The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which governs trade relations between Canada, Mexico and the United States, came into effect on January 1, 1994.

The Canadian, Mexican and US governments signed the North American Agreement on Labour Cooperation (NAALC), the first labour agreement negotiated as part of an international free trade agreement, on September 14, 1993 and it came into force at the same time as its parent trade agreement, NAFTA.

In theory, as described on their website, the NAALC is supposed to provide "a mechanism for member countries to ensure the effective enforcement of existing and future domestic labor standards and laws without interfering in the sovereign functioning of the different national labor systems." The goal is to "improve working conditions and living standards, and to protect, enhance and enforce basic workers' rights" via specific Objectives, Obligations and Labor Principles that the three signatory governments are bound to uphold.

• Read more about the NAALC
• Read about the NAALC and the Puebla case
• Resources on NAFTA