<P> When it became clear that Mexico would not stand for this kind of an agreement, some critics from the labor movement would not settle for any viable alternatives . In response, part of the labor movement wanted to declare their open opposition to the agreement, and to push for NAFTA's rejection in Congress . Ultimately, the ambivalence of labor groups led those within the Administration who supported NAFTA to believe that strengthening NAFTA's labor side agreement too much would cost more votes among Republicans than it would garner among Democrats, and would make it harder for the United States to elicit support from Mexico . </P> <P> Graubart writes that, despite unions' open disappointment with the outcome of this labor - side negotiation, labor activists, including the AFL - CIO have used the side agreement's citizen petition process to highlight ongoing political campaigns and struggles in their home countries . He claims that despite the relative weakness of the legal provisions themselves, the side - agreement has served a legitimizing functioning, giving certain social struggles a new kind of standing . </P> <P> Unions have recently been engaged in a developing field of transnational labor regulation embodied in corporate codes of conduct . However, O'Brien cautions that unions have been only peripherally involved in this process, and remain ambivalent about its potential effects . They worry that these codes could have legitimizing effects on companies that do not actually live up to good practices, and that companies could use codes to excuse or distract attention from the repression of unions . </P> <P> Braun and Gearhart note that although unions do participate in the structure of a number of these agreements, their original interest in codes of conduct differed from the interests of human rights and other non-governmental activists . Unions believed that codes of conduct would be important first steps in creating written principles that a company would be compelled to comply with in later organizing contracts, but did not foresee the establishment of monitoring systems such as the Fair Labor Association . These authors point out that are motivated by power, want to gain insider status politically and are accountable to a constituency that requires them to provide them with direct benefits . </P>

Number of labor unions in the united states