Strengthening Labor Law Enforcement
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This project enhances governments’ capacity to create, implement, and monitor the application of labor laws by working with ministries of labor, labor judges, and other judicial labor authorities. It seeks to use data collected from labor inspections to identify gaps that facilitate violations and to support legal reforms to address them. The project also uses data analytics to identify and combat labor inspection corruption, waste and inefficiency, and identifies regional inspection units in need of training and capacity building.
The Problem
When United States trade partner countries effectively enforce their labor laws, they help to ensure that workers in that country work in safe and fair conditions, and they also comply with their labor-related trade commitment to the U.S. Many countries, including Georgia and Honduras, lack the capacity to administer labor laws effectively. This results in minimal prosecution of violations or cases that are not resolved expeditiously.
Our Strategy
The project is taking a multi-pronged, data-driven approach designed to adapt to the specific context and challenges of each country in which it operates: beginning with Georgia and Honduras and expanding to at least one other country in the future. In each specific case, the focus is on building the capacity of governments to:
- adopt laws, regulations, and other legal instruments that are consistent with relevant labor standards;
- improve identification and resolution of labor law violations; and
- increase the effectiveness of prosecutions for labor law violations.
Learn About Our Success
When workers understand their rights and can freely and collectively bargain for such rights, they will advocate for increased wages, equal treatment, and improved conditions of work. Transparency and accountability are at the heart of ensuring that workers in Mexico can freely choose a union and bargain for better wages and working conditions.
- Grantee:
- American Institutes for Research
- Implementing Partners:
- American Bar Association, Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG), Rule of Law Initiative (ABA-ROLI)
- Contact Information:
- (202) 693-4900 / Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA)
- Tags:
- Trade
- Capacity Building
- Enforcement
- FY18 Projects
- Labor Law
- Northern Central America
- USMCA Technical Assistance
