WORKING

OF AND
RELATING TO
LABOR


A Quickie In a Dark Corner
Now that NAFTA is Done, What is it Exactly?

by Doug Collins
The Free Press

Major decisions affecting the lives of working people are (again) being hastily made in this country with little democratic input. The North American Free Trade Agreement is just one example.
Full-page ads by Boeing and Citibank in The Seattle Times and other newspapers tell us to like NAFTA before we even have time to learn what it is. In the space of a couple short weeks, Clinton and Congress wheel and deal over NAFTA in dry, calculated, financial terms, ignoring the glaring social loopholes and deciding our nation's fate on the basis of agricultural favors to one politician or another.
In Europe, whole nations vote on whether or not to join the European Community. NAFTA is nothing less than an economic marriage between Mexico and the U.S., but Americans were not asked to even think about it, much less vote on it.
Basically, NAFTA would make it easier to transfer goods between Mexico and the U.S. by eliminating import taxes between the two countries over the next 15 years. President Clinton's claim that this would increase U.S. exports to Mexico is bogus for two simple reasons. First, exports going to Mexico and imports coming from Mexico will be made easier, so NAFTA is not likely to benefit the U.S. trade imbalance.
Second, the real reason that U.S. industrial managers slobber over NAFTA is that the dropping of import taxes would help them transfer the advanced factories of the North to the dollar-a-day workers and squalid environmental standards of Mexico. Unenforceable side agreements on labor and environment are the necessary napkins upon which they wipe their slobber.
In recent years, some half a million factory jobs have been transferred to Mexico alone. (Jobs, it seems, are our major export to Mexico.) Many more U.S. companies have publicly stated their intention to relocate to Mexico upon passage of NAFTA. Even if they don't, NAFTA would allow them to use the threat of relocation to bargain for lower wages here.






Working Abroad

International news excerpted from the local newsletters, Labornotes and 587 News Review.

MEXICO- Four Canadian and 38 U.S. unionists were detained for three hours by Mexican officials in the maquiladora zone of Tijuana. The group of unionists had attempted to speak to Mexican workers at a plant owned by U.S.- based Carlisle Plastics. Canadian members of the group reported that the Mexican officials informed them that it was "illegal to discuss internal working conditions with Mexican workers."

RUSSIA- Three leaders of Russia's Party of Labor, a new political party of independent trade unionists, were detained and beaten by the Moscow militia shortly before Yeltsin's assault on the Parliament building in October. They were released two days later after international protests.

GUATEMALA- On Aug. 19, workers in the Pepsi bottling plant in Guatemala City started legal procedures to form a union. Plant owners have since begun interrogating and threatening the 1,800 employees. Complaints can be forwarded to Chris Sinclair, President, Pepsi International, 1 Pepsi Way, Somers, NY 10589 (Fax: 914-767-7761).

NIGERIA- Oil workers led a 10-day strike in September, demanding that the government release results of presidential elections held last June. Nigeria is currently ruled by a hand-picked successor of former military leader Ibrahim Babangida, who annulled the June elections. The presumed winner of the election was Moshood Abiola, of The social Democratic Party, who has since fled the country, reportedly due to death threats. The strike paralyzed activity across the country as gas pumps ran dry, but election results were not released. The participating unions suspended the strike as a "tactical with-drawal" to allow the government time to reconsider.






Corporate Cry-Babies

In a recent letter sent to area newspapers, Association of Washington Businesses President Don Brunell writes, "Unions are well financed and have a strong and active grassroots network among their members. Business owners should know that and understand what they are up against politically and GET INVOLVED."

We'd like to feel sorry for Brunell, but a lack of political involvement among business leaders is hardly the problem. From 1985 to 1990, corporate political action committees contributed $460 million to political candidates, while labor PACs contributed only $164 million, about a third as much. Individual contributions to politicians are also much more likely to come from business owners or managers - not from workers.
It would be much fairer (and cheaper) to simply do away with political contributions altogether, and guarantee equal coverage for candidates in media news outlets.






Vote With Your Dough This X-mas

Here's an un- wish list of labor-boycotted goods:

DIAMOND WALNUTS. Diamond workers have gone on strike over the company's proposal to cut wages by 30 percent and eliminate health insurance. Diamond, which sells 80 percent of the walnuts in the U.S., has also been cited for using toxic agents such as chlorine bleach and methyl bromide in its processing of walnuts.

CALIFORNIA GRAPES. The United Farm Workers need help in restoring justice for those who toil in the fields. Also, don't forget Chateau Ste. Michelle and Columbia Crest wines come from Washington.

LEVI'S JEANS. In 1990, Levi's fired 1,500 workers in El Paso, Texas, so that they could pay $2.50 a day to workers in Guatemala.

COLOR AID ART SUPPLIES. This corporation has just permanently replaced 1,500 strikers. The strikers were complaining about low wages and exposure to dangerous toxins.

DECKERS SANDALS. The Deckers Corporation has refused to bargain with its employees for more than a year. It produces Teva, Sensi, and Deckers labels.

ACME BOOTS. Including Acme, Dan Post, and Dingo Labels, this highly profitable boot company closed its Tennessee factory, leaving 500 unemployed, and moved its operations to Puerto Rico to take advantage of tax breaks.



Next issue: Co-opted Co-ops.


If you have concerns about your working conditions, write Doug Collins c/o The Free Press, 1463 E. Republican, #178, Seattle 98112.

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Contents on this page were published in the December/Jan, 1994 edition of the Washington Free Press.
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