Fast track is off track.
Labor, consumer and environmental organizations won a major battle in early November when
the White House and GOP congressional leadership decided to postpone a House vote on
giving President Clinton fast track authority to negotiate new trade agreements with Chile
and other South American countries.
Fast track had already passed in the U.S. Senate, and the House vote was the last chance
to derail it. Although fast track is dead for this year, another attempt at enacting it
will likely take place in 1998.
"The decision to pull down the fast track legislation is the first bit of blue sky
working Americans have seen in U.S. trade policy in many years," said AFL-CIO
President John Sweeney. "The American people oppose fast track by a 2-1 margin
because they see existing trade agreements that don't do enough to protect living
standards, or keep our food and water safe."
Judging by the failure of presidential arm-twisting and special favors during a frantic
effort to win over anti-fast track votes in the House, many political analysts think it's
unlikely fast track will pass even if it is brought back for a vote in the spring of 1998
as the White House has promised. The fact that the American public is against fast track
by a 2-1 margin will make passage even tougher in an election year, pundits maintain.
Fast track would have granted President Clinton authority to negotiate trade treaties with
Congress' only option being to vote the pacts up or down without changes. Pointing to the
failures of the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a coalition of labor,
environmentalists and consumer organizations led the opposition.
It was a David and Goliath struggle from the start with the coalition facing off against
President Clinton and the Republican leadership in both the U.S. House and Senate.
The result surprised many. How could grassroots lobbying by trade unionists,
environmentalists and consumers prevail against a well-financed media campaign by a
consortium of Business Roundtable corporations?
The answer was that the coalition kept to its message, citing the 425,000 jobs lost under
NAFTA, plus NAFTA's provisions that limit inspections of imported food which have led to
incidents of food poisoning in the U.S. Environmentalists told how NAFTA-deregulated
pollution near the Mexican border was harming American communities.
Armed with poll data showing overwhelming public opposition to fast track authority, the
lobbying of Congress began. Thousands of union members phoned and visited their lawmakers
to let them know what their constituents wanted.
Pointing to hard data on job losses, food safety and increasing pollution, they refuted
Clinton Administration assurances that life would be better for all Americans if fast
track treaties, like NAFTA, were extended to other nations in South America.
After weeks of intense lobbying, phone banks, television ads and informational campaigns
by the coalition, time was running out for a vote before Congress' winter recess,
scheduled for early November. The vote-counters considered the House fast track vote too
close to call right up until the final decision to table the vote at about 2 a.m. on
Monday, November 10 after a rare all-weekend House session.
Labor and other coalitions leaders were jubilant after the victory.
"The message is clear: the next generation of trade policies must respect people as
well as property, and factor in workers' and environmental concerns along with business
interests," Sweeney said. He welcomed the chance to join with Clinton and Congress
"to chart a new course of active engagement in the world that reflects our values and
leads to economic growth broadly shared by working families."
Sweeney listed steps that the Clinton Administration could take to negotiate fair trade
agreements while protecting workers and the environment. "We should work with the
World Bank and other financial institutions to ensure that environmental concerns and core
labor standards are built into lending decisions," he said.
After the decision to postpone the fast track vote, the leader of the anti-fast track
campaign in the House, Democratic Leader Richard Gephardt (D-Mo.) said, "The real
question before us now is whether we connect our values of environmental quality, worker
and human rights to our economic policy. Americans want a trade policy that ensures that
future trade agreements address all these issues.
From the Michigan AFL-CIO News, December 1997.
How To Talk To Your Neighbors
The great community organizer Saul Alinsky used to say that only when the other party is
concerned or threatened will he listen.
As we try to build public opposition to fast track, we need to talk to people about the
issues that concern them.
The threat of a job loss is a tremendous motivator. So is the threat that low-wage
competition means to American living standards. That's what got so many Americans up in
arms. But Americans have many other serious concerns with NAFTA and the whole hurried
process that led to that agreement.
Fast Track
NAFTA has exposed the shortcomings of the fast track procedure which limits Congressional
debate and keeps Congress from amending any proposed trade agreement with Chile or other
countries. There's no reason to rush into another bad agreement. Let's put the brakes on
fast track this time.
Unsafe Food
NAFTA has increased American's exposure to unsafe food. The health, safety and working
conditions of Mexican farm workers are deteriorating. Pesticides that are prohibited in
the U.S. are used. Strawberries, head lettuce, and carrots have high levels of illegal
pesticide residues.
Trade in Narcotics and Guns
As NAFTA eased the flow of goods from Mexico into the U.S., it also opened the door to
greater drug traffic because of relaxed customs procedures. Now 80 percent of the cocaine
entering the U.S. comes through Mexico. And Mexicans are faced with an unwanted influx of
guns into their country from north of the border.
Dangerous Trucks
Less than one percent of the 3.3 million trucks entering the U.S. are inspected. Yet 50
percent of those inspected are rejected for major safety violations.
From UAW Ammo. |