Pascrell Lauds Passage of New Mexican Labor Law

PATERSON, NJ – Today, U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) reacted positively to reports that the Mexican Congress has approved a new labor law in line with reforms demanded by Pascrell and other Congressional Democrats.

“Today, Mexico has taken a major step toward advancing the rights of workers to be treated with dignity and paid a fair wage. Improvement of labor rights could reduce one incentive for American companies to outsource jobs – a central problem in the old NAFTA. We now must see implementation and meaningful enforcement of these reforms.

“Every worker, no matter where they live, deserves fundamental labor rights. Whether in Mexico or in right-to-work states here in the US, we must continue to fight for improvements to the rights of all workers to earn a fair wage and be treated with respect.”

Earlier this month, Rep. Pascrell led 85 of his colleagues demanding that Mexico must pass meaningful labor reforms before any renegotiated NAFTA agreement could find congressional approval. In January 2018, Pascrell led 183 House Democrats in a letter urging Ambassador Lighthizer to prioritize Mexican labor reforms in NAFTA renegotiations. Pascrell also joined with 94 House Democrats in an April 2018 letter urging opposition to the initial proposal in the Mexican Congress that was anti-worker and in November 2018, Pascrell and former Rep. Sander Levin (D-MI-09) wrote to USTR and Labor Secretary Acosta again in light of anti-worker violence and intimidation reports in Mexico.

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