On
Monday, President Obama sent the trade agreements with Colombia, Korea and Panama to Congress, and
Eric Cantor has introduced them in the House along with Democratic co-sponsors. The agreements are expected to pass, and that's really too bad for
American workers who will lose jobs and
Colombian union activists who will continue to be murdered with tacit American approval.
The AFL-CIO is campaigning against passage of the deals, with an ad in The Hill, Roll Call and Politico and a national call-in day, saying:
- The Korea agreement is the largest off-shoring deal of its kind since NAFTA. If enacted, it likely will displace 159,000 U.S. jobs, mostly in manufacturing. And its glaring loopholes would allow unscrupulous businesses to import illegally labeled goods from China and possible even from sweatshops in North Korea—potentially without any tariffs at all.
- In Colombia, one trade unionist is murdered nearly every week and almost none of the murderers are brought to justice. In 2010, 51 trade unionists were assassinated in Colombia—more than in the rest of the world combined. So far in 2011, another 22 have been killed, despite Colombia’s heralded “Labor Action Plan.” Would we reward a country where 51 CEOs were killed last year?
- And the Panama agreement has many of the problems of the other two deals, like deregulating big banks and letting foreign investors bypass U.S. health, safety labor and environmental laws. Panama is also a tax haven: a place where tax-dodging, money-laundering millionaires and billionaires hide their money.
Proponents of the trade agreements claim they will create jobs, all previous evidence to the contrary.