Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2007)
...’Fast-track’ trade provision comes to end (From Page 1) has opposed every trade deal bar- gained under fast track. So union leaders rejoiced June 30 when fast track expired without being reauthorized by Congress. It expired once before — in 1994 — and wasn’t renewed until 2002. But fast track still restricts how Congress deals with four treaties it hasn’t yet approved — the treaties with Colombia, South Korea, Peru and Panama. Union leaders in Washington, D.C., were alarmed May 10 when Democ- ratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Ways and Means Chair Charles Rangel announced they’d reached a deal with the White House on trade — the Bush Administration would work to add labor and environmental com- mitments to the Peru and Panama deals, and the Democrats would work to pass them. Teamsters General President Jimmy Hoffa Jr. called it a sellout. The Teamsters are an affiliate of the Change to Win labor federation. But the details of the compromise weren’t yet spelled out, and when Pelosi and Rangel clarified the deal June 29, it was the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s turn to cry betrayal. The deal Rangel worked out with Bush went like this: Bush would go back to the four countries and get them to amend the treaties by adding labor and environmental standards as enforce- able commitments on par with the treaty commitments to trademark, patent and other investor protections. Only then would the Democratic lead- ership give the treaties a vote. Because fast track was scheduled to expire June 30, the Bush Administration raced to amend the treaties, and was able to conclude all four in the last three days of June. In each case, the countries commit- ted to abide by five “core” labor stan- dards of the International Labor Orga- nization — workers’ freedom of association and right to bargain collec- tively, and prohibition of forced labor, child labor and workplace discrimina- tion. If the countries fail to live up to those commitments, the United States could file a trade complaint, which would be judged by a three-member panel, and then could impose punitive tariffs if the panel agreed. That’s the same process the treaty has for other kinds of commercial disputes, like cases where the trading partner dis- criminates against foreign companies or infringes patents or trademarks. But it still wasn’t enough to win support for the Korea or Colombia treaties from Democrats in Congress or from labor unions. South Korea’s economy is the world’s 13th largest — bigger than Mexico’s — so the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement would have been the biggest since NAFTA. And the treaty didn’t do enough to open South Korea to U.S. imports, union leaders said. Thus it would harm U.S. industry, es- pecially the auto industry. South Ko- rea and the United States have a heav- ily one-sided trading relationship: South Korea exported more than 700,000 cars into the U.S. last year, while the United States exported fewer than 5,000 to South Korea. Also of concern was the possibility that Ko- rea could be used as a transshipment point for duty-free export of goods made in China or North Korea. “Our battered manufacturing sector simply cannot withstand another flawed trade deal,” said AFL-CIO President John Sweeney in a state- ment to the press. The Colombia treaty failed to win support for other reasons — ongoing serious human rights violations. Colombia’s human rights record did- n’t stop the Bush Administration, but members of Congress felt uncomfort- able entering into economic marriage with the most dangerous country on earth for union organizers. Last year, 72 Colombian trade union leaders were assassinated by paramilitary death squads. Witnesses say the gov- ernment is involved. The United Steel Workers — which helped survivors of murdered Colombian unionists sue for damages against U.S.-based multinationals — is leading the opposition to the Colombian trade pact and on June 28 testified before Congress about Colombia. Peru and Panama aren’t beacons of workers’ rights, but they’re in a differ- ent league from Colombia. Rangel in- tends to lead a bipartisan delegation of members of Congress to Peru and Panama this August to press those countries to improve their labor laws. The vote on the treaties is expected in September. AFL-CIO trade policy specialist Thea Lee says with the enforceable la- bor rights provisions added, the Peru and Panama treaties are actually better than the 2000 treaty with Jordan, which the AFL-CIO lauded as a step in the right direction. But the AFL- CIO is still debating what stance to take on the treaties because other problems remain — like restrictions on government buy-American man- dates and the danger that American agribusiness exports could displace Peruvian farmers. The AFL-CIO also questions whether the Bush Administration would enforce the labor rights protec- tions. Still, Lee said, Bush is only in office for another year and a half, and a future activist president who wanted to improve workers’ rights in those countries would be able to use the trade agreement to do that. Lee said the AFL-CIO is unlikely to endorse the treaties, and will proba- bly either take no position or else nominally oppose them. Meanwhile, Change to Win and its affiliate Team- sters plan to oppose the two treaties. IBEW & United Workers FCU WELCOMES Electrician Locals 932 and 125!! You and your family members are now eligible for membership at IBEW & United Workers FCU, your union affiliated, union staffed credit union. We offer a wide variety of products and services including: ü Loans ü Mortgages ü Visas PO Box 16877 9955 SE Washington St Portland, Oregon 97292 ü Checking Accounts ü Certificates of Deposit ü Share Accounts Visit us online at ibewuwfcu.com or call us at 800-356-6507 for more information Electricians, Carpenters, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofer, Asbestos Workers, Family, Mill Wrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers Electricians, Carpenters, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofer, Asbestos Workers, Family, Mill Wrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers Carpenters, Electricians, Laborers, Glaziers, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofers, Asbestos Workers, Family, Mill Wrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers Union rights for airport screeners stripped from bill WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — Yielding to a promised veto by President Bush, congressional De- mocratic leaders dropped a provi- sion in a Homeland Security bill that would have allowed some 45,000 federal airport security workers to unionize. The provision was strongly pushed by government worker unions after Bush used the legisla- tion establishing the Homeland Se- curity Department five years ago to ban unionization of the airport screeners on “national security” grounds. Bush reiterated that stand in his veto threat, saying unions are a se- curity risk. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), anxious to get the 9/11 legislation passed and force Bush to improve overall U.S. security, backed down. The Democratic retreat was part of an agreement Reid forged with Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc- Connell (R-Kentucky) to appoint negotiators to hammer out a final version of the 9/11 bill. Both the House and Senate versions of the legislation said the screeners could unionize. Reid told his colleagues on July 9 that he and Pelosi had committed to dropping the collective bargain- ing provision. He asked for (and got) unanimous consent from the Senate. American Federation of Govern- ment Employees President John Gage, whose union has been trying to organize the screeners, later said, “the fight is not over.” He added that the Pelosi-Reid decision “only makes us more determined to get rights for workers who were wrongly denied.” McConnell, husband of Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, could not re- sist crowing. “I am encouraged to see Republicans were able to ensure our national security is a higher pri- ority than special interest provision for Big Labor,” McConnell said in a press release. In a prior statement covering the Homeland Security Department money bill, the Office of Manage- ment and Budget declared: “The Administration strongly opposes any attempt to deny the president authority to manage executive branch employees when faced with national security concerns.” That’s the rationale Bush used against unionizing the screeners. The ban covers only federally- employed screeners, not private contract screeners. Screeners at five airports can unionize, including Pelosi’s home airport in San Fran- cisco. Glaziers, Carpenters, Laborers, Electricians, Sheetmetal Workers, Floorcoverers, Bricklayers, Cement Masons, Roofers, Asbestos Workers, Family, Mill Wrights, Painters, Elevators, Plasterers JULY 20, 2007 NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS PAGE 3
