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ONLINE EDITION: darkwing.uoregon edu/-ode
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sarah Kickler
EDITORIAL EDITOR
Mike Schmierbach
NIGHT EDITOR
Doug Irving
Free trade sends jobs south,
pollution north
A8 EMEBALP EflITORIfll
Expanding NAETA would harm labor
and the environment while boosting
corporate profits
ftlie North American Free Trade
Agreement is expanded to Chile
and other South American nations
-JL. as Clinton wishes, it will drastical
ly change the nature of the agreement.
For one thing, we won’t be able to
call it NAFTA any more. That’s really
too bad because AFTA has a silly ring
to it. .
On reflection, that’s probably the
only major change in the way the
agreement works that will occur with
expansion. Otherwise, free trade be
tween American nations, as set up un
der NAFTA, will continue to be unfair
to workers in all countries and to dam
age the environment throughout the
region.
We don’t have any particular affini
ty for Ross Perot or his four-color
charts, but we agree with his statement
that NAFTA will cost jobs in the Unit
ed States. Not only have real wages de
clined in the years since NAFTA was
signed, but many companies have also
moved their operations south of the
border.
Perot was not alone in worrying
when NAFTA was first composed.
Many labor leaders worried about the
agreement as well, not because of the
flight of capital to Mexico, but because
of the damage done to workers.
Despite Clinton’s promise to modify
NAFTA to provide protections for
workers and the environment, the
agreement continues to be detrimental
to both. It sets up a situation in which
U.S. labor is part of the same market as
Mexican workers, who are paid sub
stantially less.
Without provisions to protect work
ers in all areas covered by the agree
ments, U.S. and Canadian labor laws
are rendered useless by the less strin
gent policies in other countries. Major
corporations will go where the labor is
cheapest and the laws weakest, taking
jobs and money with them.
Along with hurting workers, this
movement by big corporations also
harms smaller companies, which are
unable to relocate and are rendered
less competitive because they have to
pay a living wage.
Proponents of free trade and the re
location of major companies argue that
U.S. industry brings an increase of em
ployment and wages to the countries
where it settles. While it is true that
wages do increase when international
capital comes to town, those working
for the wages often find their money
buying less. In
ternational
corporations
tend to bring
mass-pro
duced prod
ucts and a rise
in con
sumerism,
meaning work
ers have to pay
more to buy
lower quality
goods.
Because
goods pro
duced within
the country are
no longer pur
chased, even
fewer Third
world workers
are able to sup
port them
selves, leading
to a glut of
workers that
lowers real
wages even
further. The
big companies
come out
ahead, while
the small na
tions find that
their culture
and ability to
make a living
have been de
stroyed.
None oi tins
affects the governments of nations like
Mexico and Chile, however, which is
why they are willing to sign trade
agreements and bring multi-national
corporations into their borders. As
long as the companies pay taxes to the
government, the national leaders feel
they are getting a great deal.
The companies don’t just destroy
the labor market in both the United
States and other nations. They also
damage the environment in those
countries.
Corporations tend to flee more strin
gent environmental laws in favor of
places with weaker legislation, just as
they find countries with weaker labor
laws. This has several unfortunate ef
fects.
Most significantly, many nations,
especially those involved in trade
agreements like NAFTA, tend to keep
their environmental legislation weak
to attract foreign capital. This leads to
the degradation of their environment,
which causes even more harm to
workers in those countries.
In addition, because the pollution of
ten includes greenhouse gasses and oth
er atmospheric pollutants, the entire
planet suffers from weak regulations in
even a few countries. Loosening trade
barriers prevents nations from stopping
environmentally harmful products
from crossing their borders. This en
courages the continued destruction of
the environment worldwide.
So long as nations with strong labor
and environmental laws are forced to
compete directly against those with
weaker regulations, the only group to
come out ahead will be major corpora
tions. They can get away with paying
workers too little while destroying the
planet. At the same time, new markets
open up in which they can sell their
community-destroying goods.
Clinton is pushing to expand NAF
TA southward and to maintain “fast
track” approval for trade pacts, which
allows him to negotiate pacts and force
Congress to vote quickly on them. Nei
ther of these requests are a good idea.
Free trade between equal partners
can work. Free trade between nations
with a very diverse set of laws only
works for one group: the big compa
nies. Those same companies then buy
the support of politicians by sponsor
ing their campaigns, creating political
backing for the unsound implementa
tion of free trade.
This editorial represents the opinion of the
Emerald editorial hoard. Responses may
be sent to ode@oregon .uoregon .edu
Examine hiring factors
It would be hard to disagree with your editorial
position that the UO should hire more minority
faculty, if possible (ODE, Oct. 21). I hope we do.
But the Emerald’s editorial and its news coverage
have ignored a couple of factors:
1. The University’s overall minority faculty ra
tio is about the same as the proportion of minori
ties in the state of Oregon. That’s an achievement.
2. The question of WHY more racial minorities
are not hired needs to be examined. One of the
controlling factors is the availability of minority
faculty. If, say, only 5 percent of the faculty pool
in the country is black, that factor alone wilflimit
hiring. Same with Hispanic, Native-American
and other minorities.
The Emerald hasn’t looked into the latter factor,
which is probably the most significant in the en
tire hiring issue. Of course, that’s a tougher report
ing assignment, but if you’re going to do an honest
and objective job, it has to be examined.
Arnold Ismach
Journalism Professor
Employ best faculty
I wanted to address some of the pernicious no
tions given voice in the recent editorial concern
ing minority faculty at the University (ODE, Oct.
21). First, the editorialist seems to believe that the
first duty of this University is to promote or create
a diverse culture, both on campus and in the com
munity at large. I would submit that the first duty
of the University is to educate its students to the
best of its ability. This means that we must pro
mote faculty hiring, not of people of color (be that
color black, brown or white) but of people of the
highest intellectual and teaching ability. Skin col
or has nothing to do with teaching ability. To sug
gest such a thing is to insult the intellectual in
tegrity of the faculty of this University without
warrant and to insult our own capacity as stu
dents, of whatever ethnicity, for intellectual
achievement.
If there is racism in University hiring practices,
it must be addressed, in federal court if necessary.
To seek out minority hires in order to establish a
“comfortable” environment for students of color
strikes me as condescending at least and racist
Balkanization at worst. What students of all eth
nic backgrounds need and should demand is not a
professor who looks like they do, but one who
challenges them to think beyond comfortable
platitudes, into which trap all of us fall at times,
including the Emerald, it seems.
Joseph Renaud
German
Thumbs
r\
TO UNIVERSITY
DINING HALLS:
For several years,
the halls have giv
en leftover food to
FOOD for Lane
County, which then
divides the meals
into family-sized
portions and dis
tributes them to
the needy. This
program continues
to be an admirable
act of charity and
efficiency. Rather
than wasting the
resources needed
to produce and
prepare the food,
the University pro
vides a healthy
meal for those who
might not other
wise receive one.
TO THE CIA:
While we don’t en
dorse the agency
or its operations,
we were amused to
read that it finally
revealed its bud
get. After years of
refusing to comply
with a constitution
al requirement to
disclose its spend
ing, the organiza
tion admitted in a
one-sentence fax
that it spends
$26.6 billion annu
ally, according to
The New York
Times. That’s
$26.6 billion more
than we should
spend meddling in
the affairs of our
own citizens and
other nations, but
at least now we
know how bad the
situation is.
TO THE URINAL
SCREENS:
The plastic de
vices, which sit on
the bottom of toi
lets in men’s
rooms in the EMU
and elsewhere, re
mind urinal users:
"You hold the pow
er to stop rape in
your hand.” While
such a reminder
might not deter
many actual
rapists, it does
raise awareness of
an important issue
and remind all men
that rape is a crime
in which the perpe
trators, not the vic
tims, are to blame.
A woman who
goes out late at
night by herself or
who wears a short
skirt is not “asking
for it.” She is living
freely, as we
should all be able
to do.