Like Gasoline
on Flames

You wont find many fans of ambitious new international trade agreements in Marion, Indiana.

One of the largest employers in Marion, Thomson Electronics, represented by Local 1160, has faced so many cutbacks in production and subsequent layoffs that its work force today numbers in the hundreds, down from a high near 4,000 in the mid-1970s.

"Im sure the union did what it could," said Local 1160 member Clinton Tyson, who, until July, had worked there for 29 years. "But it wasnt enough."

Unfortunately, what the union alone can do to stop the global trade policies that are destroying domestic manufacturing industry is virtually nothing.

Despite the efforts of union leaders and the hard work of its members, the decisions that encourage companies to shutter American factories are made in the global marketplace by multinational corporations, far from the production line. In the United States, trade policies are set by lawmakers in Congress and the chief executive, President Bush. They are the only ones with the ultimate authority to change policies that are putting American factories out of business. They are the ones who are responsible for the near-extinction of the countrys industrial base.

Incredibly, the political powers that be have decided more so-called free trade is the answer to the countrys economic problems. Last year, Congress bestowed upon the president fast track trade authority, the ability to negotiate pacts without meddling by legislators. The first agreements under fast track, with Chile and Singapore, were approved by Congress in July. And the trade representatives are just getting warmed up.

Now they are going for what one now-deposed dictator might have called the "mother of all trade agreements." The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which is between the United States and 33 other countries in the Western Hemisphere, encompasses North, South and Central America, from the Yukon Territories of northern Canada past the equator and all the way down to Cape Horn, the gateway to the South Poleevery country but Cuba.

With 800 million people and $13 trillion in combined gross domestic product, the FTAA would be the worlds largest trading bloc in 2005, the year it is scheduled to take effect. While it would grant extensive new rights to multinational corporations, it would provide no guarantees for workers rights, public health, safety or the environment.

If FTAA is enacted, expect to hear even more stories like those union members tell in Colombia, where being a union member could mark you for death. Colombia is the most dangerous nation for union members, with 184 of the worlds 213 confirmed killings last year, according to the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions. While Colombia might be an extreme example, it demonstrates the appeal of companies to countries with weak labor laws.

Here at home, Marion symbolizes the middle America that represents the engine of growth powering our economy since the dawn of the manufacturing age. Since several consecutive presidential administrations have ranked liberal trade policies higher than the value of a strong domestic industrial base, we have slowly and steadily witnessed its agonizing decline.

Operations have been outsourced overseas, where labor laws are cursory and unions are either nonexistent or ineffectual. With the special trade protections of the FTAA, expect multinational companies to ramp up their production, as well as professional and technical operations, in other countries across the hemisphere.

In this democracy, our representatives, from our local mayor to the president of the United States, are accountable to us for every decision they make. If you think your vote doesnt matter, remember Clinton Tyson.

Cast your online ballot against FTAA at www.ibew.org and take a stand against yet another ruinous trade agreement.

  Presidents Message

September 2003 IBEW Journal