The New York Times reports that, as it scurries to push forward DR-CAFTA, the attempt to solve the conundrum of the FTAA's collapse through smaller, regional agreements which could very quickly create a dynamic which pits Latin American governments against each other in a race to the bottom for US/transnational capital, the Bush administration has spent a year trying to block the release of a report it funded which is critical of the labor standards in the countries covered under this agreement

The Labor Rights Fund concluded in nearly 400 pages that while there were some adequate labor laws in Central America, there were systematic barriers to enforcing those laws. Recordkeeping is shoddy, giving workers little chance to make claims against employers, the reports said, and sanctions for violations are weak.

The fund also found problems ranging from discrimination against labor organizers to inadequate measures against child labor. El Salvador, for instance, the study found that it was not uncommon for foreign companies to close shop and leave without paying workers. The study also noted a failure to maintain safety, citing two accidents at a textile plant in 2002 in which 560 workers were overcome by fumes in chlorine spills. The ensuing investigations were shoddy, the study found.

Though the Labor Rights Fund has been critical of labor standards in developing countries, the Labor Department nonetheless chose it to conduct the studies. The contract was worth $937,000. "We transparently and in good faith put in a proposal," said Bama Athreya, deputy director of the Labor Rights Fund.

But after the reports were submitted in early 2004, the Labor Department held them in secrecy, preventing their release to Congress and forbidding the fund to publish them, Mr. Levin, the Michigan representative, said.