There Go Our Jobs!

Portland is the home of Freightliner Trucks. They have been built in Portland for more than 50 years. Some production workers are 2nd and 3rd generation Freightliner employees. These have been family-wage union jobs since the 1940’s. Now Freightliner will stop making the Freightliner brand here and is permanently laying off 800 union workers, with most of their jobs going to Mexico. This is the second major layoff at Freightliner to qualify for Trade Act assistance, because the Labor Department certified the jobs were going to Mexico. In 1999 there were 2600 IAM (Machinists Union) jobs at Freightliner, and now only 650 will be left.

Free trade agreements like NAFTA, CAFTA and the WTO (all of which were approved under “Fast Track” trade promotion authority) make it easier for companies like Freightliner to ship Oregon jobs out of the country—yet Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Gordon Smith continue to support Fast Track and NAFTA-style trade deals.

Join recently laid-off Freightliner workers and others in telling our elected officials that giving away Oregon jobs is something we take seriously. Let’s stand up and say NO to the expansion of Fast Track and NAFTA-style trade pacts.

How Government Policies Lead to Local Job Loss
• The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and similar trade policies enable companies to ship Oregon jobs to foreign countries with dismal labor standards and then import products back into the United States for sale to U.S. consumers.

• 68,000 Oregon jobs have already been lost due to these NAFTA-style trade policies—and that’s just the tip of the iceberg if these policies continue to expand.

• NAFTA, CAFTA, the WTO and other bad trade pacts were approved under a policymaking procedure known as “Fast Track,” which eliminates ordinary Congressional review, mark-up and oversight of trade agreements, while giving large corporations special access to trade negotiators.

• Since Fast Track was cooked up by the Nixon administration in 1974, real hourly wages for the average American worker have only increased by 5 cents—despite an almost doubling in worker productivity. The offshoring of jobs has created downward pressure on wages across all sectors of the workforce.

• Fast Track expires this summer and can only be renewed with Congressional approval. If Fast Track is stopped, future NAFTA-style trade deals are dead in the water. If Fast Track is extended, hundreds of thousands of additional Oregon jobs will be put at risk of offshoring. Now is the time to speak out!

• Call Senator Ron Wyden at 503-326-7525 and Senator Gordon Smith at 503-326-3386 and tell them you oppose Fast Track renewal.

Sponsors:
International Association of Machinists & Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 1005
Oregon Fair Trade Coalition
Portland Jobs With Justice
Cross Border Labor Organizing Council (CBLOC)
International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 8
SEIU Local 49
Teamsters Local 305
Painters Local 1094