AFL-CIO Statement on Passage of Peru FTA

President John Sweeney
Nov 08, 2007 (12:50:19)    

Today's vote on the Peru Free Trade Agreement (FTA) reflects our country's deep divisions and continuing anxiety over the issues of trade and globalization.

The agreement passed the House by a margin of 285 to 132.  Many people who care deeply about working families respectfully disagreed about this agreement.

Democratic leaders in the House of Representatives worked hard to change the direction of American trade policy by insisting on improvements to provisions of the Peru FTA relating to workers' rights, environmental protections, access to medicine and some procurement issues.

We applaud these changes as welcome and much-needed improvements, particularly with respect to workers' rights.  However, the Peru template is far from perfect and more work needs to be done to address other important concerns, including investment, procurement, services and agriculture.  Congress must address these pressing concerns before considering passing any additional agreements.

We are justifiably skeptical about whether the Bush Administration will faithfully enforce the newly negotiated labor and environment protections, since this administration has done such a poor job enforcing these provisions in existing trade agreements.  Congressional oversight of the executive branch must be strengthened to ensure consistent and effective enforcement of all the provisions in these agreements.

President Bush's recent threat to veto H.R. 3920, a bill to expand Trade Adjustment Assistance that passed the House of Representatives by a wide and bipartisan margin, also demonstrated his utter lack of compassion for workers who lose their jobs due to trade and outsourcing.  The TAA bill represents a long overdue expansion and strengthening of adjustment assistance for displaced workers, and its total annual estimated cost is just a drop in the bucket - less than one-half of one percent -- of the supposed "gains from trade" the Bush administration touts.

The bottom line is the President's trade agenda is unpopular and precarious.  His own actions have done nothing to build support for moving forward with new trade deals, despite the good-faith efforts of the Democratic leadership to change direction on trade policy.

The damage done to working families by flawed trade policies runs deep.  It will take much more than some improvements to a bilateral free trade agreement to fix it.  Congress must act to address the fundamental economic issues that have a direct impact on the lives of working people: correcting currency manipulation, ending incentives for offshoring jobs, adopting a progressive tax policy, and investing in the workforce of the 21st century. 

Congress also must oppose pending free trade agreements with Colombia and South Korea.  These two agreements present significant additional problems to previous FTAs that must be addressed.  The House passage of the Peru FTA should in no way be read as paving the way for these or any future agreements.