Cheap Labor Trade Policies Have Failed - It's Time for the TRADE Act

(from left) U.S. Congressman John Garamendi, Chairman of US House Education and Labor Committee - George Miller, IAM Western Territory GVP Gary Allen (at podium), Executive Secretary of the California State AFL-CIO Art Pulaski is seated at right.

It is time that the United States established – and enforced – a trade policy that represents the best interests of the United States, not the interests of a couple of mega-corporations, or wealthy individuals. We are on the brink of making a change in how we conduct business as a nation, and we must act. Establishing a sensible trade policy that supports the ideals we profess to hold dear, as well as protecting the futures of our citizens, is a real possibility – but it will take courage and determination.

The courage will come from our leaders as they stand up to the status quo that honors profits, no matter the costs to the environment or the humans involved. Now is the time to act, and now is the time to record who is willing to stand up for what is right and decent. On January 8th, in Concord, CA, we had an opportunity to mark our scorecards at a rally to highlight the needs of working Americans.

IAM General Vice President Gary Allen, buoyed by a strong contingent of Machinist Union members, spoke at the rally and said, “Our cheap labor trade policies have failed to deliver on the promise of globalization. Instead, they have created untenable trade deficits, eroded our manufacturing base, and placed a tremendous downward pressure on wages and benefits for ordinary Americans.”

House Education and Labor Chairman George Miller, along with Representative John Garamendi, came out in support of a bill by Rep. Michael Michaud, D-Maine. The Bill – called the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act, forges a new trade and globalization agenda that sets enforceable labor, environmental, food and product safety, and human rights standards. Garamendi and Miller are the 128th and 129th voting members of the House Democratic Caucus to endorse the Michaud bill, giving it a majority of the 256-member Caucus.

The TRADE Act would create a path to transform and reevaluate “free trade” policies like NAFTA, CAFTA, and the WTO that often reward deplorable labor and environmental conditions abroad while exporting jobs from the U.S. The bill would put an end to the “fast-track” trade agreements that won’t allow Congress to review and amend language that does not contain adequate protections.

Miller had harsh words for agreements that have gone unchallenged in the past; "We need to push policies that will reverse the damage caused by previous trade agreements so that we can create jobs, not ship them overseas." Miller, a 35-year House veteran, has opposed all of the major trade deals dating back to NAFTA, "These trade agreements – I didn't vote for any of them. They were wrong then, and they're wrong now,"

Garamendi said that he would not support trade deals "unless they provide the protection that every human being on this planet should have," including labor, environmental and food safety standards. The event was a major call for President Obama to live up to his 2008 campaign rhetoric on trade, which included a pledge to renegotiate NAFTA.

GVP Allen added that “In the last decade the U. S. has lost over five million manufacturing jobs; jobs that have historically been the key to a middle class life. We have seen employers move to places where they can repress worker rights, disregard the environment, and engage in illegal trade practices. This legislation requires that we fix our failed trade agreements before we enter new pacts.”

America’s workers have suffered through a generation of neglect, as this nations’ leadership has refused to stand up and defend their interests. For far too long, elected representatives have subsidized companies who systematically undermine working citizens. Currently, jobs are sent out of the country, and the technology that was financed by our taxes is shipped along with it. Enough is enough!

The IAM is proud to stand with leaders who will stand up for what is right.

Here are the names of the Machinists who attended the rally: