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For Tri-National Day Of Action On 8/16/17 To Cancel NAFTA, Support San Quintin Workers
A call for a tri-national day of action on August 16, 2017 to cancel NAFTA, Boycott Driscoll's berries and for rallies and actions with US, Mexican and Canadian workers to cancel NAFTA, support the Driscoll's workers of the National Democratic Independent Union of Agricultural Workers (SINDJA) of Mexico. They are calling for protests throughout the US, Mexico and Canada to link up workers in Mexico, the US and Canada.
Endorsements Urgently Needed To Cancel NAFTA , Support Driscoll's Boycott And Support 8/16/17 Tri-National Solidarity Action
Support the "Driscolls Boyocott" & All Workers Actions & Support
Action on the 16th of August 2017 With Our Brothers and Sisters in the U.S, Mexico & Canada in Joining This Day of Tri-National Actions.
Al Rojas-President
LCLAA-Sacramento
nadm916(at)aol.com
Resolution For Action And Endorsement
Tri-National Global Day Of Action On August 16 To Cancel NAFTA and For International Solidarity With San Quintin Workers And Workers On All US, Mexican and Canadian Borders
Global Day Of Action On August 16 To Cancel NAFTA and International Solidarity With San Quintin Driscoll’s Workers
Whereas, President Trump has called for the start of re-negotiation of NAFTA on August 16, 2017 and,
Whereas, the Trump administration is seeking to turn the NAFTA agreement into a TPP type agreement that will further benefit the multi-nationals and anti-labor forces on both sides of the border and,
Whereas, LCLAA Sacramento, National Democratic Independent Union of Agricultural Workers (SINDJA) of Mexico, Alianza Nacional Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social, UAW 551, SMART UTU 1741, UPWA and other labor and community organizations have supported an tri-national Global day of action in Mexico, the US and Canada to cancel NAFTA and in solidarity with the San Quintin Driscoll’s workers boycott and,
Whereas, the unity of US, Mexican and Canadian workers and unions is the only way to defend labor on all sides of the border,
Therefore, we support the call for action on August 16, 2017 in Mexico, the US and Canada to unite to cancel NAFTA and defend the San Quintin Driscoll’s workers.
https://www.facebook.com/lclaasacramento/?fref=ts
[ ] I endorse the call for cancellation of NAFTA, Boycott of Driscoll’s and International Action On August 16, 2017
NAME:
ORGANIZATION & TITLE (list if for id. only)
CITY:
STATE CA:
COUNTRY U.S:
EMAIL:
Al Rojas-President
LCLAA-Sacramento
nadm916(at)aol.com
Resolution To Support Workers In Mexico, USA, and Canada With
No Borders No Walls! - Stop NAFTA
Whereas, there is an attack on immigrant workers documented and undocumented in the United States and NAFTA has been used to pit US workers against Mexican workers to benefit multi-national Corporations from the US and around the world, and
Whereas, the escalating attack on immigrant workers and people of color is a threat to all workers and organized labor in the United States, the immigrant community and their children in schools are being terrorized by ICE and the racist attacks on immigrants, and
Whereas, NAFTA has been used to privatize railroads, telecom, oil, education and the dismantling of Mexico's agricultural industry causing forced migration of 18 million people from their homelands in Mexico. The US and other multi-nationals Corporations have colluded with the Mexican government using NAFTA to prevent unionization at the 1500 maquiladora factories in Mexico, and
Whereas, the privatization of land has forced hundreds of thousands of indigenous people off their indigenous homeland as many as 80,000 farmworkers and their families forced to move outside their communities, towns, cities, and Northern states to find work often under horrible inhumane working conditions that are designed to enslave people/workers, like the Driscoll’s corporation in Baja, Mexico and other subsidiary farms, and
Whereas, the Trump administration is increasing the militarization of the border of the United States and Mexico that is dividing families and children from their parents, relatives, and grandparents who have not been in reachable contact in many cases over 20 years, and
Whereas, the Trump administration has said that the Mexican people are responsible for for the failure of NAFTA, and the US will renegotiate NAFTA allowing US multi-nationals and businesses to expand, exploit, and renegotiate this agreement without the input of unions, human rights environmental organization groups, and health and welfare coalitions to improve the agreement, rather the Trump administration will use this opportunity to further attack workers in Mexico, US, and Canada, and
Whereas, the same companies and multi-nationals that pushed NAFTA will be in charge of renegotiating NAFTA to benefit these same corporations and to further the expansion of the “Guest Workers” programs, and to further privatization and deregulation without the input of unions, and workers, and
Whereas, labor should support the unification of workers in Mexico, US, and Canada against the same multi-nationals and union busters that are weakening workers in the world, and the US labor force should call for the cancellation of NAFTA and for the nationalization of property and lands expropriated from the people of Mexico, and
Therefore Be It Resolved, the US unions need to support full unionization of workers in Mexico and Canada by building direct worker-solidarity by enforcing actions and international strike-actions in US, Mexico, and Canada as all three countries are under attack, and working for the same multi-nationals, thus preventing NAFTA to be “reformed” to benefit global multi-nationals thieving off the poorest labor force in particular Mexico, US, and Canada no longer, and,
Be It Further Resolved, LCLAA Sacramento calls for united solidarity action of workers in Mexico, United States, and Canada for the cancellation of NAFTA, and calls for an end to the massive ICE attacks on immigrant workers documented and undocumented in the US, and
Be It Further Resolved, an international conference as part of Laborfest.net on the need for unity of US, Mexican and Canadian workers and people on July 29, 2017 in Sacramento and LCLAA Sacramento calls for all California LCLAA chapters, unions, Labor Councils, immigrant rights organizations, LGBTQ, environmental, women's, student, religious faith,Civil & human rights organizations to support and join this conference and,
Be It Further Resolved, LCLAA Sacramento calls for concurrence of this resolution by the Sacramento Labor Council and all affiliated bodies.
Introduced by: Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
(LCLAA-AFL-CIO)— Sacramento Chapter.
Resolución para Apoyar a Trabajadores en México, Estados Unidos y Canada. No más Fronteras ni Muros—Fin al Tratado de Libre Comercio de Norte America (TLCNA)
Considerando que, los trabajadores inmigrantes tanto documentados como indocumentados están siendo atacados en los Estados Unidos y el TLC ha sido utilizado para crear divisiones entre los trabajadores de Estados Unidos y los trabajadores de México para beneficiar las corporaciones transnacionales de los EEUU y del mundo y,
Considerando que, el recrudecimiento de estos ataques en contra de los trabajadores inmigrantes y gente de color es una amenaza a todos los trabajadores y al movimiento laboral organizado en los Estados Unidos, y las comunidades inmigrantes y sus niños en las escuelas están siendo aterrorizados por la Migra (ICE) y por los ataques racistas contra inmigrantes y,
Considerando que, el TLC has sido implementado para privatizar los ferrocarriles, la industria de telecomunicaciones, la industria del petróleo, la educación y ha desmantelado la industria agrícola de México. Los Estados Unidos y otras corporaciones transnacionales han estado en colusión con el gobierno de México utilizando el TLC para prevenir la sindicalización de las más de 1500 fábricas maquiladoras en México y,
Considerando que, la privatización de la tierra ha desplazado a cientos de miles de campesinos e indígenas de sus tierras y a más de 80,000 trabajadores agrícolas y sus familias son forzados a trasladarse fuera de sus comunidades, aldeas, pueblos y ciudades hacia los estados del norte para encontrar trabajos donde las condiciones de trabajo son inhumanos y horribles diseñados para esclavizar a los trabajadores tal como la corporación Driscoll en Baja, México y otras industrias agrícolas subsidiarias y
Considerando que, la administración Trump está militarizando aún más la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, lo que está dividiendo a las familias y a los niños de sus padres y otros familiares y abuelos quienes no han podido estar en contacto directo por más de 20 años y
Considerando que, la Administración Trump ha dicho que el pueblo Mexicano es responsable de la fallas del TLC y que los Estados Unidos va a renegociar el TLC para permitirles a las transnacionales y empresas de los EEUU a expandirse, y a explotar y renegociar este acuerdo sin consultar con las uniones, grupos ambientales, o de derechos humanos o coaliciones de salud y bienestar para mejorar el acuerdo; en cambio la administración Trump va aprovechar esta oportunidad para seguir atacando a los trabajadores de México, Estados Unidos y Canadá y
Considerando que, estas mismas empresas y transnacionales que impusieron el TLC serán los que estarán a cargo de renegociar el TLC para beneficiar esas mismas corporaciones y para seguir expandiendo esos programas de ‘Trabajadores Huespedes” (conocidos anteriormente como programas Braceros) y para seguir privatizando y eliminando reglamentaciones sin consultar con las uniones ni los trabajadores y
Considerando que, el movimiento laboral deberá apoyar la unidad de los trabajadores en México, Estados Unidos y Canadá en contra de estas mismas transnacionales y empresas que intentan destruir a las uniones que están debilitando a los trabajadores del mundo y a la fuerza laboral de EEUU deberá hacer un llamado para suspender el TLC y en favor de la nacionalización de las propiedades y las tierras que han sido expropiados del pueblo de México y
Por lo tanto, que se declare que las uniones de los EEUU necesitan apoyar la sindicalización total de los trabajadores de México y Canadá y crear lazos directos de solidaridad llevando a cabo acciones conjuntas de carácter internacional y huelgas de apoyo en los EEUU, México y Canadá dado que los trabajadores de los tres países están siendo atacados por las mismas transnacionales. Estas acciones conjuntas de solidaridad internacional lograran impedir que el TLC se “reforme” para beneficiar a los transnacionales del mundo que se lucran de las fuerzas laborales más pobres en particular de México, Estados Unidos y en Canada. Y
Que se declare también que LCLAA Sacramento hace un llamado para una acción de solidaridad conjunta de trabajadores de México, EEUU y Canadá para exigir el fín del TLC y hace un llamado a poner fin a las redadas masivas de la Migra (ICE) en contra de los trabajadores inmigrantes documentados e indocumentados en los EEUU y,
Que se declare también que se apoye una conferencia internacional como parte de Laborfest.net sobre la necesidad de unir los trabajadores y el pueblo de México, EEUU y Canadá y que se lleve a cabo el día 29 de Julio de 2017 en Sacramento y LCLAA Sacramento hace un llamado a todos las oficinas de LCLAA de todo California, las uniones, los concejos laborales, organizaciones de derechos de inmigrantes, las comunidades de homosexuales, bisexual, lesbianas y transgéneros, las organizaciones de mujeres, organizaciones ambientales, estudiantiles, organismos de derechos humanos, civiles y organizaciones religiosas que apoyen y se unen a esta conferencia.
Description: https://ssl.gstatic.com/ui/v1/icons/mail/images/cleardot.gif
Support the "Driscolls Boyocott" & All Workers Actions & Support
Action on the 16th of August 2017 With Our Brothers and Sisters in the U.S, Mexico & Canada in Joining This Day of Tri-National Actions.
Al Rojas-President
LCLAA-Sacramento
nadm916(at)aol.com
Resolution For Action And Endorsement
Tri-National Global Day Of Action On August 16 To Cancel NAFTA and For International Solidarity With San Quintin Workers And Workers On All US, Mexican and Canadian Borders
Global Day Of Action On August 16 To Cancel NAFTA and International Solidarity With San Quintin Driscoll’s Workers
Whereas, President Trump has called for the start of re-negotiation of NAFTA on August 16, 2017 and,
Whereas, the Trump administration is seeking to turn the NAFTA agreement into a TPP type agreement that will further benefit the multi-nationals and anti-labor forces on both sides of the border and,
Whereas, LCLAA Sacramento, National Democratic Independent Union of Agricultural Workers (SINDJA) of Mexico, Alianza Nacional Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social, UAW 551, SMART UTU 1741, UPWA and other labor and community organizations have supported an tri-national Global day of action in Mexico, the US and Canada to cancel NAFTA and in solidarity with the San Quintin Driscoll’s workers boycott and,
Whereas, the unity of US, Mexican and Canadian workers and unions is the only way to defend labor on all sides of the border,
Therefore, we support the call for action on August 16, 2017 in Mexico, the US and Canada to unite to cancel NAFTA and defend the San Quintin Driscoll’s workers.
https://www.facebook.com/lclaasacramento/?fref=ts
[ ] I endorse the call for cancellation of NAFTA, Boycott of Driscoll’s and International Action On August 16, 2017
NAME:
ORGANIZATION & TITLE (list if for id. only)
CITY:
STATE CA:
COUNTRY U.S:
EMAIL:
Al Rojas-President
LCLAA-Sacramento
nadm916(at)aol.com
Resolution To Support Workers In Mexico, USA, and Canada With
No Borders No Walls! - Stop NAFTA
Whereas, there is an attack on immigrant workers documented and undocumented in the United States and NAFTA has been used to pit US workers against Mexican workers to benefit multi-national Corporations from the US and around the world, and
Whereas, the escalating attack on immigrant workers and people of color is a threat to all workers and organized labor in the United States, the immigrant community and their children in schools are being terrorized by ICE and the racist attacks on immigrants, and
Whereas, NAFTA has been used to privatize railroads, telecom, oil, education and the dismantling of Mexico's agricultural industry causing forced migration of 18 million people from their homelands in Mexico. The US and other multi-nationals Corporations have colluded with the Mexican government using NAFTA to prevent unionization at the 1500 maquiladora factories in Mexico, and
Whereas, the privatization of land has forced hundreds of thousands of indigenous people off their indigenous homeland as many as 80,000 farmworkers and their families forced to move outside their communities, towns, cities, and Northern states to find work often under horrible inhumane working conditions that are designed to enslave people/workers, like the Driscoll’s corporation in Baja, Mexico and other subsidiary farms, and
Whereas, the Trump administration is increasing the militarization of the border of the United States and Mexico that is dividing families and children from their parents, relatives, and grandparents who have not been in reachable contact in many cases over 20 years, and
Whereas, the Trump administration has said that the Mexican people are responsible for for the failure of NAFTA, and the US will renegotiate NAFTA allowing US multi-nationals and businesses to expand, exploit, and renegotiate this agreement without the input of unions, human rights environmental organization groups, and health and welfare coalitions to improve the agreement, rather the Trump administration will use this opportunity to further attack workers in Mexico, US, and Canada, and
Whereas, the same companies and multi-nationals that pushed NAFTA will be in charge of renegotiating NAFTA to benefit these same corporations and to further the expansion of the “Guest Workers” programs, and to further privatization and deregulation without the input of unions, and workers, and
Whereas, labor should support the unification of workers in Mexico, US, and Canada against the same multi-nationals and union busters that are weakening workers in the world, and the US labor force should call for the cancellation of NAFTA and for the nationalization of property and lands expropriated from the people of Mexico, and
Therefore Be It Resolved, the US unions need to support full unionization of workers in Mexico and Canada by building direct worker-solidarity by enforcing actions and international strike-actions in US, Mexico, and Canada as all three countries are under attack, and working for the same multi-nationals, thus preventing NAFTA to be “reformed” to benefit global multi-nationals thieving off the poorest labor force in particular Mexico, US, and Canada no longer, and,
Be It Further Resolved, LCLAA Sacramento calls for united solidarity action of workers in Mexico, United States, and Canada for the cancellation of NAFTA, and calls for an end to the massive ICE attacks on immigrant workers documented and undocumented in the US, and
Be It Further Resolved, an international conference as part of Laborfest.net on the need for unity of US, Mexican and Canadian workers and people on July 29, 2017 in Sacramento and LCLAA Sacramento calls for all California LCLAA chapters, unions, Labor Councils, immigrant rights organizations, LGBTQ, environmental, women's, student, religious faith,Civil & human rights organizations to support and join this conference and,
Be It Further Resolved, LCLAA Sacramento calls for concurrence of this resolution by the Sacramento Labor Council and all affiliated bodies.
Introduced by: Labor Council for Latin American Advancement
(LCLAA-AFL-CIO)— Sacramento Chapter.
Resolución para Apoyar a Trabajadores en México, Estados Unidos y Canada. No más Fronteras ni Muros—Fin al Tratado de Libre Comercio de Norte America (TLCNA)
Considerando que, los trabajadores inmigrantes tanto documentados como indocumentados están siendo atacados en los Estados Unidos y el TLC ha sido utilizado para crear divisiones entre los trabajadores de Estados Unidos y los trabajadores de México para beneficiar las corporaciones transnacionales de los EEUU y del mundo y,
Considerando que, el recrudecimiento de estos ataques en contra de los trabajadores inmigrantes y gente de color es una amenaza a todos los trabajadores y al movimiento laboral organizado en los Estados Unidos, y las comunidades inmigrantes y sus niños en las escuelas están siendo aterrorizados por la Migra (ICE) y por los ataques racistas contra inmigrantes y,
Considerando que, el TLC has sido implementado para privatizar los ferrocarriles, la industria de telecomunicaciones, la industria del petróleo, la educación y ha desmantelado la industria agrícola de México. Los Estados Unidos y otras corporaciones transnacionales han estado en colusión con el gobierno de México utilizando el TLC para prevenir la sindicalización de las más de 1500 fábricas maquiladoras en México y,
Considerando que, la privatización de la tierra ha desplazado a cientos de miles de campesinos e indígenas de sus tierras y a más de 80,000 trabajadores agrícolas y sus familias son forzados a trasladarse fuera de sus comunidades, aldeas, pueblos y ciudades hacia los estados del norte para encontrar trabajos donde las condiciones de trabajo son inhumanos y horribles diseñados para esclavizar a los trabajadores tal como la corporación Driscoll en Baja, México y otras industrias agrícolas subsidiarias y
Considerando que, la administración Trump está militarizando aún más la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, lo que está dividiendo a las familias y a los niños de sus padres y otros familiares y abuelos quienes no han podido estar en contacto directo por más de 20 años y
Considerando que, la Administración Trump ha dicho que el pueblo Mexicano es responsable de la fallas del TLC y que los Estados Unidos va a renegociar el TLC para permitirles a las transnacionales y empresas de los EEUU a expandirse, y a explotar y renegociar este acuerdo sin consultar con las uniones, grupos ambientales, o de derechos humanos o coaliciones de salud y bienestar para mejorar el acuerdo; en cambio la administración Trump va aprovechar esta oportunidad para seguir atacando a los trabajadores de México, Estados Unidos y Canadá y
Considerando que, estas mismas empresas y transnacionales que impusieron el TLC serán los que estarán a cargo de renegociar el TLC para beneficiar esas mismas corporaciones y para seguir expandiendo esos programas de ‘Trabajadores Huespedes” (conocidos anteriormente como programas Braceros) y para seguir privatizando y eliminando reglamentaciones sin consultar con las uniones ni los trabajadores y
Considerando que, el movimiento laboral deberá apoyar la unidad de los trabajadores en México, Estados Unidos y Canadá en contra de estas mismas transnacionales y empresas que intentan destruir a las uniones que están debilitando a los trabajadores del mundo y a la fuerza laboral de EEUU deberá hacer un llamado para suspender el TLC y en favor de la nacionalización de las propiedades y las tierras que han sido expropiados del pueblo de México y
Por lo tanto, que se declare que las uniones de los EEUU necesitan apoyar la sindicalización total de los trabajadores de México y Canadá y crear lazos directos de solidaridad llevando a cabo acciones conjuntas de carácter internacional y huelgas de apoyo en los EEUU, México y Canadá dado que los trabajadores de los tres países están siendo atacados por las mismas transnacionales. Estas acciones conjuntas de solidaridad internacional lograran impedir que el TLC se “reforme” para beneficiar a los transnacionales del mundo que se lucran de las fuerzas laborales más pobres en particular de México, Estados Unidos y en Canada. Y
Que se declare también que LCLAA Sacramento hace un llamado para una acción de solidaridad conjunta de trabajadores de México, EEUU y Canadá para exigir el fín del TLC y hace un llamado a poner fin a las redadas masivas de la Migra (ICE) en contra de los trabajadores inmigrantes documentados e indocumentados en los EEUU y,
Que se declare también que se apoye una conferencia internacional como parte de Laborfest.net sobre la necesidad de unir los trabajadores y el pueblo de México, EEUU y Canadá y que se lleve a cabo el día 29 de Julio de 2017 en Sacramento y LCLAA Sacramento hace un llamado a todos las oficinas de LCLAA de todo California, las uniones, los concejos laborales, organizaciones de derechos de inmigrantes, las comunidades de homosexuales, bisexual, lesbianas y transgéneros, las organizaciones de mujeres, organizaciones ambientales, estudiantiles, organismos de derechos humanos, civiles y organizaciones religiosas que apoyen y se unen a esta conferencia.
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NAFTA Renegotiation Is a Sham!; Cancel NAFTA Now!
Support the August 16 Global Day of Action!
By ALAN BENJAMIN
In mid-May of this year, when President Donald Trump announced that the first session of NAFTA Renegotiation would be held in Washington, DC, on August 16-20, he stated that his opposition to NAFTA during the presidential campaign was one of the keys to his election victory. There can be no doubt that Trump’s stated opposition to NAFTA -- which has destroyed jobs and entire communities on a massive scale in the United States (but especially in Canada and Mexico) -- earned him a hearing among working-class voters devastated by NAFTA’s effects.
On July 17, Trump and his NAFTA Renegotiation team submitted an 18-page memorandum outlining the U.S. government’s objectives in the upcoming round of negotiations. The document, published by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), is titled, “Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA Renegotiation.”
The language of the USTR memo, and the reactions it has elicited from the business media, underscore this point: Despite the populist (and empty) rhetoric in favor of jobs and labor rights, the Trump administration’s objectives are squarely in the camp of “free trade” and the directives of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).
Not surprisingly, the Wall Street Trade Ready blog applauded the Trump administration’s memo in a posting on July 24, noting that Trump has fortunately abandoned his anti-NAFTA stance in favor of a position supported wholeheartedly by Wall Street and the U.S.-owned transnational corporations.
“The 18-page document of objectives,” Trade Ready stated, “match up with the priorities in the TPA legislation established in 2015. Much of the document was also consistent with the U.S.-Canada-Mexico negotiations from the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement] that Trump pulled out of in January.”
Similarly, Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, noted in a recent article that “what the corporate lobby is demanding in NAFTA renegotiation” -- and what it has obtained – “is the revival of parts of the TPP.” Wallach went on to note that all labor advisors were shut out of the administration meetings in March through May that prepared this USTR memo. So much for Trump’s claim of transparency!
The Trump administration hypocrisy knows no bounds. As Wallach further noted, “Trump has awarded United Technologies 15 lucrative new government contracts even after they proceeded to cut 1,200 of their 2,000 Indiana Carrier jobs.”
In an attempt to lower expectations, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross noted that, “the new NAFTA will not be a ‘silver bullet’ to save jobs.”
What Does the USTR Memo Call For?
What are some of the more salient objectives put forward in the USTR memo?
- “The United States will seek to obtain more equitable, secure and reciprocal market access.”
- “The United States will eliminate all discriminatory barriers that unfairly limit access to markets for U.S. goods.”
- “The United States will establish rules that reduce or eliminate barriers to U.S. investment in all sectors in the NAFTA countries.”
- “The United States will require that all State-Owned and Controlled Enterprises (SOEs) not cause harm to another Party through the provision of subsidies.”
Hold it for a second; there is nothing new here! All U.S. administrations over the past 23 years (since NAFTA was first signed) have plundered Mexico in the name of the above-mentioned objectives. They have demanded that Mexico amend its Constitution and reverse all laws that codify attributes of national sovereignty in the name of eliminating “barriers to U.S. trade and investment.”
For example, Mexico has been forced to put an end to cooperative ownership of land in the ejidos, as enshrined in the 1917 Constitution. It has been forced to put an end to “State monopolies” -- such as the State-owned telecommunications, transportation, and oil corporation (Pemex). It has been forced to destroy collective-bargaining agreements and trade unions. (All of these were deemed “barriers to trade.”) Mexico has been forced to open its market to farm products from the U.S., which has decimated Mexico’s agricultural production. Today, 45% of what is consumed in Mexico in terms of beans, corn, rice, sugar, and wheat comes from the United States.
What Trump is now seeking to do is impose even more draconian measures upon Mexico in this “new NAFTA.” And he is counting on Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgarary -- the man who headed up the privatization drive of Mexico’s public services and enterprises in his former role as Mexico’s Secretary of Finance and Public Credit -- to grease the wheels of this not-so-new NAFTA.
The Swindle of Labor Rights in the “New NAFTA”
But this is not all. To succeed in pushing through NAFTA Renegotiation, Trump needs to enlist support from the top leadership of the U.S. labor movement. That is why he has included an entire section on Labor Rights in the 18-page memo, to the point of insisting that such “labor provisions should be brought into the core of the Agreement rather than in a side agreement.”
Specifically, the memo “[r]equires that NAFTA countries adopt and maintain in their laws and practices the internationally recognized core labor standards as recognized in the ILO Declaration, including: freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor; effective abolition of child labor and a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor; and elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.”
This sounds good, but it is a complete swindle aimed at roping in the unwary!
Whether included in the side agreements (which everyone today concedes was a toothless sop thrown to appease the labor movement) or in the core of the new NAFTA agreement, the core labor standards contained in the new ILO Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights are unenforceable and hence they amount to little more than window-dressing.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), which was established in 1919, registered the gains of more than 100 years of labor struggles in conventions guaranteeing the formation of free independent unions without prior authorization of the State (ILO Convention 87), the right to collective bargaining (ILO Convention 97), and the outright ban of child labor (ILO Convention 138), to mention but a few.
All these conventions, which became the law of the land in the ratifying countries, became an obstacle to the "globalization" offensive by the transnational corporations and the financial institutions and governments in their service.
The WTO, which has spearheaded the international drive toward "free trade" and deregulation, demanded a "reform" of the ILO to make it “more adapted to the current needs of economic globalization and competitive deregulation."
untries that ratified ILO conventions and thereby made them the law of their lands, are in a "comparative disadvantage" on the world market in relation to other countries where production costs are lower and labor laws are more "flexible." The ban on child labor and forced labor, the legal limitations to laying off workers, the very existence of independent unions and collective-bargaining agreements -- all these, according to the WTO, are intolerable restrictions on the "normal functioning of open markets."
Beginning with the 1997 WTO Summit in Singapore, the ILO gradually came under the WTO umbrella, thereby making it totally subservient to the needs of global capital.
The seven core ILO conventions that came under attack by the WTO are as follows:
1. ILO Convention 87 on trade union rights (1948)
2. ILO Convention 98 on free collective bargaining (1949)
3. ILO Convention 29 on forced labor (1930)
4. ILO Convention 105 banning forced labor (1957)
5. ILO Convention 100 equal wages for work of equal value (1951)
6. ILO Convention 111 on discrimination on employment (1958)
7. ILO Convention 138 on the abolition of child labor (1973)
The mechanism employed to sidestep and ultimately do away with the ILO conventions was devious. Heeding the WTO directives -- and the pressure from U.S. President Bill Clinton -- the administrative committee of the ILO rammed through a "Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights." It’s a document that embodies the "principle" of the seven fundamental ILO conventions.
The problem, however, is that countries are allowed to sign this Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights without actually ratifying the seven core ILO conventions.
And unlike the ILO conventions, which must become the law of the land when ratified, this declaration is not binding in any way. It is a statement of intent to respect certain principles, nothing more. It has no teeth, no mechanism of enforcement. In the hands of governments that are pushing the WTO/IMF corporate agenda, this Declaration is worth little more than the paper it is printed on.
This Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights is simply a public relations maneuver devised by top functionaries of the WTO to mask the drive to marginalize and ultimately get rid of the ILO conventions. The United States, for example, which has only ratified two of these seven core ILO conventions, signed this Declaration and parades as a champion of labor rights -- at the very moment it is pushing "free trade," deregulation, union-busting, and privatization both at home and abroad.
It is therefore no surprise that Trump and his USTR negotiators are wielding this Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights to get the labor movement to swallow the bitter pill of this new NAFTA.
Endorse the Binational Fightback Appeal! Support the Global Day of Action on August 16 to Cancel NAFTA!
A broad-based Appeal, now signed by 100 leading trade unionists and activists in Mexico and the United States, is calling to organize a Binational Conference this fall around the following demands: Tear Down the Wall of Shame, Not One More Deportation; Stop NAFTA and CAFTA; Stop all Privatizations and Counter-Reforms’ and Support Workers’ Rights to Unionization and Collective Bargaining on Both Sides of the Border.
in part:
“Today, Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto are talking about ‘renegotiating NAFTA.’ In some quarters, illusions have been sown that this could mean improvements for working people on both sides of the border. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Trump promised to break with Wall Street to help Main Street; instead he filled his cabinet with Wall Street execs. He promised to improve healthcare; instead, he is seeking to dismantle Medicaid and take away healthcare coverage from 23 million low-income people to line the pockets of his billionaire cronies. He promised to defend workers and their jobs; instead, by pushing a federal “right to work” (for less) law, he has set out to dismantle the only organizations through which workers are able to preserve their jobs and benefits: the trade unions.
“Trump is out to ‘renegotiate NAFTA’ -- but only to benefit U.S. corporations, NOT to benefit workers in Mexico or the United States. The new agreement that Trump is pushing will only deepen the attacks on working people and their organizations, primarily their unions.
“More than ever, workers and youth need to reach out across the border and unite in an independent struggle to tear down the Wall of Shame, stop NAFTA and CAFTA, and stop and reverse all the policies emanating from the “free trade” corporate agenda. We have the same interests, and we are waging the same struggles to protect our interests as working people.”
To promote this cross-border fightback, the 100 endorsing unionists and activists in the United States and Mexico are calling upon their sisters and brothers to work together to build a broad-based binational conference around the common fightback demands listed above.
A first step in building this cross-border fightback will take place on August 16, when the NAFTA Renegotiation will begin in Washington.
On this day, the Sacramento chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA-AFL-CIO), the National Democratic Independent Union of Agricultural Workers (SINDJA) of Mexico, the Alianza Nacional Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social, UAW 551, and other labor and community organizations are calling for a Day of Global Actions to Cancel NAFTA and for International Solidarity with San Quintin (Baja California, Mexico) Driscoll’s Workers, who have been fighting for many years to obtain a collective-bargaining agreement and improved wages and working conditions.
[For more information about the Driscoll’s boycott, contact Al Rojas, Sacramento LCLAA, at nadm916(at)aol.com
Sí Se Va Poder!
-- July 27, 2017
Support the August 16 Global Day of Action!
By ALAN BENJAMIN
In mid-May of this year, when President Donald Trump announced that the first session of NAFTA Renegotiation would be held in Washington, DC, on August 16-20, he stated that his opposition to NAFTA during the presidential campaign was one of the keys to his election victory. There can be no doubt that Trump’s stated opposition to NAFTA -- which has destroyed jobs and entire communities on a massive scale in the United States (but especially in Canada and Mexico) -- earned him a hearing among working-class voters devastated by NAFTA’s effects.
On July 17, Trump and his NAFTA Renegotiation team submitted an 18-page memorandum outlining the U.S. government’s objectives in the upcoming round of negotiations. The document, published by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), is titled, “Summary of Objectives for the NAFTA Renegotiation.”
The language of the USTR memo, and the reactions it has elicited from the business media, underscore this point: Despite the populist (and empty) rhetoric in favor of jobs and labor rights, the Trump administration’s objectives are squarely in the camp of “free trade” and the directives of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA).
Not surprisingly, the Wall Street Trade Ready blog applauded the Trump administration’s memo in a posting on July 24, noting that Trump has fortunately abandoned his anti-NAFTA stance in favor of a position supported wholeheartedly by Wall Street and the U.S.-owned transnational corporations.
“The 18-page document of objectives,” Trade Ready stated, “match up with the priorities in the TPA legislation established in 2015. Much of the document was also consistent with the U.S.-Canada-Mexico negotiations from the TPP [Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement] that Trump pulled out of in January.”
Similarly, Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, noted in a recent article that “what the corporate lobby is demanding in NAFTA renegotiation” -- and what it has obtained – “is the revival of parts of the TPP.” Wallach went on to note that all labor advisors were shut out of the administration meetings in March through May that prepared this USTR memo. So much for Trump’s claim of transparency!
The Trump administration hypocrisy knows no bounds. As Wallach further noted, “Trump has awarded United Technologies 15 lucrative new government contracts even after they proceeded to cut 1,200 of their 2,000 Indiana Carrier jobs.”
In an attempt to lower expectations, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross noted that, “the new NAFTA will not be a ‘silver bullet’ to save jobs.”
What Does the USTR Memo Call For?
What are some of the more salient objectives put forward in the USTR memo?
- “The United States will seek to obtain more equitable, secure and reciprocal market access.”
- “The United States will eliminate all discriminatory barriers that unfairly limit access to markets for U.S. goods.”
- “The United States will establish rules that reduce or eliminate barriers to U.S. investment in all sectors in the NAFTA countries.”
- “The United States will require that all State-Owned and Controlled Enterprises (SOEs) not cause harm to another Party through the provision of subsidies.”
Hold it for a second; there is nothing new here! All U.S. administrations over the past 23 years (since NAFTA was first signed) have plundered Mexico in the name of the above-mentioned objectives. They have demanded that Mexico amend its Constitution and reverse all laws that codify attributes of national sovereignty in the name of eliminating “barriers to U.S. trade and investment.”
For example, Mexico has been forced to put an end to cooperative ownership of land in the ejidos, as enshrined in the 1917 Constitution. It has been forced to put an end to “State monopolies” -- such as the State-owned telecommunications, transportation, and oil corporation (Pemex). It has been forced to destroy collective-bargaining agreements and trade unions. (All of these were deemed “barriers to trade.”) Mexico has been forced to open its market to farm products from the U.S., which has decimated Mexico’s agricultural production. Today, 45% of what is consumed in Mexico in terms of beans, corn, rice, sugar, and wheat comes from the United States.
What Trump is now seeking to do is impose even more draconian measures upon Mexico in this “new NAFTA.” And he is counting on Mexico’s Foreign Relations Secretary Luis Videgarary -- the man who headed up the privatization drive of Mexico’s public services and enterprises in his former role as Mexico’s Secretary of Finance and Public Credit -- to grease the wheels of this not-so-new NAFTA.
The Swindle of Labor Rights in the “New NAFTA”
But this is not all. To succeed in pushing through NAFTA Renegotiation, Trump needs to enlist support from the top leadership of the U.S. labor movement. That is why he has included an entire section on Labor Rights in the 18-page memo, to the point of insisting that such “labor provisions should be brought into the core of the Agreement rather than in a side agreement.”
Specifically, the memo “[r]equires that NAFTA countries adopt and maintain in their laws and practices the internationally recognized core labor standards as recognized in the ILO Declaration, including: freedom of association and the effective recognition of the right to collective bargaining; elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labor; effective abolition of child labor and a prohibition on the worst forms of child labor; and elimination of discrimination in respect of employment and occupation.”
This sounds good, but it is a complete swindle aimed at roping in the unwary!
Whether included in the side agreements (which everyone today concedes was a toothless sop thrown to appease the labor movement) or in the core of the new NAFTA agreement, the core labor standards contained in the new ILO Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights are unenforceable and hence they amount to little more than window-dressing.
The International Labor Organization (ILO), which was established in 1919, registered the gains of more than 100 years of labor struggles in conventions guaranteeing the formation of free independent unions without prior authorization of the State (ILO Convention 87), the right to collective bargaining (ILO Convention 97), and the outright ban of child labor (ILO Convention 138), to mention but a few.
All these conventions, which became the law of the land in the ratifying countries, became an obstacle to the "globalization" offensive by the transnational corporations and the financial institutions and governments in their service.
The WTO, which has spearheaded the international drive toward "free trade" and deregulation, demanded a "reform" of the ILO to make it “more adapted to the current needs of economic globalization and competitive deregulation."
untries that ratified ILO conventions and thereby made them the law of their lands, are in a "comparative disadvantage" on the world market in relation to other countries where production costs are lower and labor laws are more "flexible." The ban on child labor and forced labor, the legal limitations to laying off workers, the very existence of independent unions and collective-bargaining agreements -- all these, according to the WTO, are intolerable restrictions on the "normal functioning of open markets."
Beginning with the 1997 WTO Summit in Singapore, the ILO gradually came under the WTO umbrella, thereby making it totally subservient to the needs of global capital.
The seven core ILO conventions that came under attack by the WTO are as follows:
1. ILO Convention 87 on trade union rights (1948)
2. ILO Convention 98 on free collective bargaining (1949)
3. ILO Convention 29 on forced labor (1930)
4. ILO Convention 105 banning forced labor (1957)
5. ILO Convention 100 equal wages for work of equal value (1951)
6. ILO Convention 111 on discrimination on employment (1958)
7. ILO Convention 138 on the abolition of child labor (1973)
The mechanism employed to sidestep and ultimately do away with the ILO conventions was devious. Heeding the WTO directives -- and the pressure from U.S. President Bill Clinton -- the administrative committee of the ILO rammed through a "Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights." It’s a document that embodies the "principle" of the seven fundamental ILO conventions.
The problem, however, is that countries are allowed to sign this Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights without actually ratifying the seven core ILO conventions.
And unlike the ILO conventions, which must become the law of the land when ratified, this declaration is not binding in any way. It is a statement of intent to respect certain principles, nothing more. It has no teeth, no mechanism of enforcement. In the hands of governments that are pushing the WTO/IMF corporate agenda, this Declaration is worth little more than the paper it is printed on.
This Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights is simply a public relations maneuver devised by top functionaries of the WTO to mask the drive to marginalize and ultimately get rid of the ILO conventions. The United States, for example, which has only ratified two of these seven core ILO conventions, signed this Declaration and parades as a champion of labor rights -- at the very moment it is pushing "free trade," deregulation, union-busting, and privatization both at home and abroad.
It is therefore no surprise that Trump and his USTR negotiators are wielding this Declaration of Workers’ Fundamental Rights to get the labor movement to swallow the bitter pill of this new NAFTA.
Endorse the Binational Fightback Appeal! Support the Global Day of Action on August 16 to Cancel NAFTA!
A broad-based Appeal, now signed by 100 leading trade unionists and activists in Mexico and the United States, is calling to organize a Binational Conference this fall around the following demands: Tear Down the Wall of Shame, Not One More Deportation; Stop NAFTA and CAFTA; Stop all Privatizations and Counter-Reforms’ and Support Workers’ Rights to Unionization and Collective Bargaining on Both Sides of the Border.
in part:
“Today, Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto are talking about ‘renegotiating NAFTA.’ In some quarters, illusions have been sown that this could mean improvements for working people on both sides of the border. Nothing could be further from the truth.
“Trump promised to break with Wall Street to help Main Street; instead he filled his cabinet with Wall Street execs. He promised to improve healthcare; instead, he is seeking to dismantle Medicaid and take away healthcare coverage from 23 million low-income people to line the pockets of his billionaire cronies. He promised to defend workers and their jobs; instead, by pushing a federal “right to work” (for less) law, he has set out to dismantle the only organizations through which workers are able to preserve their jobs and benefits: the trade unions.
“Trump is out to ‘renegotiate NAFTA’ -- but only to benefit U.S. corporations, NOT to benefit workers in Mexico or the United States. The new agreement that Trump is pushing will only deepen the attacks on working people and their organizations, primarily their unions.
“More than ever, workers and youth need to reach out across the border and unite in an independent struggle to tear down the Wall of Shame, stop NAFTA and CAFTA, and stop and reverse all the policies emanating from the “free trade” corporate agenda. We have the same interests, and we are waging the same struggles to protect our interests as working people.”
To promote this cross-border fightback, the 100 endorsing unionists and activists in the United States and Mexico are calling upon their sisters and brothers to work together to build a broad-based binational conference around the common fightback demands listed above.
A first step in building this cross-border fightback will take place on August 16, when the NAFTA Renegotiation will begin in Washington.
On this day, the Sacramento chapter of the Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (LCLAA-AFL-CIO), the National Democratic Independent Union of Agricultural Workers (SINDJA) of Mexico, the Alianza Nacional Estatal y Municipal por la Justicia Social, UAW 551, and other labor and community organizations are calling for a Day of Global Actions to Cancel NAFTA and for International Solidarity with San Quintin (Baja California, Mexico) Driscoll’s Workers, who have been fighting for many years to obtain a collective-bargaining agreement and improved wages and working conditions.
[For more information about the Driscoll’s boycott, contact Al Rojas, Sacramento LCLAA, at nadm916(at)aol.com
Sí Se Va Poder!
-- July 27, 2017
For more information:
https://www.facebook.com/lclaasacramento/?...
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