Description: This book is a comprehensive and systematic examination of the North American Agreement on Labor Cooperation, assessing its efficacy in protecting workers' rights over the entire period it was in effect and demonstrating its broader significance for the role of trade and labor standards in U.S. foreign policy.
Review Quotes: Kevin J. Middlebrook skillfully weaves together the complex story of the international defense of labor rights across the levels of state sovereignty, state-to-state trade negotiations, workers' campaigns, and practical results. Through meticulous examination of original sources and interviews with direct participants, he creates a rare, balanced account of the contending positions of state and nonstate actors in the United States and Mexico. His insightful analysis illuminates this politically salient history and the continuing contestation over the international defense of workers' rights.--Sandra Polaski, former deputy director-general of the International Labour Organization