Title: Independent Labor Secretariat for Fair Trade Deals Act
Policy area: Foreign Trade and International Finance

Summary:
Independent Labor Secretariat for Fair Trade Deals Act
This bill establishes a Labor Secretariat to (1) address transnational issues relating to labor, (2) monitor and enforce labor-related trade agreement provisions, and (3) provide research relating to the effects of trade agreements on jobs and communities in countries covered by such agreements.

[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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