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Fast Track Squeaks By in House; Labor Vows to Fight Back
Despite labor’s vigorous fight for fair trade, the Republican-led U.S. House on Thursday narrowly passed a controversial bill that will give President George W. Bush “fast track” trading authority, allowing him to negotiate trade pacts with no workers’ rights, no pollution standards and no amendments from Congress.
The vote was 215 to 214, with most Democrats voting against the bill. Just hours before the vote, which was up in the air until the end, Republicans persuaded some fast track opponents to switch sides by putting forth a relatively small aid package for workers who have lost jobs since Sept. 11, as well as workers laid off because of trade policies.
“No one in the U.S. House who voted for fast track should underestimate the grave disappointment and anger of the labor community,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. “The ‘yes’ voters have condemned thousands, even millions, of Americans to adjust to a future without good paying jobs because those jobs will disappear to countries that offer cheap labor and no bothersome regulations to protect workers or the environment. The bill is an atrocity, and America’s working families are prepared to fight back."
Fast track, which is expected to pass the U.S. Senate, will allow Bush to push the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement through Congress without any language protecting workers or the environment. Described as “NAFTA on steroids,” the pact covers 34 countries in North, South and Central America.
CWA joined other labor unions, environmental groups and human rights activists in the fight against fast track. Through rallies, letters, phone, calls and e-mails to Congress, press conferences, letters to members and other efforts, they nearly succeeded in swaying a majority of the U.S. House. Republicans, in fact, were so worried about the strength of the labor coalition that they postponed the vote last summer for fear they would lose.
According to a recent national voters survey by a polling firm, scarcely a quarter of Americans support fast track authority for the president. More than 60 percent said Congress should be able to modify trade agreements and 66 percent said pacts must include strong language protecting workers’ and environmental rights.
Hundreds of thousands of American workers have lost family-wage jobs since 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement made it easy for U.S. plants to pack up and move to Mexico, where companies don’t have to worry about living wages, workers’ rights, pollution standards or other community-friendly regulations.
Shortly before Thursday’s vote, four workers who have lost or will soon lose their jobs, including IUE-CWA Local 707 member Kathryn Zielinski, spoke at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol. They were joined by House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt and Minority Whip David Bonior, who each blasted Republicans for crafting a bill that punished American workers while rewarding wealthy corporations.
Democrats struggled for more than two months to gain Republican support for aid for workers laid off in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Gephardt said the last-minute aid package boiled down to buying votes for fast track. “If they were sincere or genuine about helping workers, they would have done (it) weeks ago,” he said.
The “trade adjustment assistance” legislation provides 26 additional weeks of unemployment benefits and retraining for workers who lose their jobs because of trade competition. It also provides $2 billion in aid for workers who lost jobs because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The amount is a fraction of the federal aid handed to corporations since Sept. 11, including $15 billion for the airlines alone. Although most Democrats voted for the workers’ assistance package, some said it wasn’t a good enough reason to vote for fast track. “It may be that this is a tiny step forward,” Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) said, quoted by Reuters. “It should not be used as a rationale for a vote on any other bill.”
IUE-CWA’s Zielinski was laid off from General Electric’s Cleveland, Ohio, quartz plant in October, the fourth time she has been laid off since starting work there in 1971. In recent years, she worked as a fiber optics operator. “I worked hard for GE, 12 to 16 hours a day and most weekends,” she said. “Our department was productive and profitable.”
But business wasn’t good enough for GE and about 90 people from the plant are presently out of work. Meanwhile, GE stands to collect millions in tax relief and other aid if Republicans push through their version of an economic stimulus bill.
“In America’s time of crisis, the people who don’t have jobs have no way of stimulating the economy,” Zielinski said. “Why, in a time like this, would the House consider a bill that would send jobs to other countries? Congress should work to keep America’s manufacturing sector strong.”
The vote was 215 to 214, with most Democrats voting against the bill. Just hours before the vote, which was up in the air until the end, Republicans persuaded some fast track opponents to switch sides by putting forth a relatively small aid package for workers who have lost jobs since Sept. 11, as well as workers laid off because of trade policies.
“No one in the U.S. House who voted for fast track should underestimate the grave disappointment and anger of the labor community,” CWA President Morton Bahr said. “The ‘yes’ voters have condemned thousands, even millions, of Americans to adjust to a future without good paying jobs because those jobs will disappear to countries that offer cheap labor and no bothersome regulations to protect workers or the environment. The bill is an atrocity, and America’s working families are prepared to fight back."
Fast track, which is expected to pass the U.S. Senate, will allow Bush to push the Free Trade Area of the Americas agreement through Congress without any language protecting workers or the environment. Described as “NAFTA on steroids,” the pact covers 34 countries in North, South and Central America.
CWA joined other labor unions, environmental groups and human rights activists in the fight against fast track. Through rallies, letters, phone, calls and e-mails to Congress, press conferences, letters to members and other efforts, they nearly succeeded in swaying a majority of the U.S. House. Republicans, in fact, were so worried about the strength of the labor coalition that they postponed the vote last summer for fear they would lose.
According to a recent national voters survey by a polling firm, scarcely a quarter of Americans support fast track authority for the president. More than 60 percent said Congress should be able to modify trade agreements and 66 percent said pacts must include strong language protecting workers’ and environmental rights.
Hundreds of thousands of American workers have lost family-wage jobs since 1994 when the North American Free Trade Agreement made it easy for U.S. plants to pack up and move to Mexico, where companies don’t have to worry about living wages, workers’ rights, pollution standards or other community-friendly regulations.
Shortly before Thursday’s vote, four workers who have lost or will soon lose their jobs, including IUE-CWA Local 707 member Kathryn Zielinski, spoke at a news conference outside the U.S. Capitol. They were joined by House Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt and Minority Whip David Bonior, who each blasted Republicans for crafting a bill that punished American workers while rewarding wealthy corporations.
Democrats struggled for more than two months to gain Republican support for aid for workers laid off in the aftermath of Sept. 11. Gephardt said the last-minute aid package boiled down to buying votes for fast track. “If they were sincere or genuine about helping workers, they would have done (it) weeks ago,” he said.
The “trade adjustment assistance” legislation provides 26 additional weeks of unemployment benefits and retraining for workers who lose their jobs because of trade competition. It also provides $2 billion in aid for workers who lost jobs because of the Sept. 11 attacks.
The amount is a fraction of the federal aid handed to corporations since Sept. 11, including $15 billion for the airlines alone. Although most Democrats voted for the workers’ assistance package, some said it wasn’t a good enough reason to vote for fast track. “It may be that this is a tiny step forward,” Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) said, quoted by Reuters. “It should not be used as a rationale for a vote on any other bill.”
IUE-CWA’s Zielinski was laid off from General Electric’s Cleveland, Ohio, quartz plant in October, the fourth time she has been laid off since starting work there in 1971. In recent years, she worked as a fiber optics operator. “I worked hard for GE, 12 to 16 hours a day and most weekends,” she said. “Our department was productive and profitable.”
But business wasn’t good enough for GE and about 90 people from the plant are presently out of work. Meanwhile, GE stands to collect millions in tax relief and other aid if Republicans push through their version of an economic stimulus bill.
“In America’s time of crisis, the people who don’t have jobs have no way of stimulating the economy,” Zielinski said. “Why, in a time like this, would the House consider a bill that would send jobs to other countries? Congress should work to keep America’s manufacturing sector strong.”