Tough trade-offs: a free trade proposal with Mexico raises doubts about our country's commitment to human rights

Article Abstract:

The proposed free trade agreement between the US, Mexico and Canada should include safeguards to protect the human rights of Mexican workers in US-owned industries. These industries, called the Maquiladora, are likely to proliferate under the agreement as US firms find it profitable to move to Mexico where employment, health and environmental regulations are much less rigorous than in the US. However, Congress should insist on preserving human rights in the treaty to prevent the brutal exploitation of Mexican workers too poor to demand the standards enforced in the US.

Social aspects, Human resource management, International aspects, Mexico, Human rights, United States foreign relations, Mexican foreign relations, Offshore assembly industry, North American Free Trade Agreement (Proposed)

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How much can you say in the workplace?

Article Abstract:

Courts and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission have both ruled that a person's freedom of expression is not absolute in the workplace. Cases involving public employees have most directly concerned themselves with First Amendment rights in the workplace. Decisions in such cases suggest courts will first decide if the speech is a matter of public concern, then weigh the effect of the speech on the business' ability to function against the interest of the employee making the expression. English-only rules and harassing speech are also discussed.

Cases, Freedom of speech, Employment discrimination

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E-mails are private unless an employee gives consent

Article Abstract:

The US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit's ruling in Deal v. Spears and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986, while applying primarily to telephone communications, may also extend employee privacy rights to e-mail messages. In Deal, the employers violated the employee's privacy by taping conversations without consent and playing them back. The Act predates wide-spread use of electronic mail, but the statute applies to all electronic communications systems in the workplace that are not purely internal and allow some public access.

Electronic mail systems, Email, Confidential communications

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