Marley Weiss (2003), "Two Steps Forward, One Step Back - Or Vice Versa : Labor Rights Under Free Trade Agreements from NAFTA, Through Jordan, via Chile, to Latin America, and Beyond", University of San Francisco Law Review, vol. 37 (689).

This article examines the ever-expanding set of free trade agreements (FTA) being negotiated by the United States, all of which are built upon the pattern created under the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation (NAALC), the NAFTA side agreement. It explores the successes and failures of the NAFTA/NAALC model in an effort to improve the development of future FTAs. Part II summarizes the main elements of the NAALC labor rights regime, and compares them to the approaches taken in five separate trade agreements and one piece of U.S. trade legislation. Part III outlines the enforcement procedures and remedies provided under NAALC, analyzes cases brought under it, and identifies deficiencies in the operation of NAALC. Part IV questions whether progress in negotiating effective, enforceable labor rights provisions is in fact being made in the FTAs discussed in Part II. It concludes with a discussion about the prospects for conjoining labor rights and free trade agreements in the future.