[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3807 Introduced in House (IH)]
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116th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 3807
To require that any trade agreement eligible for expedited
consideration by Congress include enforceable labor standards and
protections, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 17, 2019
Ms. Kaptur (for herself, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. McCollum, Ms. Jackson Lee,
Mr. Raskin, Mr. Tonko, Mr. Ryan, Ms. Pingree, Ms. Lee of California,
Mr. Lynch, Mr. Sherman, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Norton, Ms. Tlaib, and Mr.
Rush) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require that any trade agreement eligible for expedited
consideration by Congress include enforceable labor standards and
protections, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Independent Labor Secretariat for
Fair Trade Deals Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS.
It is the sense of Congress that, with respect to the labor-related
provisions of all trade agreements, all parties to such agreements--
(1) are obliged to ensure all workers in their territory,
regardless of the workers' citizenship, immigration status or
national origin, the rights and freedoms guaranteed in the
eight core Conventions of the International Labor Organization,
including the right to strike, as part of the right to freedom
of association;
(2) are obliged to ensure acceptable conditions of work
that cover all workers in their territory, regardless of the
workers' citizenship, immigration status or national origin;
(3) should agree that all workers have the right to receive
wages sufficient for them to afford, in the region of the
signatory country where the worker resides, a decent standard
of living for the worker and family;
(4) should agree the work of all workers in the economy
shall be deemed trade-related and therefore subject to the
obligations of this chapter to earn fair wages;
(5) should agree not to reduce labor standards, provide
formal or informal exceptions to any employer, or fail to
enforce such standards as to any obligation covered by the
agreement;
(6) should agree that a threat, act of intimidation, or an
act of violence against any worker exercising, or attempting to
exercise, any of the rights and freedoms protected by the
agreement should be considered a violation of the underlying
right or freedom;
(7) should agree that the failure to investigate any such
threat, act of intimidation, or act of violence, or failure to
prosecute identified perpetrators of any such threat or act,
should be considered a failure to enforce the underlying right
or freedom and therefore a violation of the agreement;
(8) are obliged to ensure that all trade in goods made, in
whole or in part, by forced labor or the worst forms of child
labor is banned outright and that no party procures goods made
with forced labor or the worst forms of child labor;
(9) are obliged to ensure that all persons have appropriate
and timely access to tribunals for the enforcement of the
party's own labor laws, without undue delay;
(10) are obliged to ensure that domestic laws and
regulations provide for adequate and timely access to labor
inspectors from government bodies and unions to seek timely
inspections to follow up on alleged violations of the
agreement;
(11) are obliged to ensure that no person wishing to be
protected by this section is excluded from such protections by
virtue of being classified as a temporary worker, fixed-
contract worker, subcontracted worker, independent contractor,
or the like;
(12) are obliged to ensure that domestic laws guard against
employer-dominated unions or unions controlled by political
parties, ensuring that unions are responsible to their members
and that unions provide members with timely access to union
bylaws and collective bargaining agreements; and
(13) are obliged to ensure that workers are entitled to all
rights and benefits of their primary work location regardless
of their citizenship, immigration status, or national origin,
and that adequate effort are made to ensure that workers are
provided with access to information in their primary language
and in printed format, if requested.
SEC. 3. NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES RELATING TO THE ENFORCEMENT OF LABOR-
RELATED TRADE AGREEMENT PROVISIONS.
Section 102(b)(10) of the Bipartisan Congressional Trade Priorities
and Accountability Act of 2015 (19 U.S.C. 4201(b)(10)) is amended--
(1) by striking subparagraphs (H) and (I); and
(2) by adding at the end the following:
``(H) to establish a Labor Secretariat, led and
staffed by experienced and qualified experts in labor
rights, labor standards, labor economics, or human
rights, to--
``(i) address transnational issues relating
to labor;
``(ii) monitor and enforce labor-related
trade agreement provisions; and
``(iii) provide research relating to the
effects of the trade agreement on jobs and
communities in the countries covered by the
agreement;
``(I) to empower the staff of the Secretariat, with
respect to the countries covered by the agreement, to--
``(i) visit and monitor workplaces;
``(ii) interview workers without employer
or government monitoring or interference;
``(iii) recommend changes to workplace
conditions to comply with labor-related
provisions of the agreement as a result of
information obtained through such visits,
monitoring, and interviews; and
``(iv) observe and assist the officials of
relevant agencies or departments of the
governments of any such countries in
implementing and enforcing the labor-related
provisions of the agreement;
``(J) to provide that the Secretariat shall have
the authority to originate and pursue dispute
settlements under the enforcement procedures of the
agreement when it determines that meaningful progress
toward the implementation of the recommendations of the
Secretariat has ceased or that a signatory to the
agreement is persistently out of compliance with one or
more of the labor-related provisions of the agreement;
``(K) to require arbitrators presiding over a
dispute brought by the Secretariat pursuant to such
authority to--
``(i) have expertise in international labor
rights and standards or international human
rights protections;
``(ii) base their decisions on guidance
from the ILO, including in the form of
conventions, reports, or recommendations; and
``(iii) ensure that such arbitrators may
seek technical assistance or expert reports
from the ILO for the settlement of such
dispute, including by extending the duration of
the panel for purposes of obtaining such
assistance;
``(L) to ensure that such arbitrators have the
power to impose sanctions on specific workplaces,
employers, industries, or sectors, as well as on
signatory parties as a whole, in the form of suspension
of benefits under the agreement, in order to enforce
the decisions and ensure that the labor-related
provisions of the agreement are fully implemented and
enforced;
``(M) to provide that no signatory to the trade
agreement may have veto power over the activity of the
Secretariat or may control, prevent, or delay
Secretariat activities;
``(N) to provide a robust enforcement system, that
may also include access to the domestic judicial system
of a signatory to the agreement, to compel action from
the Secretariat on behalf of interested parties,
including workers, unions, or employers, if the
Secretariat has not timely met its obligations under
the agreement or if a party declines to suspend
benefits as directed by the arbitrators;
``(O) to establish a Wages and Standards Working
Group--
``(i) to study, review and consider the
impact of the trade agreement on wages,
benefits, labor rights, working conditions,
inequality, disparities and the creation of
stable, secure, family-wage order to create a
cycle of continuous improvement in the
implementation of the agreement; and
``(ii) to monitor and evaluate the work of
the Secretariat;
``(P) to establish an Expert Wages Panel--
``(i) to provide advice to the signatories
of the agreement relating to changes to
national wage laws and rates in order to
improve standards of living in the trade
agreement region; and
``(ii) to advise the Secretariat with
respect to allegations that goods or services
traded pursuant to the agreement have failed to
meet the commitments made in such agreement
relating to labor protections;
``(Q) to ensure that migrant workers, regardless of
immigration status, who are subject to the jurisdiction
of any signatory to the agreement are afforded the same
rights and remedies available to citizens or nationals
of such signatories under the agreement; and
``(R) to establish transnational standards of
employment relations among signatories to the agreement
that provide for the establishment of transnational
unions and collective agreements with common employers
and other transnational requirements to ensure that
workers for supranational employers have the capacity
to engage in supranational bargaining.''.
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