Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Over the last decades, U.S. labor unions have been consistently denounced the lack of enforcement of labor clauses in U.S. trade agreements. In spite of the amendments of those clauses over time, the recent U.S.-Guatemala case attests that sanctions are still virtually unenforceable. However, even if external shocks were absent, one would have expected a more consistent degree of change in favor of at least the selective enforcement of U.S. labor chapters. This paper analyzes the role of U.S. labor unions and other change-agents in pushing for an overhauling of labor clauses in U.S. FTAs and interprets those changes using elements of institutionalism. This paper resorts to the textual analysis and process tracing methods and offers a counter-intuitive explanation to institutional change and continuity by resorting to an agent-centered explanation.