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Obama says no trade pacts without restoring aid for workers
WASHINGTON, D.C. (PAI) — The
Obama Administration is telling back-
ers of so-called “free trade” treaties with
Colombia, Panama, and South Korea,
that the president will not submit the
pacts to lawmakers unless they first re-
store aid for workers who lose their jobs
to imports.
And while the White House has be-
gun talks with key lawmakers on legis-
lation to implement the treaties, the
pacts have yet to be formally sent to
Capitol Hill.
The most-controversial pact, and the
one that draws unanimous labor ire, is
with Colombia. In recent years 2,580
unionists there have been assassinated,
virtually all by right-wing paramili-
taries. The latest attack the week of May
13 was of labor lawyer Hernan Dario in
downtown Cali. There has been little
prosecution in Colombia.
The biggest pact in economic terms
is with South Korea. It’s the largest
since the North American Free Trade
Agreement more than 15 years ago. But
unions are split on that pact.
After the United Auto Workers
(UAW) and Michigan lawmakers won
up to eight years more in U.S. tariffs on
imported Korean cars and trucks —
while lifting Korean tariffs on U.S. cars
and parts — UAW supported the pact.
So does United Food and Commer-
cial Workers.
But the AFL-CIO and most other
unions oppose the Korean pact, saying
it would give too much power to multi-
nationals and does not adequately pro-
tect workers’ rights in either country.
All three pacts are hung up because
the Republican-controlled House let the
expanded aid for workers who lose their
jobs to imports, called Trade Adjust-
ment Assistance (TAA), lapse. Now the
Obama Administration wants TAA re-
newed and expanded, first.
“This administration believes that
just as we should be excited about the
prospect of selling more of what we
make around the world, we have to be
equally firm about keeping faith with
America’s workers” by renewing and
expanding TAA, Obama’s U.S. Trade
Representative, Ron Kirk, told trade
beat reporters.
Until an expansion included in the
stimulus law, TAA was restricted to
workers who could directly prove they
lost their jobs to below-cost imports. In
the stimulus law it was expanded to
suppliers and also to workers whose
jobs depended on business from work-
ers who had lost their jobs to imports.
In other words, TAA used to be just for
workers who could prove their plant
closed due to foreign competition. The
stimulus law expanded it to include sup-
pliers of parts for that plant — and to
the nearby diner where plant workers
ate.
Those new sections of the law lapsed
in February. Obama and Kirk want
them reinstated before they send the
Korea, Colombia and Panama pacts to
Congress.
Some top congressional Democrats
have told the White House they may not
support the trade pacts unless the ex-
panded TAA is renewed. That’s impor-
tant: The pacts were negotiated under
now-dead presidential “fast track” trade
authority, so Congress can’t attach con-
ditions to them, but must vote the pacts
up or down as they are written.
Summer School set
Aug. 5-7 in Eugene
EUGENE — The Oregon AFL-CIO
Summer School is scheduled Aug. 5-7
at the University of Oregon.
In addition to workshops, classes,
and entertainment, this year’s guest
speaker will be Wisconsin AFL-CIO
Legislative Director Joanne Ricca.
“Come ready to learn, share experi-
ences, get to know other union brothers
and sisters from Oregon, and enjoy the
solidarity,” said Helen Moss of the La-
bor Education and Research Center at
UO, which co-hosts the event with the
state labor federation.
Registration is $230 for commuters.
Rates are available for lodging at uni-
versity dorms.
For more information, call Moss at
503-412-3722 or by e-mail at
hmoss@uoregon.edu.
N.J. workers first
in nation to ratify
Comcast contract
Seventy-five installation repair tech-
nicians at Comcast in Fairfield, N.J.,
made history again May 9 by becom-
ing the first Comcast worksite in the
country to ratify a first contract. Last
year, the workers were the first Com-
cast employees to form a union, voting
for Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local
827. Comcast is the nation’s largest ca-
ble company.
PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
JUNE 3, 2011