The U.S. government will investigate charges that the government of Honduras has failed to address “repeated and well-documented violations of workers' rights.” Those charges were made in a petition filed in March by the AFL-CIO and major Honduran trade unions with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Trade and Labor Affairs (OTLA).

OTLA has accepted the petition that asks the U.S. government to act under the terms of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (DR-CAFTA). It says the Honduran government has failed to effectively enforce its labor laws and comply with its commitments under the six-year-old DR-CAFTA.

Says AFL-CIO International Affairs Director Cathy Feingold:

Given the ongoing systematic violations of basic worker rights, including the firing of hundreds of workers for attempting to organize unions and the failure of employers to pay the minimum wage, the acceptance of this petition is a positive step forward in calling the government of Honduras to start protecting the rights of its own workers.

The petition is the first step in the process to compel a nation to enforce its labor obligations under the DR-CAFTA. Feingold says she hopes the U.S. government’s action:   

sends a message that all countries that have signed free trade agreements must comply with their obligations to enforce their own labor laws.