ABSTRACT
What is the relationship among civil society, national governments, and international organisations under the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC)? This chapter provides a preliminary sketch of an answer to this question. It outlines the structure of the agreement and its public participation mechanisms, and discusses the direction that public participation has taken. It argues that civil society engagement has been skewed toward a fairly legalistic use of complaint procedures, and that this form of civil society engagement has some important limitations that should be considered by governments and civil society representatives. The NAALC, which took effect on 1 January 1994, has a very broad set of objectives. These are set out in Part I of the Agreement. They include improving working conditions and living standards, and promoting eleven specific labour principles. Part II sets out the obligations of the Agreement. Article 2 requires member states to ensure that labour laws and regulations provide for high labour standards.
