:

RESOLVED, that AFT, in conjunction with AFL-CIO, seek amendments to NAFTA that would guarantee Mexican workers the rights afforded by EEC labor protocols; and

RESOLVED, that AFT, through AFL-CIO, offer moral and, wherever feasible, material support to Mexican workers seeking to organize independent democratic unions.