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FREE TRADE AREA OF THE AMERICAS MINISTERIAL IN MIAMI:
AN ACTION PLAN TO OPPOSE THE FTAA
what the AFL-CIO has to say about mobilizing against the FTAA Ministerial in Miami
by AFL-CIO Executive Council Statement Hollywood, Florida
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February 27, 2003
Nine years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was put
in place, linking the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico.
NAFTA eliminated trade barriers between the three North American
countries and locked in a new regime of trade, investment and
immigration rules—permanently altering the ability of state, federal and
local governments in the region to regulate the economy and
dramatically tilting the continental balance of power toward
multinational corporations and away from working families, communities
and domestic producers.
The results have been predictable but devastating in all three
countries: stagnant or falling wages, intractable poverty, growing
inequality and the erosion of good jobs. Violations of North American
workers’ fundamental human rights, including the right to organize and
bargain collectively, have continued, unaffected by the weak labor side
agreement. Environmental problems have been exacerbated, not improved,
by increased trade and investment flows in the absence of enforceable
regulations. Small farmers in Mexico have been devastated by competition
from subsidized agricultural imports.
For the United States, the promised improved market access in Mexico
never materialized. Instead of gaining a huge advantage in selling
American-made goods to Mexico, as NAFTA proponents had promised, the
United States has found itself importing from both Mexico and Canada
much more than it exports. The result has been an ever-widening trade
gap – the U.S. trade deficit with Mexico and Canada has ballooned almost
tenfold: from $9 billion in 1993 (the year before NAFTA went into
effect) to $87 billion in 2002. Hundreds of thousands of high-paying
American manufacturing jobs have been lost as a result of this failed
trade policy.
Astonishingly, in the face of this dismal record, the U.S. government is
forging ahead with negotiations toward a Free Trade Area of the
Americas (FTAA), a free trade agreement that would expand the failed
NAFTA model to the rest of the western hemisphere (to include all 34
countries of Latin America, the Caribbean and North America, with the
exception of Cuba). FTAA negotiations, which have been going on for
several years, are scheduled to finish in 2005, when the agreement would
come to a vote in each country. The U.S. Congress would vote on the
FTAA under fast-track rules, meaning that it would not have a chance to
amend the agreement, but could only vote it up or down.
As we said in our earlier policy resolution on the FTAA (February 2001),
“If the negotiations continue along their current path, they will yield
an agreement that undermines workers’ rights and environmental
protections, exacerbates inequality in the hemisphere and constrains the
ability of governments to regulate in the interests of public health
and the environment. The AFL-CIO vigorously opposes the continuation of an FTAA negotiation
process crafted along these lines.” Recent developments in service
sector negotiations, both under the multilateral General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS) and in bilateral free trade agreements, are
also cause for deep concern.
We support a hemispheric social and economic integration process that
includes responsibilities, not just rights, for companies; protects
workers’ rights and the environment; provides enforceable and effective
protection against destabilizing import surges; and promotes
sustainable, equitable and democratic development. While the FTAA
ministers still have an opportunity to alter the course of the
negotiations to respond to the concerns of the hemisphere’s workers and
civil society, there is no evidence to date that such a reversal is even
being considered.
On November 20th and 21st of this year, the trade ministers of the
hemisphere will meet in Miami to launch the final stage of FTAA
negotiations. This ministerial meeting presents a crucial opportunity
for global justice advocates from all over the hemisphere to join in
opposition to this failed trade model. Now is the time for the American
labor movement to mobilize a grassroots education and outreach campaign
here in the United States to build awareness about the FTAA and to
educate our elected officials and candidates in preparation for the 2004
elections. Our actions now will determine the FTAA’s future and thus
the direction of economic development in the region for years to come.
Popular opposition to the FTAA throughout the hemisphere is growing. The
Hemispheric Social Alliance, a coalition of labor, environment,
development, religious, indigenous, women’s and family farm
organizations, is organizing a popular consultation campaign throughout
the hemisphere. Millions of people are rejecting the FTAA. Ten million
Brazilian voters overwhelmingly opposed the FTAA in a plebiscite last
year, and 1.8 million Mexicans are expected to submit ballots against
the FTAA by March. ORIT, the regional federation of labor unions,
representing over 40 million workers in the western hemisphere, has
unequivocally rejected an FTAA modeled on NAFTA. But ultimately, the
U.S. Congress will play a key role in determining whether a flawed FTAA
will be foisted on a reluctant hemisphere or not.
The ministerial in Miami and the elections in 2004 provide important
opportunities to defeat the flawed FTAA. To take advantage fully of
these opportunities, we are launching a campaign to educate our members,
our elected representatives and the public about the dangers posed by
the FTAA model and about our proposals for an equitable alternative. We
will also continue to monitor negotiations toward a Central American
Free Trade Agreement and other bilateral deals to ensure that our
concerns are addressed and to keep pressure on the negotiators and our
elected officials.
This fall, the AFL-CIO and our allies will ensure that trade ministers
in Miami hear the voices of popular opposition to their failed free
trade model, and we will demand progress in implementing our program for
social, political and economic development in the Americas. We will carry this message to the public and to our elected officials
beyond Miami, to demand that the FTAA and other trade issues be debated
in the 2004 elections.
In order to build toward victories on the FTAA in Miami and beyond, the
AFL-CIO and our affiliates will do the following in our FTAA campaign:
- Develop and disseminate popular materials on the FTAA and coordinate
with allies to educate union members on the FTAA in a variety of ways,
including town hall meetings, speaking tours and other local events;
- Ask American union members to join the millions of others in the
hemisphere expressing their opposition to the FTAA by signing hundreds
of thousands of postcards (print and on the Internet) to be delivered at
the ministerial in Miami and encourage our allies to join the postcard
campaign;
- Work with our global allies and community groups in Miami to highlight
international solidarity and opposition to the FTAA at the November
ministerial and demonstrate our shared vision for a more just
alternative;
- Focus public scrutiny on the big corporations pushing the FTAA and
expose their attacks on worker, environmental and consumer protections
through free trade rules; and
- Through the AFL-CIO issues mobilization structure, including our state
federations and central labor councils, we will work with Congress,
state and local officials and political candidates to build broad-based
political support for an alternative to the FTAA and to democratize the
debate on trade leading up to the 2004 elections.
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