Panel Rules in Favor of Guatemala in CAFTA-DR Labor Dispute Raised by US
The U.S. failed to prove that Guatemala violated its labor obligations under its multilateral free trade agreement with the U.S., a Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA-DR) panel ruled in the first labor case the U.S. brought under an…
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FTA. While the U.S. proved that at eight worksites and with respect to 74 workers, Guatemala didn’t effectively enforce its labor laws by “failing to secure compliance” with court orders, the U.S. didn’t prove “sufficient failures to adequately conduct labor inspections to constitute a course of action or inaction” under the agreement’s labor obligations, the ruling says. In April 2008, the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan worker organizations filed a public submission under the CAFTA-DR alleging that the Guatemalan government had violated its CAFTA-DR labor commitments by failing to effectively enforce its labor laws. Akin Gump, which represented the Guatemalan government, in a press release (here) said the ruling clarifies the legal standard to demonstrate a violation under the CAFTA-DR labor chapter.