Ways and Means Committee Chairman Says Mexico Promises to Fully Fund New Labor Courts

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal, D-Mass., said Mexico has made "another significant step forward" by promising to fully fund new labor courts that will be integral to major labor reform in that country. Neal said he, fellow working group member Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Calif., and committee member Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., met with the Mexican president for an hour and 45 minutes during the recess, an hour longer than scheduled.

"I hope the assurances he verbally offered will be reduced to writing and handed to me in the next few days," Neal told reporters in a brief hallway interview Oct. 16. "We need those assurances because I think it enhances our argument that the labor parts of the agreement remain our priority."

Earlier that day, the International Association of Machinists sent a letter to House members arguing that the new NAFTA is still far from where it needs to be on labor, and they urged that the House not rush to a vote (see 1910160010). Members of the working group -- who are tasked with convincing the administration to improve the labor chapter, enforcement mechanisms and environment chapter, and to change the biologics provision -- disagreed on how significant a stumbling block the Machinists' letter is to bringing the new NAFTA to a vote.

Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., represents a district with thousands of Machinist workers, and his father worked at a factory represented by the Machinists, so he said the union is close to his heart.

When asked by International Trade Today if the letter makes it harder for the working group to conclude they'd gotten sufficient improvements on labor, he said, "The short answer is of course." He also said the fact that the U.S. trade representative has not responded to all of the working group's suggestions makes what "the IAM has to say ... all the more poignant." He said he thought having a working group meeting with AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is important. "I don't think there's any big mystery about the sway that Trumka will have over the Democratic caucus."

Gomez said of the deal's labor chapter: "it's not where it needs to go but that doesn't mean it's not going to get there." He said it's probably not where unions want, "but that doesn't mean it hasn't made a lot of forward progress. At the same time, it will be up to the members to determine if what is negotiated is good enough. We'll continue the consultations with labor to determine if they feel satisfied. Some of them actually said, labor has said it's up to you to determine if it's good enough. I'm not too concerned about the letter."

Democratic members of the Ways and Means Committee -- both on the working group and not -- held a meeting earlier that day. Neal said that Rep. "Bill Pascrell said he thought we were in the 8th inning. I think that's a pretty good metaphor." Publicly, Pascrell has been more negative about progress.

Gomez said that Democratic trade staffers and USTR staffers made significant progress during the recess, but some issues can only be resolved between working group members and USTR Robert Lighthizer. He said he hopes the group and Lighthizer can begin meeting two or even three times a week. The group is expected to meet with USTR in the next two days. "It's about settling a lot of these issue areas, and the more time we have to discuss these areas, the quicker progress is going to come," Gomez said. "I think we do have a moment to fix a lot of problems a lot of people considered NAFTA to have. Especially around enforceability, and that moment will not last forever."

Dan Ujczo, an Ohio trade lawyer closely following the debate, has said that pairing multi-employer pension reform with the new NAFTA could help it get votes among Democrats, but he doubts the administration would go along with that (see 1910150048).

Larson said he agreed that the two bills traveling together would help with passage of the new NAFTA, though he cautioned he was only speaking for himself. "It certainly has been raised by the working group ... . I don't know how far up the chain it's gotten with the administration."

When asked about pension reform, Neal said, "The whole issue of what's going to happen to pensions is wild, and we need to start paying attention to it. But I also could see some vehicles at the end of the year that could include the Butch Lewis Act." When asked by International Trade Today if the USMCA could be one of those vehicles, Neal said, "I'm not going to say anything more on that. But you're pretty perceptive."