After repeated attempts to obtain the reports from the Labor Department to confirm shortcomings in Central America's labor laws, Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) is charging that "suppressed" reports commissioned by the Labor Department show that Central American labor laws fail to meet core International Labor Organization (ILO) standards.
Levin was finally given the reports after he threatened to file a Congressional Resolution of Inquiry to force their release.
The main standards of the ILO include:
· freedom of association and collective bargaining,
· elimination of forced labor,
· effective abolition of child labor, and
· elimination of discrimination.
Members of a Congressional inquiry are examining the merits of the CAFTA pact with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, and Guatemala as questions on labor conditions in those countries mount.
According to a Bureau of National Affairs (BNA) article, Levin told reporters during a conference call: "There's clear evidence all around that the legal framework that protects the basic internationally recognized rights of working people ... is not in place in Central America."
The Labor Department had commissioned the report be prepared by the International Labor Rights Funds (ILRF), but disassociated itself from the reports when serious flaws were discovered.
Questions have been raised as to why the legislation has not been brought forward for a vote. It appears that most Democrats are overwhelmingly against CAFTA and that many Republicans are also having to support the Democratic view.
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CHALLENGING UNFAIR TRADE
