Solis Appoints Compa

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis has appointed ILR Senior Lecturer Lance Compa to a new National Advisory Committee for Labor Provisions of Free Trade Agreements.

Compa joins three other university and think tank-based public members of the committee, along with four members each from the labor and business sectors.

Ed Potter MS '72, director of global labor relations for the Coca-Cola Company, is one of the corporate members of the committee.

Before joining the ILR faculty in 1997, Compa was the top U.S. official at the labor commission of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Compa now teaches courses at ILR on U.S. labor law, international labor law and corporate social responsibility.

The new federal committee will provide private sector advice on labor chapters in a dozen bilateral and multilateral trade agreements negotiated by the United States with trading partners in the past 15 years, Compa said.

It will also advise on pending agreements with Korea, Panama, Colombia and current negotiations with seven Asian countries in the Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative.

The labor chapters require trading partners, including the United States, to ensure respect for international labor standards in their domestic labor law systems to create a "level playing field" in global trade, Compa said.