If we’re going to save jobs and
stop CAFTA—the Dominican
Republic-Central American Free Trade
Agreement—we’ve got to act now.
President George W. Bush has moved CAFTA
(also called “NAFTA’s twin brother)
to Congress, and our senators and
representatives need to hear from us
now.
There probably are 1,000 good reasons
to stop CAFTA. They all boil down to
jobs. Let’s look at 10 good ones.
- CAFTA would give new
protections to U.S. multinational
companies for operating
outside the country. Like companies need
more incentives to move jobs!
- At the same time, CAFTA would reduce
protections for workers—here
and in Central America.
- That one-two punch combines to
make goods produced in other
countries cheaper and less risky for
the makers—and to make it
impossible for U.S. manufacturers to
compete.
- When we can’t compete with
foreign goods, we import more and
our trade deficit soars. It happened
with NAFTA. Our trade
deficit with NAFTA countries is 12
times bigger than before NAFTA—it
shot up from $9 billion in 1993 to
$111 billion last year.
- When imports and our trade deficit
grow, we lose jobs. We lost
an estimated 900,000 net jobs to
NAFTA.
Heard enough? Click the following
link to tell your members of Congress to
stop CAFTA, or keep reading.
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/No_CAFTA
- You can’t
believe what the trade-at-all-costs
folks are saying about CAFTA.
When you hear claims that CAFTA will
create U.S. jobs and improve living
standards in Central America,
remember this: That’s what they
said about NAFTA.
- CAFTA would hurt, not
help, Central American and Dominican
workers. Look at NAFTA’s
legacy: Displaced Mexican
subsistence farmers were turned into
unemployed masses, far, far
outnumbering the few jobs created.
Workers who find jobs manufacturing
goods for export are out of luck.
Overall, real wages for Mexican
workers actually have fallen since
NAFTA.
- CAFTA would hurt workers who
don’t lose jobs, too. It
would make it easier for employers
to fight workers struggling to form
unions by threatening to
close down. NAFTA did: By
the late 1990s, employers threatened
to shut down if workers formed a
union in 51 percent of union
representation election
campaigns—and 71 percent in
manufacturing. That’s a whopping
increase from the 29 percent in the
mid-1980s.
- In addition—increased
trade lowers wages for low-skilled
U.S. workers. Real wages
for most U.S. men actually have
fallen since NAFTA.
- U.S. workers already are hurting
from anti-worker trade policies. Now
is the time to do trade the
right way—by rewarding work and
respecting workers here and
in other countries.
Please take a minute now to share
this information with your members of
Congress and urge them to stop CAFTA.
Thank you for working for working
families—and for good jobs.
In solidarity,
Working Families e-Activist Network,
AFL-CIO
June 23, 2005
P.S.
Please forward this e-mail to your
co-workers, friends and family and ask
them to take action.
