Election '08: What's Really at Stake? - Jobs & Trade - Candidates Clash on Free Trade, Fair Trade

Among the whopping 1.6 million Americans added to the jobless rolls in the last year were CWA members at General Electric, Delphi, General Motors and other companies that shut down plants or customer service centers and moved work to cheap labor markets.

In today's worsening economy, even a strong union contract isn't a guarantee against unemployment. In July, the jobless rate climbed to 5.7 percent and underemployment, which economists say is an even better indicator of labor market weakness, rose to 10.3 percent.

Barack Obama and John McCain have very different views on the issue of fair trade and how to create jobs.

John McCain has voted for every free trade bill and "fast track" bills allowing the president to negotiate deals with no input from Congress, and he insists that the North American Free Trade Agreement has created jobs, although the Economic Policy Institute estimates that NAFTA has cost the U.S. one million jobs.

Obama has pledged to work with leaders of Mexico and Canada to amend NAFTA to provide stronger labor standards. He told CWA's legislative conference this year: "I refuse to accept that we have to sign trade deals that put the interests of multinational corporations ahead of the interests of American workers. I refuse to accept that we should sign trade deals that lack enforceable labor and environmental standards."

Obama's plan for job growth calls for an "Advanced Manufacturing Fund" to identify and invest in cutting-edge work that would create new, living-wage jobs, along with investment in rebuilding roads, bridges and other infrastructure, and promoting the deployment of high-speed broadband networks.

McCain's plan for the economy and job growth emphasizes cutting the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent, which he says will spur companies to invest and hire more workers.