AFL-CIO Denounces Absence of Labor and Environmental Protections

  
The 30,000 peaceful protesters outside the Quebec City Summit of the Americas and the successful work of the People's Summit seem to have invigorated the opposition to the trade promotion, or "fast track," authority that the Bush administration needs to make the Free Trade Area of the Americas a reality. The key issues are labor and environmental rights, but there is still room for compromise if trade legislation is to move ahead, not only in the form of the FTAA, but also in new bilateral agreements. At the heart of the problem is how standards would be applied, and, especially, whether trade sanctions would be imposed. Defining this area is the ultimate challenge for trade negotiators. To his credit, the new US Trade Representative recognizes this fact and is attempting to deal with the question in a forthright manner. And yet, it is not clear what message President Bush wishes to convey. He talks about the issue, but avoids the key question of how to incorporate it into a trade agreement.

The AFL-CIO has reacted to the lack of clarity in the president's position. The organization's website, www.aflcio.org, features statements and analyses useful to understanding one side of this important debate. Links to the material appear on the opening page of the site, but can also be found by typing in "FTAA" under the search function. Below is a sample from the website that summarizes the AFL-CIO's concerns.

Words Without Substance
For a brief moment in Quebec City, President George W. Bush sounded as if he had heard the call of working families that workers' rights and environmental protection should be at the heart of any proposed Free Trade Area of the Americas treaty. Just for a moment though.

At a press conference, during the meeting of leaders of the 34 nations negotiating the proposed NAFTA-clone for North and South America and the Caribbean nations, Bush said, "our commitment to open trade must be matched by a strong commitment to protecting our environment and improving labor standards."

But when pressed about including strong workers' rights and environmental protection in the FTAA itself, he said, "We should not allow codicils [specific provisions or companion agreements] to destroy the spirit of free trade."

Multinational corporations and most of the leaders shaping the trade deal object to including such provisions in the FTAA. Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso said inclusion of the standards would be "an obvious mistake, a very serious mistake."

The draft of the agreement released during the Quebec City meeting includes lofty-sounding goals to protect the environment and workers' and human rights, but there is little behind those words.

The Leadership Council for Inter-American Summitry, a group of academics and economists, said, "the gap between summit promises and accomplishments is so wide as to have a created a public crisis of confidence."

And, the Bush administration plans a push for Fast Track authority that would not allow Congress to make any changes in the trade scheme, including insisting on strong and real protections for workers' rights and the environment.

Bush said he expects to win the fight for Fast Track, now euphemistically renamed trade promotion authority, before the year is out. But the last time (1998) the issue was debated in Congress, working families, their unions and environmental and human and workers' rights groups mobilized to defeat Fast Track. That same coalition will fight against Bush's call for Fast Track.

Some observers believe that following the Quebec City meetings and 1999's Seattle mobilization to make the global economy work for working families and the growing focus on global trade and worker and environmental protections, the chance for success against Fast Track is good.