Teamsters Mobilize Against CAFTA in Fight to Protect U.S. Jobs: Official Statement of Teamsters

Yahoo Press Release ^ | Jun. 23, 2005 | James R. Hoffa

[madfly]

WASHINGTON, June 23 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement from
Teamsters General President
James P. Hoffa:

The clock started ticking today on thousands of jobs in the United States with the introduction of the Central American Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA. Congress has only 90 days to reject this job-killing trade proposal.

I call on my 1.4 million brothers and sisters in the Teamsters Union, along with working families across the United States and around the world, to mobilize against CAFTA and for job protections and basic international labor standards.

The time constraints imposed by the fast track trade negotiating authority mean that we need aggressive action. Teamsters will use every means possible to reach out to their members of Congress, including phone, fax, e-mail, advertisements and face-to-face visits. Senators and Representatives will not be able to ignore the powerful Teamster call to reject CAFTA.

As with most trade battles, the debate over CAFTA will undoubtedly put us at odds with politicians who usually stand with Teamsters and other working Americans. But as I have said before, the Teamsters have no permanent friends -- just permanent interests.

All members of Congress are on notice that the Teamsters will fight to protect U.S. jobs from being sold overseas to the lowest bidder. Nobody gets a pass when it comes to selling out my members' jobs and accelerating the global race to the bottom.

---

Source: International Brotherhood of Teamsters

[aculeus]

Does a union press release belong in Breaking News?

[madfly]

ping

[madfly]

Congress is voting Tuesday on this.

[EGPWS]

The time constraints imposed by the fast track trade negotiating authority mean that we need aggressive action. Teamsters will use every means possible to reach out to their members of Congress, including phone, fax, e-mail, advertisements and face-to-face visits. (Anything to maintain as much union dues revenue as possible) Senators and Representatives will not be able to ignore the powerful Teamster call to reject CAFTA.

We shall see.

[madfly]

We are almost out of time on several very important efforts. CAFTA or the Central American Free Trade Agreement will be voted on Tuesday by the Congress. Our only hope to block CAFTA which is part of the plan for a "North American Community" is on Tuesday. We can forget being able to block it in the Senate at this time. If you have not heard about the open borders plan for a "North American Community" yet then write me immediately for details.

STRATEGY CHANGE: If you receive this e-mail on Sunday, Monday, or Tuesday before 12 Noon then please take action immediately. WE ARE NOW FOCUSING ALL CALLS AND EMAILS ON REPUBLICANS ONLY. Please concentrate your efforts on Republicans in the US Congress. It appears the Democrats will oppose CAFTA for many reasons including handing Bush a loss.

Many Republicans are still undecided about CAFTA. This is where we need to focus. There are national and local radio talk shows that you can call in on tonight and Monday to make a difference. Pick up that phone and say "Everyone needs to call the Republicans in Congress and tell them we should oppose CAFTA because it is a move towards destroying the borders of the United States and anyone concerned about illegal immigration should oppose CAFTA."

[marty60]

Well the Union thugs were REALLY effective in stopping NAFTA now weren't they.

[ex-Texan]

Sorry, 'aculeus,' I agree for once with the unions. CAFTA is a screw job just like NAFTA. Read More? We have been sold down the river by a runaway Congress intent on adopting a 'free trade' scenario for the U.S.

[Burf]

Yeah and all those illegal (sorry migrant) workers are storming the border because their standard of living is so good they can't keep American made cars in stock in Mexico. /Sarcasm Off

Fair trade not Free Trade

[DuckFan4ever]

Free trade is good. Hell, 80% of the imports from the CAFTA countries are duty free already. Pass this thing. The 6 CAFTA countries have an economy the size of Connecticut. The hemisphere is better off being united in a free trade zone.

[Hank Rearden]

Useless, corrupt, sleazy, mobbed-up union thugs.

Unions must die. Die, unions, die! Die, die, die.

[madfly]

http://www.detnews.com/2005/business/0506/22/D03-223741.htm

Critics attack trade proposal

Some manufacturers say Central America deal would hurt work force, fail at broadening U.S. sales. By Lisa Zagaroli / Detroit News Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON - Trying to turn up the heat against U.S. trade policies that translate into lost jobs instead of increased exports, a group of small- and medium-size manufacturers said Tuesday that they would more aggressively oppose trade agreements because they believe the country's middle class is being destroyed.

The small manufacturers feel overshadowed by major business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, now led by former Michigan Gov. John Engler, which support free trade pacts like the one now being considered in Congress.

The Bush administration is promoting the Central American Free Trade Agreement with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic. Both sides are still trying to get a concrete majority before a vote is taken in the coming days.

Its opponents say they have at least 190 solid votes against CAFTA in the 435-member House, including 23 Republicans. They think the case against CAFTA has been proven by the results of the decade-old North American Free Trade Agreement among Mexico, Canada and the United States.

Some of the loudest opponents of CAFTA have been farmers, particularly sugar producers, and textile workers.

"The trade agreements should not be a suicide pact," said Dave Frengel, a Pennsylvania businessman representing Manufacturers for Fair Trade.

The business organizations -- representing 8,500 companies -- sent a letter Tuesday to President Bush opposing CAFTA.

"Although you promise that CAFTA will open big new foreign markets for U.S.-made goods, the opposite is clearly true," they wrote.

"CAFTA is simply the latest in this series of outsourcing deals that are gutting our domestic manufacturing base."

Michigan alone has lost some 230,000 manufacturing jobs over the last six years as companies transfer jobs to countries with lower wages.

Laurie Moncrieff, president of Schmald Tool and Die Co. in Burton, said that despite her company's own attempts to venture into overseas sales, she opposes the kinds of trade agreements the United States has negotiated recently.

"The folks in Washington need to wake up and recognize that they (other countries) don't want our tooling and products, they want to steal our intellectual property and employ their own people," she said. "Washington is under the belief that they want to develop these countries so they'll buy our products. Instead, the multinationals are manufacturing overseas and selling in the United States."

[Betaille]

"Fair trade not Free Trade"

"Fair Trade" is a fundamentally socialist concept. It implies that there is something wrong with a consumer buying from a producer, and the state must intervene to ensure economic "fairness". Furthermore I have never heard an objective standard for what trade is "fair", and I have never heard a coherent explanation of when and why a trade is "unfair".

[madfly]

Government’s Own Estimates Contradict Its CAFTA Spin

Link to story: http://www.sugaralliance.org/pdf/ITC%20Fact%20Sheet.pdf

Disclaimer: The information contained in this post is directly extracted from a government report and is in the public domain.

As required by law, the federal government conducted an economic analysis of CAFTA -- a pending trade deal with Central America. These estimates were released with no fanfare in the middle of August 2004 and have been buried ever since. No doubt that’s because the estimates in that report directly contradict the Administration’s rhetoric and spin about CAFTA benefits to America’s economy.

Here are some of the highlights from the U.S. International Trade Commission’s CAFTA report, which can be found at

http://prototype.usitc.gov/WAIS/pub3717.PDF:

· America’s trade deficit with Central America will actually increase to $2.4 billion a year under CAFTA. (page 75, page xii)

· CAFTA would benefit the U.S. economy by less than 0.01 percent. (page xvii)

· A “relatively small impact on the U.S. economy is expected because of the relatively small market size and low income levels in [Central America/Dominican Republic].” This phrase, or slight variations of it, appears 13 times in the report’s Executive Summary. (pages xi to xxxi)

· Job loss in the U.S. sugar industry is projected to be 38 times greater than in the next closest sector-- textiles -- and thousands of sugar producers will be left unemployed in CAFTA’s wake. (page 79)

· CAFTA’s effect on farm exports would be much lower than the promises currently being made to America’s farmers and ranchers. Agricultural exports may increase by $328 million under CAFTA, far lower than the lofty $1.5 billion being promised by the Administration and other CAFTA supporters. (page 75)

· Wheat farmers are told of potential gains under CAFTA, yet the government’s own economic study contradicts this wild assertion: “U.S. wheat exports to the CA/DR region face no tariffs…and thus are not likely to be affected by the [CAFTA].” (page 55)

· Rice farmers are told they will be winners under CAFTA, but CAFTA actually grants them less immediate market access than they currently enjoy. (pages 54-55)

· The ITC finds that CAFTA will have “a negligible impact on total U.S. [corn] production and employment.” (page xxi)

· Farmers of U.S. grains are told of new Central American markets, but the United States already supplies 94 percent of all grain imports to the region. (page 48)

[Burf]

When countries impose protectionist tariffs on US goods imported to those countries, that is unfair trade. If a country wants to import with no tariff into this country, they should import their items under the same rules. But US trade negotitators have been giving away the farm when dealing with other countries.
We were fed a line of BS on NAFTA on how the Mexicans were gonna be buying anything and everything from the US when the treaty was being ratified. It ain't happened.

[A CA Guy]

I call for all unions connected to the government and taxpayers for their paychecks to be limited in benefits and pay to no more than the "average pay" in the "private sector", including teachers.

Can I get an AMEN to this idea?

[madfly]

CAFTA ping

[Carry_Okie]

The hemisphere is better off being united in a free trade zone.

No, it's not. Here's a clue: The workers displaced in Central America will wind up...where? If you think for a minute that a CAFTA Secretariat would allow American constraint of border crossings, I have news for you.

CAFTA is a dissolution of sovereignty. A nation without sovereignty cannot do as its constituents demand. It is a partial dissolution of your individual rights.

CAFTA is socialism because citizens end up adsorbing risks that should otherwise be shouldered by transaction participants. The mechanics end up only benefitting only those with enough political clount (MONEY) to buy sufficient influence. It is an engine of corruption.

[Iscool]

The small manufacturers feel overshadowed by major business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers,

I get a kick out of this...Organized labor groups (unions) are bad...Organized business groups (unions) are good...

"Washington is under the belief that they want to develop these countries so they'll buy our products.

This is the scam Washington wants us to believe...Washington doesn't believe this for a minute...

Instead, the multinationals are manufacturing overseas and selling in the United States."

And of course, this part is the truth...And the free traitors in Washington know this as well...

[La Enchiladita]

Thanks for the ping. What a revolting development. In turn, I ping hedgetrimmer.

Where do I find my calling list of undecided Republican congress critters? Thanks.