The purpose of the USMCA’s Facility-Specific, Rapid Response Labor Mechanism (RRLM) for Mexico is to address facility-specific violations of internationally recognized labor rights and Mexican labor law as they relate to freedom of association and collective bargaining rights (USMCA Article 31-A.2).¹ The United States and Canada are not subject to its provisions. It requires that Mexico “adopt and maintain in its statutes and regulations” in accordance with the International Labour Organization (ILO) 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (USMCA Articles 23.1 and 23.3),² and mandates that Mexico establish and provide laws and institutions in accordance with its Constitution that ensure “the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining” (USMCA Annex 23-A).³There are mixed views about the effectiveness of the RRLM so far.⁴ This article assesses the effectiveness of the RRLM in three ways: 1) Compared to other labor provisions in trade agreements; 2) Compared to previous external efforts to influence constitutional and legislative efforts in Mexico to secure Freedom of Association (FoA) rights; and 3) Based on the scale of the impact on Mexican workers. The chapter concludes that the RRLM compares favorably to other labor provisions in trade agreements (e.g., NAFTA and CAFTA) and to prior attempts at influencing Mexican labor relations reforms. Yet, while there have been significant positive impacts on a subgroup of Mexican workers,...

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