I 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Independent Labor 

5 Secretariat for Fair Trade Deals Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 

2 It is the sense of Congress that, with respect to the 

3 labor-related provisions of all trade agreements, all parties 

4 to such agreements— 

5 (1) are obliged to ensure all workers in their 

6 territory, regardless of the workers’ citizenship, im7 migration status or national origin, the rights and 

8 freedoms guaranteed in the eight core Conventions 

9 of the International Labor Organization, including 

10 the right to strike, as part of the right to freedom 

11 of association; 

12 (2) are obliged to ensure acceptable conditions 

13 of work that cover all workers in their territory, re14 gardless of the workers’ citizenship, immigration sta15 tus or national origin; 

16 (3) should agree that all workers have the right 

17 to receive wages sufficient for them to afford, in the 

18 region of the signatory country where the worker re19 sides, a decent standard of living for the worker and 

20 family; 

21 (4) should agree the work of all workers in the 

22 economy shall be deemed trade-related and therefore 

23 subject to the obligations of this chapter to earn fair 

24 wages; 

25 (5) should agree not to reduce labor standards, 

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1 ployer, or fail to enforce such standards as to any 

2 obligation covered by the agreement; 

3 (6) should agree that a threat, act of intimida4 tion, or an act of violence against any worker exer5 cising, or attempting to exercise, any of the rights 

6 and freedoms protected by the agreement should be 

7 considered a violation of the underlying right or 

8 freedom; 

9 (7) should agree that the failure to investigate 

10 any such threat, act of intimidation, or act of vio11 lence, or failure to prosecute identified perpetrators 

12 of any such threat or act, should be considered a 

13 failure to enforce the underlying right or freedom 

14 and therefore a violation of the agreement; 

15 (8) are obliged to ensure that all trade in goods 

16 made, in whole or in part, by forced labor or the 

17 worst forms of child labor is banned outright and 

18 that no party procures goods made with forced labor 

19 or the worst forms of child labor; 

20 (9) are obliged to ensure that all persons have 

21 appropriate and timely access to tribunals for the 

22 enforcement of the party’s own labor laws, without 

23 undue delay; 

24 (10) are obliged to ensure that domestic laws 

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1 cess to labor inspectors from government bodies and 

2 unions to seek timely inspections to follow up on al3 leged violations of the agreement; 

4 (11) are obliged to ensure that no person wish5 ing to be protected by this section is excluded from 

6 such protections by virtue of being classified as a 

7 temporary worker, fixed-contract worker, subcon8 tracted worker, independent contractor, or the like; 

9 (12) are obliged to ensure that domestic laws 

10 guard against employer-dominated unions or unions 

11 controlled by political parties, ensuring that unions 

12 are responsible to their members and that unions 

13 provide members with timely access to union bylaws 

14 and collective bargaining agreements; and 

15 (13) are obliged to ensure that workers are en16 titled to all rights and benefits of their primary work 

17 location regardless of their citizenship, immigration 

18 status, or national origin, and that adequate effort 

19 are made to ensure that workers are provided with 

20 access to information in their primary language and 

21 in printed format, if requested. 


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1 SEC. 3. NEGOTIATING OBJECTIVES RELATING TO THE EN2 FORCEMENT OF LABOR-RELATED TRADE 

3 AGREEMENT PROVISIONS. 

4 Section 102(b)(10) of the Bipartisan Congressional 

5 Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (19 

6 U.S.C. 4201(b)(10)) is amended— 

7 (1) by striking subparagraphs (H) and (I); and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following: 

9 ‘‘(H) to establish a Labor Secretariat, led 

10 and staffed by experienced and qualified experts 

11 in labor rights, labor standards, labor econom12 ics, or human rights, to— 

13 ‘‘(i) address transnational issues relat14 ing to labor; 

15 ‘‘(ii) monitor and enforce labor-related 

16 trade agreement provisions; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) provide research relating to the 

18 effects of the trade agreement on jobs and 

19 communities in the countries covered by 

20 the agreement; 

21 ‘‘(I) to empower the staff of the Secre22 tariat, with respect to the countries covered by 

23 the agreement, to— 

24 ‘‘(i) visit and monitor workplaces; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) interview workers without em2 ployer or government monitoring or inter3 ference; 

4 ‘‘(iii) recommend changes to work5 place conditions to comply with labor-re6 lated provisions of the agreement as a re7 sult of information obtained through such 

8 visits, monitoring, and interviews; and 

9 ‘‘(iv) observe and assist the officials of 

10 relevant agencies or departments of the 

11 governments of any such countries in im12 plementing and enforcing the labor-related 

13 provisions of the agreement; 

14 ‘‘(J) to provide that the Secretariat shall 

15 have the authority to originate and pursue dis16 pute settlements under the enforcement proce17 dures of the agreement when it determines that 

18 meaningful progress toward the implementation 

19 of the recommendations of the Secretariat has 

20 ceased or that a signatory to the agreement is 

21 persistently out of compliance with one or more 

22 of the labor-related provisions of the agreement; 

23 ‘‘(K) to require arbitrators presiding over 

24 a dispute brought by the Secretariat pursuant 

25 to such authority to— 


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1 ‘‘(i) have expertise in international 

2 labor rights and standards or international 

3 human rights protections; 

4 ‘‘(ii) base their decisions on guidance 

5 from the ILO, including in the form of 

6 conventions, reports, or recommendations; 

7 and 

8 ‘‘(iii) ensure that such arbitrators 

9 may seek technical assistance or expert re10 ports from the ILO for the settlement of 

11 such dispute, including by extending the 

12 duration of the panel for purposes of ob13 taining such assistance; 

14 ‘‘(L) to ensure that such arbitrators have 

15 the power to impose sanctions on specific work16 places, employers, industries, or sectors, as well 

17 as on signatory parties as a whole, in the form 

18 of suspension of benefits under the agreement, 

19 in order to enforce the decisions and ensure 

20 that the labor-related provisions of the agree21 ment are fully implemented and enforced; 

22 ‘‘(M) to provide that no signatory to the 

23 trade agreement may have veto power over the 

24 activity of the Secretariat or may control, pre25 vent, or delay Secretariat activities; 


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1 ‘‘(N) to provide a robust enforcement sys2 tem, that may also include access to the domes3 tic judicial system of a signatory to the agree4 ment, to compel action from the Secretariat on 

5 behalf of interested parties, including workers, 

6 unions, or employers, if the Secretariat has not 

7 timely met its obligations under the agreement 

8 or if a party declines to suspend benefits as di9 rected by the arbitrators; 

10 ‘‘(O) to establish a Wages and Standards 

11 Working Group— 

12 ‘‘(i) to study, review and consider the 

13 impact of the trade agreement on wages, 

14 benefits, labor rights, working conditions, 

15 inequality, disparities and the creation of 

16 stable, secure, family-wage order to create 

17 a cycle of continuous improvement in the 

18 implementation of the agreement; and 

19 ‘‘(ii) to monitor and evaluate the work 

20 of the Secretariat; 

21 ‘‘(P) to establish an Expert Wages 

22 Panel— 

23 ‘‘(i) to provide advice to the signato24 ries of the agreement relating to changes 

25 to national wage laws and rates in order to 


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1 improve standards of living in the trade 

2 agreement region; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) to advise the Secretariat with re4 spect to allegations that goods or services 

5 traded pursuant to the agreement have 

6 failed to meet the commitments made in 

7 such agreement relating to labor protec8 tions; 

9 ‘‘(Q) to ensure that migrant workers, re10 gardless of immigration status, who are subject 

11 to the jurisdiction of any signatory to the agree12 ment are afforded the same rights and remedies 

13 available to citizens or nationals of such sig14 natories under the agreement; and 

15 ‘‘(R) to establish transnational standards 

16 of employment relations among signatories to 

17 the agreement that provide for the establish18 ment of transnational unions and collective 

19 agreements with common employers and other 

20 transnational requirements to ensure that work21 ers for supranational employers have the capac22 ity to engage in supranational bargaining.’’. 

Æ 


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