http://www.aflcio.org/...
Excerpts from the AFL-CIO website, with much more at the link:
"McCain ‘Would Negotiate a Free Trade Agreement with Almost Any Country.’ "If I were president, I would negotiate a free trade agreement with almost any country." (Speech to National Press Club, 5/20/99)
Rising Chinese Trade Deficits Resulted in 2.1 Million Displaced Jobs. "The rise in the U.S. trade deficit with China between 1997 and 2006 has displaced production that could have supported 2,166,000 U.S. jobs....Between 1997 and 2001, trade deficits displaced an average of 101,000 jobs per year.... Since China entered the WTO in 2001, job loss has increased to an average of 353,000 per year." ("Costly Trade With China," Economy Policy Institute, 10/9/07)
McCain Believes Human Rights Should Have No Bearing on MFN Trading Status. According to Project Vote Smart, McCain does not think a country’s record on human rights should have any bearing on awarding Most Favored Nation trading status. (Project VoteSmart, 1998)"
"McCain Helped Airbus Get a $35 Billion Contract Over Boeing; Contract Awarded Unfairly. McCain stepped in to make it easier for EADS/Airbus to get the contract for the Air Force refueling tankers over Boeing. Three of his campaign advisers lobbied for EADS, and his campaign received $28,000 in contributions from EADS execs, lobbyists and employees after he began to speak out on EADS’ behalf. The Government Accountability Office investigated the deal and found that Boeing had been unfairly judged and should have another opportunity to compete for the contract. If Boeing had won the contract, it would have supported 44,000 good jobs in more than 40 states, many of which would have been union jobs.
McCain Voted to Allow Unsafe Foreign Trucks on U.S. Roads. McCain voted against an amendment to prohibit Mexican trucks from operating beyond a limited border zone because they are not held to the same safety standards as U.S. trucks. (H.R. 2299, Vote 252, 7/26/01)
Fired McCain Campaign Co-Chairman Lobbied for Free Trade with Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia. Former Rep. Thomas Loeffler is the founder and chairman of his own lobbying firm, the Loeffler Group. He was McCain’s campaign co-chairman and chief money man before being forced out of the campaign because of controversy over his lobbying for foreign governments, specifically Saudi Arabia. He has been an advocate for trade agreements with Hong Kong. (Los Angeles Times, 5/19/08.."
Here's more on the Mexican truck debacle from Teamsters Magazine.
http://www.teamster.org/...
"There is a plan no one talks about very much, one that floats over the horizon like an approaching storm at sea. In this business dream, the Pacific ports of the United States will be shifted south to new massive anchorages in Mexico even though this increases the shipping distance by 30 percent for all the Asian tonnage. These new ports will be linked by major train and truck arteries -- NAFTA Corridors -- to the cities of the United States and Canada. Mexican trucking companies will be bought (and are being bought up now) by American firms and Mexican truckers will deliver the freight and freely drive all U.S. highways. In this plan, the shipping of the United States leaves union ports and the long haul trucking leaves union drivers.
An enlarged I-35 will reach north from the sister cities of Laredo/Nuevo Laredo 1,600 miles to Canada via San Antonio, Austin, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Kansas City, the Twin Cities and Duluth and I-69 will originate at the same crossing and streak north to Michigan. Each corridor will be about 1,200 feet wide. Six lanes will be dedicated to cars, four to trucks and in the middle will be rail and utilities. The goods will come from new Mexican ports on the Pacific coast. At the moment, at least five such corridors are on the drawing boards."
The Teamsters Union continues to be the major advocate supporting regulatory action and legislative initiatives to ensure that only those foreign trucks that meet all U.S. vehicle safety and emissions standards be permitted access to our nation's highways.
The lack of an adequate drug and alcohol testing program, the inability of DOT safety inspectors to have access to Mexican facilities to conduct safety fitness reviews, the fact that hours-of-service and logbook regulations are not enforced, are just some of the vehicle and driver standards that need to be addressed before Mexican trucks are permitted to travel beyond the commercial border zones.