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News :: Miscellaneous |
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Attack Fast Track! |
Current rating: 0 |
by Mexican Solidarity Network via Randy
(No verified email address) |
12 Jun 2001
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There's a new tool in the fight against Fast Track. Two House Democrats who have "come back home" after voting for NAFTA and PNTR have sponsored a tough Dear Colleague sign-on letter drawing a line in the sand on Fast Track. |
There\'s a great new tool in the fight against Fast Track. Two House Democrats who have \"come back home\" after voting for NAFTA and PNTR have sponsored a tough Dear Colleague sign-on letter drawing a line in the sand on Fast Track. The congressional sign-on letter calls for strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards in trade agreements, AND dismisses the \"fig leaves\" that have been put forth recently.
This letter by Rep. Martin Frost (D-24, TX) and Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-At Large, ND) is how we get the swing Democrats and moderate GOP locked down now with us on Fast Track before the business lobby gets into high gears and the deals start.
It is extremely important that we get as many Members as possible to sign this letter - it is one of the main organizing tools in the fight against Fast Track. Here is why the letter is so important:
1) Although many Members claim to be with us for Fair Trade, unless we lock them down firmly, a fair amount of them are susceptible to support a Fast Track proposal that merely mentions the words \"labor\"and \"environment\" but that has toothless enforcement mechanisms or otherwise is nothing but Fast Track and a fig leaf. WE MUST LOCK THEM DOWN TO THIS LETTER ABOUT WHICH DEFINES WHAT IS REAL & MEANINGFUL LANGUAGE ON LABOR AND ENVIRONMENT.
2) We must stress over and over and over again that even though the tone of the debate on trade has shifted (largely because of the great work happening in communities by activists such as yourself in the U.S. and abroad), the real test obviously is not rhetoric and promises but rather a commitment to translating that rhetoric into action. Committing to demand a NEW trade policy - and not sign off on some old Fast Track wine in a new bottle. Signing this letter would prove that commitment - and would set a specific test against which any proposal could be measured: \"a negotiating mechanism that GUARANTEES meaningful labor and environmental provisions in the core text of any trade agreement with those provisions enforced with parity to commercial issues through trade sanctions.\"
YOU must contact YOUR Member and Congress and urge her/him to become a co-sponsor. They need to be hearing from dozens if not hundreds of their constituents about how you will simply not tolerate any more of the Fast Track backwards or the NAFTA Model and that you want them to join the growing majority standing for a new trade approach. CALL YOUR MEMBER TODAY & URGE EVERYONE YOU KNOW TO DO THE SAME!
You can reach your Member by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121. When connected to your Member\'s office, ask to speak with the person who handles trade issues, and explain that you are calling because you hope that the Member will sign on to the Dear Colleague letter about Fast Track from Reps. Frost and Pomeroy on Fast Track (if you don\'t know who your Member of Congress is go to www.house.gov - there is a link at the bottom of the page where you can enter your zip code to find out.) If the staffer gets squirelly, do be sure to note that both Mr. Frost and Mr. Pomeroy supported NAFTA and have terrific free trade credentials. Yet, while they want trade, they have HAD IT with the backwards status quo model of Fast Track which has not delivered what was promised and has delivered plenty of woe and their letter is about demanding a new way forward on trade. Why wouldn\'t Member X sign on to such a letter. Be sure to ask for a written response - and then send a copy on to us!
Please let us know what you hear from your Member!
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June 5, 2001
REBUILD CONSENSUS FOR INTERNATIONAL TRADE
INCLUDE LABOR AND ENVIRONMENT IN FUTURE AGREEMENTS
Dear Colleague:
We are writing to invite you to sign the attached Dear Colleague to express your support for including labor and environmental provisions in future trade agreements.
The five-year lapse in trade promotion authority and the increasing public concern over the direction of U.S. trade and investment policy offer clear evidence that we need to rebuild a national consensus for international trade. To develop that consensus, we must include labor, environment and other issues of public concern in future trade negotiations. We believe these provisions must be enforced with tested, meaningful remedies.
We hope you will join us in signing this letter and advancing these important principles. If you have any questions or would like to sign, please contact Fernando Gomez (202-225-3605) or Michael Smart (202-225-2611).
Sincerely,
MARTIN FROST EARL POMEROY Member of Congress Member of Congress
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Rebuild Consensus for International Trade
Include Labor and Environment in Core Text of Future Agreements
Dear Colleague:
The impasse over Fast Track and heightened concern about U.S. trade and investment policy have brought us to a new era in the trade debate. The public has rejected the old approach to trade, which excluded labor, environment and other issues of significant public interest from international trade negotiations. To rebuild a national consensus for trade, we must incorporate these issues on equal footing with commercial concerns in future trade agreements.
Specifically, labor and the environment should appear in the core text of future agreements with meaningful and proven methods of enforcement. We can see no reason why labor and the environment should be treated differently than other commercial concerns. Just as trade agreements prohibit countries from gaining unfair advantage through the use of subsidies and below-cost sales, so too should they prohibit the unfair advantage gained through violation of fundamental labor and environmental protections. Such prohibitions must be strongly enforced and include the prospect of trade sanctions.
Although we are encouraged by the emerging consensus that labor and the environment should be addressed in trade negotiations, we are concerned that some proposals offered recently amount to nothing more than mere \"fig leaves.\" The shortcomings of these proposals are as follows:
· Monetary Fines. The only experience with fines to date, the NAFTA labor side agreement, includes such cumbersome procedures and minimal fines that violations have been largely undeterred. Unless they are enforced by trade sanctions, fines can be ignored with impunity.
· Side Agreements. There is no reason why labor and environmental should not enjoy equal status with commercial concerns in the core text of agreements.
· International Labor Organization. The ILO has never enforced labor rights against any country and does not have the authority the procedures or the will to do so.
· Negotiating Objectives. Simply including labor and environment in the negotiating objectives, without incorporating the issues in the agreement itself, is inadequate.
In our judgment, addressing labor, environmental and key public interest issues in future trade agreements is necessary to establish meaningful standards for acceptable practices in the global economy. We believe Congress should learn from past experience and insist that international agreements must protect workers\' rights and the environment. We believe this will help markets function efficiently, improve the allocation of resources within and among developing and industrialized countries, and raise incomes and growth.
Sincerely,
MARTIN FROST EARL POMEROY |
See also:
http://www.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=46466&group=webcast
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