KORUS FTA: wrong deal, wrong time
Korea Times 12-31-2010
KORUS FTA: wrong deal, wrong time
By Elizabeth Shuler
For the first time in our history, parents think their kids will have a harder time than they had getting ahead. Right now, we need to be fighting harder than ever to keep good jobs in America, rebuild our middle class and restore our nation’s standing in the world.
That’s why the proposed Korea trade deal is the wrong deal at the wrong time. The last thing we need is a new trade agreement that will put at risk yet more industrial jobs for future generations.
The labor movement is not opposed to trade or globalization ― but our country cannot continue to negotiate trade agreements that favor corporate profits over people.
We need a new trade policy geared toward creating good jobs at home and sustainable development abroad. And we need that trade policy to be part of a coordinated national economic strategy that invests in infrastructure, skills and technology, so America can lead once again in the global economy.
The proposed Korea trade deal falls short. It would exacerbate offshoring of good jobs, while doing too little to protect workers’ rights and good jobs for Korean and American workers.
In the past, we’ve been given grand promises that trade deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and China’s entry into the World Trade Organization would create new jobs. Those jobs never materialized.
The Obama administration has an opportunity to re-evaluate and improve these deals in order to make trade truly fair to all workers going forward. Real fair trade promotes human rights for all workers, safeguards the environment and creates good jobs with fair wages for all countries involved. That’s the future we want to leave to the next generation.
Elizabeth Shuler is secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, a federation of 57 domestic and international labor unions representing 12.2 million people. She contributed this article to USA Today.
