Trump’s preliminary deal with Mexico is better for workers on both sides of the border ...

Washington Post ^ | Aug 28, 2018 | Jared Bernstein

[11th_VA]

... Turning to labor standards, I find nothing in the TPP that comes close to the 75 percent regional auto content, including parts, up from about 62.5 percent under NAFTA. TPP’s auto content rules were set at 45 percent, meaning most of the value of a vehicle could be sourced from China and still have obtained TPP treatment.

An even greater standards improvement is the requirement in the U.S.-Mexico deal for $16 an hour pay for 45 percent of auto-production content and 40 percent of auto parts content; that’s about four times what Mexican auto parts workers currently make and twice the earnings of those in Mexican auto assembly plants.

And unlike the TPP’s weak labor chapter and NAFTA’s entirely unenforceable labor side agreement, the United States and Mexico have agreed to labor standards that union folks consider excellent. This includes a new commitment in the agreement by Mexico to ensure secret-ballot votes by workers at a facility to choose unions and approve contracts. This would mean the end to the scourge of the endemic Mexican “protection” unions, which sign low-wage contracts with the boss before the first worker is hired.

[ek_hornbeck]

My only complaint with Trump’s renegotiation of NAFTA with Mexico is that it doesn’t go nearly far enough. Namely, requiring 75% rather than 62% of a vehicle to be manufactured in North America to be tariff-free is an improvement, but I would much rather see a stipulation that 75% of the vehicle be manufactured in the United States (as opposed to Mexico) as the condition. The new agreement does little to prevent additional outsourcing of the US auto industry to Mexico.

[momincombatboots]

Unions? That’s wonderful, Hugh and amazing. Mwhat a great deal, union approved.