FTAA Call to Action

• Yes to trade policies that reduce poverty;


• Yes to trade policies that create living wage jobs and protect workers’ rights;


• Yes to democratic and transparent trade negotiations that include broad-based citizen consultation and participation;


• Yes to trade policies that protect environmental and public-interest laws and regulations;


• Yes to trade policies that support family farmers and food security;


• Yes to trade policies that enable countries to invest in sustainable development policies; and


• No to the FTAA!

WE CALL ON PEOPLE throughout the Americas to join us in Miami to participate in a peaceful and permitted mobilization to demonstrate the growing opposition to the FTAA. The mobilization will include a parade, cultural events and educational activities that will show the strength of popular opposition to the FTAA. Leading up to the events in Miami, we will work together 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. As part of the outreach campaign, we will work with our brothers and sisters throughout the Americas to give a voice to millions of workers on the FTAA. Ballots signed by millions of workers will be delivered to the trade ministers when they meet in Miami to negotiate the FTAA. This campaign is part of a larger campaign supported by a diverse coalition throughout the Americas united in their opposition to the FTAA.

Nine years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was put into place, linking the economies of the United States, Canada and Mexico. Despite promises of job growth and an improvement in living conditions for the poor, NAFTA has resulted in increased poverty, stagnant or falling wages, an erosion of consumer protections, growing inequality and a decrease in the number of good jobs. Violations of the fundamental rights of workers, including the right to organize and bargain collectively, have continued, unaffected by the weak labor-side agreement. Environmental quality has deteriorated in the absence of enforceable regulations. Farmers and rural communities in Mexico, Canada and the United States have been devastated by the low commodity-price policies imposed by trade agreements and the increasing control of our food systems by multinational agribusinesses. The new investor rights protected by NAFTA have provided corporations the power to challenge democratic public-interest laws in secret trade tribunals.

Despite this dismal record, the U.S. government is moving ahead with negotiations to create the FTAA, an expanded NAFTA that would include all countries in Latin America, North America and the Caribbean, except for Cuba. The FTAA negotiations, which have been going on for several years without substantive input from civil society organizations, are scheduled to finish in 2005. If the vote comes up in the U.S. Congress under Fast Track rules, no amendments can be made to the agreement and only an up or down vote will be allowed. The race to finish the FTAA and to enforce another flawed trade model will lead to further devastating results.

There is a better way. We support trade models that include responsibilities—not just rights—for corporations; protect workers’ rights, health, safety, family farmers, women, consumers and the environment; and promote sustainable, equitable and democratic development. We join with people throughout the Americas in opposing the failed NAFTA model being proposed for the FTAA. We propose an alternative, fair, sustainable model that ensures the protection of people’s livelihoods.

Join us in our campaign to defeat the FTAA. Make your voice heard in Miami Nov. 19–22, 2003!

The Stop FTAA campaign is endorsed by these organizations: