17 Nov Make trade work for workers
Posted at 10:57h
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Articles
by Kathia Canlas
THE LABOR WIRE
AFL-CIO
As negotiations on the North American Free Trade Agreement resume today, it has never been clearer that working people must transform this trade agreement, which is actually more of an investment agreement to outsource jobs, into a good trade agreement meant to increase wages and create better jobs. America’s labor movement is committed to making trade work for working people.
Message of the Day - Make Trade Work for Workers
As the NAFTA negotiations reach a crossroads, a few good proposals have been outweighed by
bad ones, including:
- Making prescription medicine more expensive.
- Leaving personal information such as Social Security numbers and employment history unprotected by changing rules on cross-border data flow.
- Ending country-of-origin labels for pork and beef.
As bad as those proposals are, the failure to bring forward good reforms is even worse.
The most important is the absence of new rules to protect worker freedoms so people can form unions and negotiate for better pay and benefits.
It’s time for America’s trade agreements to level the playing field between workers and corporations by ensuring that all three NAFTA countries abide by basic international labor standards so all workers can form or join unions to negotiate to raise wages.
Working families are fighting to make NAFTA benefit working people, not just corporations and the rich.
Kitchen Table Economics
930,000: That’s how many jobs corporate CEOs have shipped away from the United States by using the investor-friendly outsourcing rules under NAFTA.
Take Action
Tell Congress to oppose NAFTA rules that encourage corporate power grabs
Source: The Labor Wire, AFL-CIO
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