Senate Set to Vote on Peru Trade Deal

December 3, 2007 – The Senate this week will vote on the controversial Peru Free Trade Agreement this week. The House approved the bill by a vote of 285 – 132, despite strong objections from labor and human rights activists who are concerned the pact does not include adequate enforcement provisions.

“We have repeatedly stressed that labor chapters in any trade agreement must unequivocally and unambiguously include all core and other appropriate labor standards explicitly encompassed by the International Labor Organization (ILO),” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger in a letter to representatives. “Without explicit incorporation of ILO Conventions and accompanying jurisprudence, the Administration can interpret the agreement so narrowly that the positive improvements could prove to be meaningless.”

Critics also point to this week’s government crackdown on striking miners in Peru as evidence that the South American nation cannot be relied on enforce the most basic labor and environmental standards.

Unions Sue Florida Cities over FTAA Riots

November 27, 2007 - An AFL-CIO lawsuit charges four Florida municipalities with violating the constitutional rights and civil liberties of thousands of workers and retirees who traveled to Miami to protest the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) summit in 2003.

The lawsuit documents extensive police use of tear gas, truncheons and rubber bullets to assault peaceful protestors while blocking access to a lawful union gathering at Bayfront Park in downtown Miami.

“Union members and retirees in Miami were met by thousands of police in full riot gear and armored vehicles, paid for in part with funds earmarked for the war in Iraq,” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger, who spoke at the AFL-CIO rally in Bayfront Park. “Under the guise of providing ‘protection’ for foreign trade ministers, law enforcement personnel in Miami provided a chilling glimpse of the battle between free trade and free speech.”

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, follows nearly four years of legal efforts and seeks punitive damages and a declaration that some police violated the First, Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of thousands of protestors.

“This is an extremely important First Amendment case,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney. “The AFL-CIO is committed to ensuring that such intimidation and abuse of peaceful protestors by our own government is never repeated in any city across this nation.”

Senators Question Safety of Drug Imports

November 20, 2007 - Senators Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) and Olympia Snowe (R – Maine) have sent a letter to the CEOs of the 10 largest pharmaceutical firms requesting information on the extent to which they are outsourcing drug manufacturing to suppliers in foreign nations, according to a report from the Alliance for Retired American’s Friday Alert. The letter also inquires about the level of safety oversight over that production.

More than 40 percent of the active ingredients in pharmaceutical products sold in the United States come from countries with inadequate regulatory procedures to ensure high quality such as China and India.

Read more from the AFL-CIO.

Video: CAFTA Strikes El Salvador

November 13, 2007 - CAFTA was supposed to change the world.  The promise was that this would increase the economies of many countries but workers from both sides of the continent agree, CAFTA didn't deliver.

Watch the video here.

Peru Trade Act Moves to Senate

November 9, 2007 - The U.S. House of Representatives today voted 285 - 132 to approve the controversial Peru Free Trade Agreement, despite strong objections from labor and human rights activists who are concerned the pact does not include adequate enforcement provisions.

“We have repeatedly stressed that labor chapters in any trade agreement must unequivocally and unambiguously include all core and other appropriate labor standards explicitly encompassed by the International Labor Organization (ILO),” said IAM President Tom Buffenbarger in a letter to representatives. “Without explicit incorporation of ILO Conventions and accompanying jurisprudence, the Administration can interpret the agreement so narrowly that the positive improvements could prove to be meaningless.”

Critics also point to this week’s government crackdown on striking miners in Peru as evidence that the South American nation cannot be relied on enforce the most basic labor and environmental standards. The Peru FTA is the first trade deal to come before the 110th Congress and now moves to the Senate.

Machinists Oppose Peru Trade Pact

November 6, 2007 - President Bush is lobbying hard on Capitol Hill for a vote this week on the Peru Free Trade Act, legislation that would expand NAFTA into South America and create a new wave of low-wage competition for U.S. workers.

The IAM is standing firm in opposition to any expansion of NAFTA-like trade deals, calling for a “strategic pause” before any new trade accords are brokered. “IAM members have suffered the loss of thousands of jobs due to bad trade agreements, reflected by out-dated, failed models,” said IP Buffenbarger in a letter to representatives. “Now is the time to put together a real and meaningful trade agenda that puts workers first and will lead to the creation of jobs here at home.”

Chief among the IAM concerns is absence of clear, enforceable labor standards as detailed by the International Labor Organization (ILO). These include prohibitions of child labor and guaranteeing the right of workers in Peru to form independent labor unions. “We also continue to have serious concerns with respect to the procurement and services provisions of the agreement,” said Buffenbarger. “Among other things, questions remain regarding the impact on Buy American practices.”

House Expands Trade Adjustment Assistance

November 2, 2007 - The House on Wednesday passed the Trade and Globalization Assistance Act of 2007 by a vote of 264-157, reauthorizing and overhauling the current U.S. Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program.

TAA provides retraining and financial assistance to American workers who have seen their jobs shipped overseas as a result of foreign trade. The bill passed by the House doubles the current TAA funding level from $220 million to $440 million and expands TAA eligibility to public and service sector workers who lose their jobs due to trade.

The bill would also improve the program’s training opportunities and associated health care benefits, create new benefits and tax incentives for industries and communities impacted by trade and promote reforms to the unemployment insurance system.

“We must be certain that, as our nation moves forward with expanded trade, we send a clear bipartisan signal that it won’t be at the expense of American workers,” said Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee.

Despite broad bi-partisan support, the Bush administration is threatening to veto the legislation.

Report Looks at Trade and Toy Safety

October 31, 2007 - A new report from the Institute for America’s Future takes a close look at the high cost consumers are paying for faulty trade policy’s combined with little or no safety regulation at home.

Toxic Trade: Globalization and the Safety of the American Consumer shows that even as the U.S. is flooded with cheap foreign imports from countries such as China, the Bush administration is cutting resources for the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).

Nearly $2 trillion in imported goods enter the U.S. every year, according to the report, which also shows imports from China double roughly every five years. Despite a 338 percent increase in world imports since 1974 – the first year the CPSC operated – the budget level for the CPSC is less than half the level it was when it started.

The result has been the recall of more than 13 million toys the past two months alone due to extreme lead levels.

The report concludes, “At this point, when it comes to imported products, Americans are basically on their own. Concerned parents can test their own children’s toys or bibs. Or they can hope that the companies are more responsible in the wake of the scandals than they have been before. But they can’t rely on what they need – active and efficient government regulation and inspection that can protect our children and insure that our safety standards are met. It is past time for that to change.”

Read more  from the AFL-CIO.

Democratic, Republican Voters Unified in Frustration with Trade

October 23, 2007 – A recent Wall Street Journal-NBC News Poll found that 60 percent of Republican voters feel free trade has been bad for the U.S. They also said they would agree with a candidate who favored tougher regulations to limit foreign imports.

The shift in feelings about trade among Republican voters brings them more in line with the beliefs of Democratic voters and could play a big role in the 2008 presidential elections and beyond.

Read more here.

Video: A New World Order

October 11, 2007 - Globalization is something organized labor has been talking about for years.  But nowadays, the issue seems to seep into conversations around the world, no matter your economic status and many are starting to notice its' dramatic effects.

Watch the video here.

Clinton Talks Trade on “Middle Class Express”

October 10, 2007 - Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) kicked off a campaign tour of Iowa on Saturday in a custom-painted bus called the "Middle Class Express.” Emblazoned with "Rebuilding the Road to the Middle Class" across the sides, the tour started in Cedar Rapids, where hundreds of union members and their families came out to hear Clinton. IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger joined the tour on Monday and along with other labor leaders, has been helping bolster support for Senator Clinton.

Clinton laid out some of her proposals that will rebuild the road to the middle class, including strengthening unions, making health care and college affordable, restoring fairness to the tax system and toughening U.S. trade policy – an issue sensitive to the labor movement.

“I think it is time that we assess trade agreements every five years to make sure they're meeting their goals or to make adjustments if they are not,” said the New York senator. "And we should start by doing that with NAFTA."

“Senator Clinton understands how vital it is to grow the middle class and ensure all working men and women have the chance for a prosperous life,” said Buffenbarger. “Her efforts over the past two days show she is willing to do whatever it takes to ensure the middle class is the engine that drives this country.”

Senate Votes to Block Mexican Trucks

September 13, 2007 - The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted to strip funding for a Bush administration program that allows Mexican trucks to haul cargo directly from Mexico to any point in the United States. The House of Representatives has already passed a similar measure.

As part of the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), trucking firms from Mexico were supposed to get access years ago, but the Clinton administration limited their access to a small zone at large border crossings where shipments were transferred to U.S. trucks. The restrictions were in place largely because of concerns over an adequate safety inspection program to certify all trucks coming across the border meet U.S. safety standards.

By a 74-24 vote, the Senate approved an amendment introduced by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) to a broad transportation spending bill that cut off funding for the pilot program, which the Bush administration gave final authorization to just last week.

"This vote is a victory for safety,” Dorgan said in a statement. “It also represents a turning of the tide on the senseless, headlong rush this country has been engaged in for some time, to dismantle safety standards and a quality of life it took generations to achieve.”

The Bush administration, which has threatened to veto the transportation spending bill, hopes to expand the trucking program to accommodate 100 Mexican trucking companies, or roughly 540 large trucks, and that number could grow.

Trucks from Mexico Get Green Light to Roll Into U.S.

September 10, 2007 - The Bush Administration is giving the final OK to allow trucks from Mexico to haul cargo directly from Mexico to any point in the United States. As part of the original North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), trucking firms from Mexico were supposed to get access years ago, but the Clinton Administration limited their access to a small zone at large border crossings where shipments were transferred to U.S. trucks. The restrictions were in place largely because of concerns over an adequate safety inspection program to certify all trucks coming across the border meet U.S. safety standards.

The Teamsters and other groups filed suit to block the new program contending that the pilot program does not provide adequate safety and other oversight mandated by Congress last May, but their request for an emergency injunction was rejected by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. However, the lawsuit to challenge the pilot program will proceed.

As early as this week, trucks from Mexico will have free access to the entire U.S. to haul shipments to and from Mexico, but not point-to-point in the U.S. The Bush Administration hopes to expand the program to accommodate 100 Mexican trucking companies, or roughly 540 large trucks, and that number could grow.

Metal World

The International Metalworkers' Federation (IMF) represents the collective interests of 25 million metalworkers in more than 200 unions in 100 countries. The IMF is a federation of national unions - a union of unions - in the metal industry at world level. The IMF head office is in Geneva, Switzerland, where worldwide activities are coordinated with a network of regional offices.

Metal World is the IMF's quarterly magazine. Click here to download the latest issue.

 

 

 

Edwards, Kucinich Talk Fair Trade at IAM Conference

August 29, 2007 – Former Democratic North Carolina Senator John Edwards and Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) both spoke at length about flawed U.S. trade policy last night before nearly 700 delegates at the 2007 IAM National Staff Conference in Orlando, Fl. 

“Anytime you consider a trade deal you have to ask if it is going to help middle class families,” said Edwards. “No more NAFTA’s, no more CAFTA’s and no more trade deals that will send millions of jobs overseas.”

“It’s Buy American or bye-bye America,” said Kucinich, who said his first act in office would be to cancel NAFTA. “When you buy products made in another country with slave labor - by workers who have no labor protections and low wages - you are undermining your own standard of living.”

Edwards and Kucinich were the final two of four candidates who took part in the IAM’s “Conversations with the Candidates” in which Presidential hopefuls are being allotted 45 minutes to discuss six key domestic issues impacting IAM members: Jobs, trade, schools, health care, manufacturing and energy. Democratic New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Former Republican Mike Huckabee on Monday took part in the conversations, which were moderated by Erin Moriarty.
 
The nation’s industrial base was also a top issue for both presidential candidates. “Once you have trade laws that keep jobs here, you can begin to rebuild the infrastructure and then you can begin to get back these jobs in the aerospace industry, the shipbuilding industry and the automotive industry,” said Kucinich.

“If your tax dollars are being used to produce the products that keep America safe, that provide defense for the American people, those jobs should remain in the United States of America," said Edwards.

 

Clinton Calls for Trade Prosecutor at IAM Staff Conference

August 28, 2007 – Speaking before nearly 700 IAM delegates at the 2007 IAM National Staff Conference in Orlando, Fl., 2008 Democratic Presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton said if elected, she would create a Trade Prosecutor.

“I will create a trade prosecutor who goes after those who don’t abide by proper labor standards,” said Clinton. “We also need a global forum that can regulate labor and environmental standards so we have a real place for America’s consumers to go.”

The IAM is hosting a series of “Conversation with the Candidates” in which Presidential hopefuls are being allotted 45 minutes to discuss six key domestic issues impacting IAM members: Jobs, trade, schools, health care, manufacturing and energy. The one-on-one format, which is being moderated by CBS News Correspondent Erin Moriarty, allows the candidates the opportunity to delve deeper into tough issues.

Trade and globalization was one of main issues discussed during Senator Clinton’s discussion. She spoke at length on manufacturing, jobs and the role unions will play in a global economy. 

“We have people making very advanced airplanes in this country and that’s what we have to do – focus on high value manufacturing. We need to change federal policy and close loopholes such as giving tax breaks to companies who send jobs overseas,” Clinton said.

Stealing Our Steel

August 10, 2007 - All of nearly two-thousand IAM members who work for AK Steel in Middletown, Ohio want to see their jobs stay put.  That's why Local Lodge President Dan Lawwill traveled to Washington to make sure the U.S. continues to be a leader in the world of steel.

IAM Calls for Fair Trade for Steel

August 2, 2007 - Dan Lawwill, President and Directing Business Representative of IAM Local 1943, testified this week before the U.S. International Trade Commission calling for more fairness in trade rules for the U.S. steel industry. The Commission is holding hearings to review antidumping protections against unfair steel imports from nearly a dozen countries including China and India. Nearly 2,000 members of Local 1943 work at AK Steel’s Middletown Works in Middletown, OH.

The Commission heard testimony from more than two dozen members of Congress and Senators and a host of business and labor leaders who urged continued remedies from unfair dumping of steel into the U.S market. In his testimony, Lawwill urged the Commission to protect the U.S. steel industry and jobs from unfair competition from China and other countries who continue to dump hot rolled steel into the U.S. Foreign producers “dump” steel products in the U.S when they sell below their cost of production or price in their home market.

“The IAM continues to fight hard for trade policies that will result in good jobs here at home,” said Lawwill. “With roughly three million jobs lost in the manufacturing sector in the past few years, we must do everything that we can to ensure that the steel industry does not lose more jobs to unfair trade. This is about keeping good jobs, jobs with good wages and benefits, here at home.”

Trade Deals Could Threaten U.S. Food Supply

July 30, 2007 - As the Bush administration presses Congress to approve a flurry of trade agreements it has recently negotiated, a new report from Global Trade Watch says passage of the deals would further threaten the safety of the U.S. food supply.

The report, Trade Deficit in Food Safety; Proposed NAFTA Expansions Replicate Limits on U.S. Food Safety Policy That Are Contributing to Unsafe Food Imports  states: “Passage of the pending FTAs would elevate, not lessen, the threat to the safety of the U.S. food supply. ”

Global Trade Watch points specifically to seafood imported from Peru, Panama and Columbia as a top concern. The countries are already three of the world’s top exporters of shrimp and the agreements the Bush administration has negotiated would likely further increase imports.

More than 80 percent of the seafood Americans eat is imported and in 2006, the Food and Drug Administration inspected only 1.93 percent of those imports, according to the report.

“NAFTA failed, CAFTA failed, and Peru and Panama – as written – are just more of the same," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) in a statement regarding the study. "With a string of contaminated products from China flooding our markets, ensuring food and product safety standards in trade agreements is not an option; it is an imperative. This report underscores the importance of a new direction for trade policy."

Video: Trading Our Future

July 16, 2007 - If you're in manufacturing, there's no doubt you've seen American jobs go overseas and probably wondered if your position is next to go.

Watch the video here.

 

Clinton Vows To Restore Manufacturing

July 9, 2007 - Senator Hillary Clinton promised cheering steelworkers Friday that she would offer a labor-friendly White House and would promote manufacturing if elected president. "We are going to revitalize our manufacturing base," said Clinton. 

"I don't think we can be a great nation without a manufacturing base," she said. "If we don't keep making things, we're not going to sustain our economic standard of living or our quality of life."

Read the Forbes article here or more at the AFL-CIO Blog here.

 

Bush Loses Fast-Track Trade Authority

July 2, 2007 - President Bush’s fast-track trade authority expired this weekend, stripping the President of power that has allowed him to push through faulty trade legislation that has led to the continued loss of good U.S. jobs.

Fast-track trade authority gives the President the ability to submit trade pacts to Congress for a straight up-or-down vote, which has helped him get devastating trade deals such as the Central American Free Trade Agreement through Congress.

Now that Bush’s fast track authority has expired, it’s unlikely a Democrat controlled Congress will renew it.

“Our legislative priorities do not include the renewal of fast track authority.  Before that debate can even begin, we must expand the benefits of globalization to all Americans,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other top Democrats said in a statement.

Video: Stacking the Odds

June 20, 2007 - When it comes to trade, the odds are stacked against American manufacturers.  One of the reasons is due to VATs or Value Added Taxes which increase the price of goods and services and cost consumers more in the end.

Watch Staking the Odds.

Unions Slam Worker Rights' Violations Connected With 2008 Olympics

June 13, 2007 - In a report released Sunday an alliance of world trade unions allege that children as young as 12 are being employed to make official-licensed products for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The deputy director of marketing for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, has summoned four manufacturers to Beijing to answer charges of labor-law violations in the making of Olympic goods.

The report states that four factories in southern China broke national labor laws on child labor, overtime pay and minimum wages to make souvenirs for the 2008 Olympics.

Read the article  here.

Read the report, "No Medal for the Olympics on Labor Rights" here.

 

Video: Senate Takes Up Manufacturing

June 11, 2007 - Union leaders, small business owners, corporate CEO's...this is just a partial list of those who gathered to talk about America's Manufacturing Sector and try to come up with ways to bring back this industry that once ruled the world.

Watch the video here.

 

Machinists Seek U.S. Manufacturing Policy

June 07, 2007  – The president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) today urged Senate Democratic leaders to treat the nation’s manufacturing crisis like an economic epidemic.

“We cannot afford to be anesthetized by incremental improvements in one index or another,” said IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger. “Since 1999, we have lost over 43,000 manufacturing plants and more than 3.2 million good paying American jobs. No economy can continue to absorb that kind of damage and hope to survive.”

Buffenbarger spoke at the “Open Discussion on American Manufacturing,” a daylong policy summit hosted by the Senate Democratic Steering Committee.

“I urge the Committee to lay the foundation for a national industrial policy that will put the brakes on this epidemic of job losses. We need tax incentives for renovating and retooling older factories. We need an alternative to college for high school graduates that provides the skills needed to compete in the global economy and we desperately need to put a tourniquet on trade deals and tax breaks that are killing jobs and hope for so many Americans families.”

Buffenbarger cited polling by the IAM in core manufacturing states where more than four-fifths of respondents supported the establishment of an industrial policy. Seven out of ten respondents in the same poll said they would forgo a future tax cut if they could see real investment in job creation programs.

“There have already been far too many casualties to ignore this problem any longer,” said Buffenbarger. “The last election was an urgent wake up call for action on a number of fronts. Hitting the snooze button on the creation of a manufacturing policy should not be an option.”

 

Clinton Outlines Manufacturing Policy

June 2, 2007 - In an important policy speech delivered to students at the Manchester School for Technology in Manchester, NH, Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton (D-NY) provided an in-depth look at the principles that would guide her administration if she succeeds in her bid to win the White House. Sen. Clinton also referenced auto mechanics, aerospace workers and specifically mentioned the Machinists Union in her speech.

Echoing populist themes previously discussed, but in far greater detail, the Democratic front runner acknowledged the lopsided evolution of globalization and how middle class workers in the U.S. are being penalized while CEO’s and foreign workers reap handsome dividends.

Clinton proposed what she described as a progressive plan to combat the assault on the middle class by global economic policies and wrongheaded economic policies. Her plan would cut back on corporate welfare and require oil companies to invest in alternative energy; eliminate incentives for American companies to ship jobs overseas; reform corporate governance rules that allow CEO’s to escape with golden parachutes while their companies abandon workers’ pension and restore financial responsibility to our own government. “It’s simply not fair that as corporate profits have skyrocketed, the percentage of taxes paid by corporations have fallen,” said Clinton.

Additional points included promoting alternatives to traditional education so jobs that require precision skills and training would not go unfilled.

“Unfortunately, for the past six years it’s as though we’ve gone back to the era of the robber barons,” said Clinton. “Year after year, this president has handed massive tax breaks to oil companies, no-bid contracts to Halliburton, tax incentives to corporations shipping jobs overseas, tax cut after tax cut to millionaires, while ignoring the needs and aspirations of tens of millions of working families.”

 

Lawmakers ready trade bills as U.S., China talk

 

China Trade Drains Jobs from Every U.S. State

May 4, 2007 - The U.S. has lost an average of 441,000 jobs per year since China entered the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001, according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute (EPI).

The report, Costly Trade with China (http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/bp188), also finds that every single state and the District of Columbia have experienced a net job loss since China’s inclusion in the WTO.

Of the nearly 1.8 million jobs displaced, nearly three-quarters were in manufacturing industries. China’s undervalued currency and repression of labor rights are cited as key reasons for the U.S.’s massive $235 billion trade deficit with China and the resulting job loss.

“Growing trade deficits with China have clearly reduced domestic employment in traded goods industries, especially in the manufacturing sector, which has been hard hit by plant closings and job losses,” said the report’s author, Robert Scott.

New Hampshire was the state hit hardest by job loss as a share of total state employment with 2.1 percent of their job loss resulting from China’s trade practices. Close behind was North Carolina (-2.0 %), California (-1.8%) and Massachusetts (-1.8%).

In terms of total numbers of jobs lost, California has far and away been hit the hardest with 269,300 jobs lost. Also experiencing massive job loss due to trade with China was Texas (-136,900), New York (-105,900), Illinois (-79,900) and Pennsylvania (-78,200).

 

Fair Trade

April 25, 2007 - New York Times article about 'Fair Trade' coffees and other activist oriented products. The story focuses on how these products have increased many customers’ awareness of labor issues and other social issues.

In general, the fair trade label means that farmers of crops like coffee or cocoa in the third world, or workers who stitch T-shirts in factories abroad, are paid fairly. The label is intended as a guide for socially conscious consumers in rich countries when buying goods that originate primarily in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Proponents of the fair-trade movement, which began in the 1980s in Europe, say the low prices that most companies pay to producers in economically disadvantaged countries cause widespread misery: poverty, unsafe work conditions and forced child labor.

Read the entire article here.

A list of IAM Recommended And Union Represented Businesses including coffee, can be found here.

 

Manufacturing Jobs Head to Mexico, China

April 23, 2007 – Workers at Freightliner in Portland, Ore. recently watched the company ship their jobs to Mexico. For workers at Pennsylvania House furniture in Lewisburg, Pa., their jobs went to China. 

A total of 3.2 million manufacturing jobs have been lost since the start of 2000, leaving many workers struggling to keep up with rising housing and living costs.

The Associated Press reports in 1943 and 1944, manufacturing accounted for four out of 10 jobs in the U.S. Manufacturing now accounts for just one job in 10 in the non-farm workforce.

The continued loss of these good-paying manufacturing jobs is fueling Congressional debate about this country’s trade policies. Both lawmakers and the public are increasingly taking notice of the devastating effects of China’s unfair trade practices and flawed trade deals such as NAFTA.

Read the entire Associated Press article here.

 

Senate Committee Asks “Is Free Trade Working?”

April 19, 2007 – The Senate Committee on Science, Commerce and Transportation yesterday held a hearing on the impacts of current U.S. trade policy dubbed “Is Free Trade Working?”

With President Bush’s fast track trade authority set to expire on June 30, experts talked about the impact of the current free trade agreements and whether the fast track should be renewed.

“Before Fast Track we had balanced trade and rising living standards; since then the U.S. trade deficit has exploded as imports surged,” said Lori Wallach, Director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch division.

“During the NAFTA-WTO era, we have lost three million U.S. manufacturing jobs, one of every six in that sector, devastating local tax bases on which our schools and hospital rely and undermining our ability to produce the basic good essential for our national security and infrastructure,” Wallach continued.

Read more from the hearing here.

House Subcommittee Looks at Impact of Trade on American Workers

April 3, 2007 – The House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade held a hearing last week examining the impact of trade and reauthorization of fast-track trade authority on American workers.

The hearing’s headline witness was CNN anchor Lou Dobbs, who talked at length about the failure of current U.S. trade policy and its devastating impact on American workers.

“Free trade has been the most expensive trade policy this nation has ever pursued, Dobbs said. “There is nothing free about ever-larger trade deficits, mounting trade debts and the loss of millions of good-paying American jobs.”

During his opening statement, Subcommittee Chairman Brad Sherman (D-Calif.) warned about the harmful impacts of fast-track trade authority.

“The current fast track model has failed on several fronts,” Sherman said. “It has failed to raise the standard of living for America’s middle class; it has failed to gain the necessary market access for our exports, and it has failed to adapt itself to the new security priorities of the 21st Century.”

Dobbs went on to bring the discussion back to the tremendous job loss that has resulted from failed trade agreements such as NAFTA.

“Three million more jobs have been lost to cheap overseas labor markets as corporate America campaigns relentlessly for ‘higher productivity, ‘ ‘efficiency,’ and ‘competitiveness,’ all of which have been revealed to be nothing more than code words for the cheapest possible labor in the world,” Dobbs continued.

Read Dobb’s testimony here.

Reade Sherman’s opening statement here.  

Machinists Herald Global Union

March 30, 2007 - The IAM announced this week the formation of a Global Union Alliance to better represent and organize workers at Boeing’s many locations around the world.

Union representatives from the United States, Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Sweden established the alliance during the first ever Boeing Workers World Conference, held this week in Portland, Oregon. The meeting was hosted by the IAM and organized by the Geneva, Switzerland-based International Metalworkers Federation.

“Just as Boeing is a global company, the unions representing its workers must act like a global union,” said IP Tom Buffenbarger. “No longer can Boeing workers in one nation afford to bargain or organize in isolation. Our goal is fair treatment for Boeing’s global workforce, without regard to language, borders or nationality.”

Representatives at the summit agreed to coordinate their efforts to organize Boeing’s workers worldwide, including workers at Boeing suppliers. Participants also agreed to increased communication and coordination with respect to collective bargaining.

The participants also called on Boeing and its suppliers to recognize and enforce internationally recognized labor standards in its operations throughout the world.

“As one of the most successful corporations in the world, it is incumbent on Boeing to set the highest standards when it comes to fundamental human rights, which include the right to form labor unions and to engage in collective bargaining,” said Buffenbarger.

 

Maytag Veteran Calls on Congress to Fix Trade Agreements

March 28, 2007- Former IAM Local Lodge 2063 President Dave Bevard testified before Congress today, speaking about the shortcomings of Trade Adjustment Assistance and the need for fair trade agreements. Bevard worked at Maytag Refrigeration Products in Galesburg, Illinois for 32 years when, on October 11, 2002, the company told him and more than 1,500 of his fellow IAM members, including Bevard’s wife Pat, that Maytag was closing their plant and moving production to Mexico.

Workers at the Maytag facility qualified for Trade Adjustment Assistance benefits, but many found they trained for jobs that weren’t available or didn’t replace the income and benefits they lost. “Trade Adjustment Assistance and other programs are no substitute for fair trade agreements,” said Bevard. “Bad trade policies are devastating our manufacturing industry and are hurting millions of workers. We must have fair trade agreements and ways to create and keep good jobs so that we can keep our middle class which is the bedrock of our democracy.”

Bevard also told lawmakers there are many improvements that could be made to help workers get more out of Trade Adjustment Assistance. Bevard called for increased funding, improved financial counselling and more affordable health care.

Congress is currently debating whether to extend President Bush’s Fast Track Trade Authority which will make more unfair trade agreements possible.



Lou Dobbs Examines China’s Aircraft Ambitions

March 22, 2007 - IP Tom Buffenbarger is scheduled to appear Thursday, March 22, on CNN’s Lou Dobbs Tonight as part of a news segment about China’s entry into the global commercial aircraft market.

“The recent announcement that China will be entering the large commercial aircraft market comes as no surprise to the IAM,” said Buffenbarger. “ China developed its capacity in large part due to U.S. policy that allowed the transfer of U.S. technology and production—technology that was often developed by U.S. aerospace workers and paid for by U.S. taxpayers.”

The Emmy-award winning Lou Dobbs Tonight airs from 6 to 7 p.m. Eastern Time, 7 days a week. Check your local listings to confirm time and channel.

What Happened to Good Trade?

March 16, 2007 - For decades, Congressman Sandy Levin has been part of a lot of trade issues on the hill.  He’s seen what’s worked and what hasn’t.  And in a global world that’s constantly changing, he knows our future depends on what we do now.

Watch the video here. 

Video: Korea’s Turn Now?
March 15, 2007 - For hundreds of years America has been trading.  And most agree that’s a good thing.  But how to do it in today’s global world, without hurting America or its workers, is the next big question to answer.
 
Watch the video here.

Bush promotes free trade in country with widespread child labor

March 14, 2007 - Guatemalan children shine shoes and make bricks. They cut cane and mop floors. At some factories exporting to the United States, they sew and sort and chop, often in conditions so onerous they violate even the very loose Guatemalan labor laws.

Read the entire article here.

Video: Fast Track to Nowhere

March 8, 2007 - Is trade important you?  It should be.  In the past, bad trade policies only hurt blue collar laborers by sending jobs overseas. But that’s changing.  Now even white collar jobs aren’t protected.  If fact, because of something called fast track, no one is safe anymore.

Watch the entire video here.   

Industrial Policy Needed Now, says Buffenbarger

March 7, 2007 - Machinists Union International President Tom Buffenbarger told a group of fellow union leaders and top presidential campaign staffers that blue collar workers in the U.S. cannot afford to wait for election-year platitudes and campaign promises to rebuild the nation’s devastated manufacturing base.

“America’s industrial resurgence cannot wait for ’08,” declared Buffenbarger at an event held during the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council meeting in Las Vegas, NV. “In addition to over 3 million manufacturing jobs lost since January 2002, we’ve lost a total of 43,000 manufacturing plants since 1999. It’s political and economic suicide to ignore this trend one day longer.”

Buffenbarger called for a U.S. industrial policy that includes legislation to stimulate the U.S. manufacturing sector - old and new - and cuts the massive U.S. trade deficit in half in four years. The U.S. trade deficit hit a record high $764 billion in 2007, up 6.5 percent from 2005. The merchandise trade deficit was even higher, ballooning from $783 billion in 2005 to $836 billion in 2006.

“Without a determined effort to rebuild and protect U.S. manufacturing capability, this nation’s economy will become a permanent hostage to foreign nations and a global economy that cares little for our history, our heritage or our values,” said Buffenbarger.

In addition to an industrial policy that creates jobs and provides tax incentives for businesses to renovate existing plants, Buffenbarger called for the establishment of a nationwide system of high tech institutes to train current and future workers in skills needed to develop and sustain U.S. manufacturing prowess.

KORUS Follows Same Faulty Path as NAFTA

March 1, 2007 – Despite the devastation the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) brought to working families, the Bush administration is using the same faulty trade model in the U.S. – Korea Free Trade Agreement (also known as KORUS).

The Economic Policy Institute recently held a hearing examining the results of a major
study, Revisiting NAFTA: Still Not Working for North America's Workers, and its implications for US-KFTA.

“We were promised good things would come from NAFTA, but look at what happened,” said Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio). “We cannot enter any more trade agreements with the flawed NAFTA model.”

Findings regarding NAFTA’s impact on workers in the United States, Mexico and Canada include:
• Despite a growth in workers’ productivity, workers’ salaries in each nation remained stagnant or dropped.
• More than 1 million jobs that would have been created were lost in the United States.

Read more here.

Mexican Truckers Ready to Roll over US

February 27, 2007 - The Bush administration is drawing harsh criticism for a plan that would allow 100 Mexican trucking companies to haul cargo deeper within the United States.

“The Bush Administration’s announcement that the Department of Transportation (DOT) is forging ahead with a pilot program that would open our U.S. highways to Mexican trucking companies is deeply troubling,” said Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who cited a 2005 DOT Inspector General report that confirmed the Administration had failed to meet strict congressional guidelines aimed at protecting the American driving public.

The plan, announced last week by the Department of Transportation (DOT), broadens the North American Free Trade Agreement’s list of potential victims to include the U.S. driving public. Mexican trucks were to be given full access to U.S. roads under NAFTA, but the trucking provisions were suspended due to safety concerns.

Mexican trucks are currently only allowed to make limited deliveries beyond the 20-25 mile commercial zones currently in place along the Southwest border.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, announced a March 8 hearing to determine whether the Bush administration’s plan meets U.S. safety requirements. 

Bush Trade Policies Failing American Families

February 22, 2007 -The Bush administration’s failed trade policies and their impact on American workers are once again on full display.

Data released by the Commerce Department shows the U.S. trade deficit jumped more than 6 percent to a record $760 billion last year.

Struggles within the manufacturing sector played a huge role in the increase.

The manufacturing trade deficit increased nearly 5 percent to more than $630 billion – The result? More of our jobs sent overseas.

 Data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows manufacturing employment declined by 16,000 in January and by 110,000 over the last 12 months.

A record $230 billion trade deficit with China and a sharp increase in oil imports also contributed to last year’s massive deficit.

News of the worsening trade deficit comes as President Bush continues to push for Congress to renew his Fast Track Trade Authority - which Democrats have said they will not approve unless existing and future trade agreements include more labor and environmental protections.

Fast Track authority gives Bush more leverage in pushing his trade agenda, which has devastated working families in recent years.

Watch the video here.

 

Trade Deficit under Bush Hits $3.37 Trillion

February 15, 2007 - Spurred by increased deficits with China and a shrinking manufacturing sector, the U.S. trade deficit hit a record $763.59 billion last year. The overall trade deficit for 2006 was up 6.54 percent from last year’s total of $716.73 billion and pushes the cumulative deficit under the Bush administration to $3.37 trillion.

Thanks to the Bush administration’s failure to take measures to halt China’s unfair trade practices, the goods deficit with China jumped 15.38 percent to a record $232.55 billion last year.

The manufacturing trade deficit also increased another 4.66 percent last year, from $601.98 billion to $630.07 billion. As a result, employment in the manufacturing sector continues to struggle. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows manufacturing employment declined by 16,000 in January and by 110,000 over the last 12 months.

News of the worsening trade deficit comes as President Bush presses Congress to renew his Fast Track Trade Authority, which Democrats have said they will not approve unless existing and future trade agreements include more labor and environmental protections. Fast Track authority gives Bush more leverage in pushing his trade agenda that has failed working families.

Bush Pitches Fast Track Renewal

February 2, 2006 - President Bush took a break from mismanaging foreign policy this week to promote an equally disastrous domestic policy agenda, including an extension of fast-track trade authority, which allows him to submit trade pacts to Congress for a straight up-or-down vote. The current authorization expires June 30 unless Congress extends it.

“It’s hard to imagine anyone being unaware or indifferent to the damage and hardship that’s been done in the name of free trade since the North American Free Trade Act (NAFTA) took effect in 1994,” said IP Tom Buffenbarger. “Millions of jobs and thousands of companies that once provided a strong economic foundation for the U.S. middle class are gone forever.”

The newly-elected Democratic leaders in Congress are pledging to oppose a renewal of trade authorization authority until the agreement includes international worker rights and enforceable environmental standards.

In a hearing held this week by the House Education and Labor Committee, Chairman George Miller (D-CA) said that strengthening America’s middle class would be the top priority for his committee this year. “While the business pages across America report that profits and productivity are up for many corporations, we know that’s only half of the economic story,” said Rep. Miller. “The other half is the story of how middle class Americans are struggling to make ends meet.”

 
Hard truths about helping the losers from globalisation

February 1, 2007 - Nestled among the wooded Blue Ridge mountains in Virginia’s far south-west, Galax is a town of bluegrass music, barbecue and hardscrabble living. It is home to an annual fiddlers’ convention and, less happily, a huddle of textile and furniture factories. Over the past few years, globalisation has hit hard. Read the article here.

 

Bill Looks to Ban U.S. Sale of Sweatshop Produced Products

January 29, 2007 – Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND) has introduced legislation that would bar the U.S. sale of imported products made in sweatshop factories. The bill would also give those who sell legitimately produced products the right to sue to recover damages from those who violate the ban.

“There is no reason for the United States of America to allow the sale of products made in slave labor-like conditions,” Dorgan said in a statement. “This bill would help put an end to it. It would also stand up for American producers and American workers and tell them they don’t have to compete against those who cut corners at the cost of human health, dignity and even human lives.”

The Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act is being co-sponsored by Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Robert Byrd (D-W.VA), Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Read the press release here.

US unions rally against Malaysian pact

January 23, 2007 -  United States trade unions have joined forces with their Malaysian counterparts to strongly oppose ongoing negotiations toward a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) until workers' concerns from both countries are addressed.

The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) and the Malaysian Trades Unions Congress (MTUC) are poised to ink a joint declaration agreed on in Kuala Lumpur last week. The declaration resembles those that US labor federations had previously signed with their union  counterparts in South Korea last June, in Central America in 2002 and in Australia in 2001.

Read the article here.

 

Bush Administration Signs Another Faulty Trade Deal

January 2, 2007 - Despite calls from the incoming Democratic Congressional leadership to strengthen labor protections in current and future trade agreements, the Bush administration has signed the U.S.–Columbia Free Trade Agreement without including adequate worker protections.

Columbia has been frequently singled out for the extreme conditions their trade unionists face. A report released by the International Trade Union Confederation shows Columbia has the most men and women murdered annually as a direct result of their trade union work. Seventy trade unionists were killed in Columbia last year and 53 have been killed through October of this year.

Trade unionists in Columbia also face other routine acts of violence, including kidnapping, detentions, threats, torture and forced displacement.

As part of their 100 hour war, Democrats have pledged to make labor and environmental protections in trade deals a top priority when they assume Congressional leadership in January.

 

Incoming Congressional Leadership to Focus on Trade Issues

Congressional Democrats have said there must be more labor and environmental protections in both existing and future trade agreements.

A failure to better protect workers rights and the environment could lead to a showdown next year over the Bush administration’s fast-track trade authority, which gives them the power to call for a simple up-or-down congressional vote on trade pacts.

Read the article here.