Tag: free trade

At Ryan for Kentucky, we believe that the playing field has been tilted against working families for far too long. My whole life, it seems that war has been waged on union workers and workers attempting to form new unions. I have witnessed this personally in a union fight. Although initially, 80% of the workers at our warehouse signed on to become union, the long process allowed the company to come in and “behind the scenes” peel off these votes. How? By turning worker against worker. Promising promotion of certain workers, and higher wages and more benefits if the union failed.

In the end, After workers being bribed and intimidated on the day of the union vote, it failed by one vote. Then, a month after the union vote, ou company announced it was shutting down our warehouse and moving elsewhere.

Yes, the playing field has long been tilted against workers in this country organizing new unions. The Bush years have only seen it grow worse. Our Representative, Exxon Ed Whitfield has been a constant enemy of workers having the right to organize for better lives.

He voted against the Employee Free Choice Act which would put an end to the problems I just described. Yes, to millionaires like Ed Whitfield, employees should not have the right to negotiate with corporations and companies that pull in billions of dollars a year for better wages and benefits.

But it goes much deeper than that. Exxon Ed Whitfield never met a free trade agreement he didn’t love. Forget the fact that American high-paying middle-class jobs that have been the backbone of this country since WWII are being shipped overseas by greedy corporations. Forget the fact that Free Trade has cost the American worker dearly, Exxon Eddie doesn’t even believe in helping those whose livelihoods were lost by the corporate sponsored government policies of greed, and profit:

Voted NO on assisting workers who lose jobs due to globalization.

H.R.3920: Trade and Globalization Act of 2007: Amends the Trade Act of 1974 to allow the filing for trade adjustment assistance (TAA) by adversely affected workers. Revises group eligibility requirements for TAA to cover: (1) a shift of production or services to abroad; or (2) imports of articles or services from abroad.

Proponents support voting YES because:

Rep. RANGEL: In recent years, trade policy has been a dividing force. This legislation develops a new trade policy that more adequately addresses the growing perception that trade is not working for American workers. The Trade and Globalization Assistance Act would expand training and benefits for workers while also helping to encourage investment in communities that have lost jobs to increased trade–particularly in our manufacturing sector. The bill is a comprehensive policy expanding opportunities for American workers, industries, and communities to prepare for and overcome the challenges created by expanded trade.

Reference: Trade and Globalization Assistance Act; Bill HR3920 ; vote number 2007-1025 on Oct 31, 2007

http://www.massscorecard.org/H…

Lets look back at all the bad deals Exxon Ed Whitfield has voted for to destroy the American middle-class, and preserve corporate profits at all costs. His old buddy Tom Delay, whom he Tried to bail out and voted with 91% of the time  co-sponsored this one:

Voted YES on implementing free trade agreement with Chile.

United States-Chile Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act: Vote to pass a bill that would put into effect a trade agreement between the US and Chile. The agreement would reduce tariffs and trade barriers between the US and Chile. The trade pact would decrease duties and tariffs on agricultural and textile products. It would also open markets for services. The trade pact would establish intellectual property safeguards and would call for enforcement of environmental and labor standards.

Reference: Bill sponsored by DeLay, R-TX; Bill HR 2738 ; vote number 2003-436 on Jul 24, 2003

And it just goes on and on:

Voted YES on implementing US-Singapore free trade agreement.

Vote to pass a bill that would put into effect a trade agreement between the United States and Singapore. The trade agreement would reduce tariffs and trade barriers between the United States and Singapore. The agreement would remove tariffs on goods and duties on textiles, and open markets for services The agreement would also establish intellectual property, environmental and labor standards.

Reference: US-Singapore Free Trade Agreement; Bill HR 2739 ; vote number 2003-432 on Jul 24, 2003

http://www.massscorecard.org/H…

Voted YES on implementing US-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

United States-Australia Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act: implementing free trade with protections for the domestic textile and apparel industries.

Reference: Bill sponsored by Rep Tom DeLay [R, TX-22]; Bill H.R.4759 ; vote number 2004-375 on Jul 14, 2005

http://www.massscorecard.org/H…

Voted YES on implementing CAFTA, Central America Free Trade.

To implement the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement. A vote of YES would:

Progressively eliminate customs duties on all originating goods traded among the participating nations

Preserve U.S. duties on imports of sugar goods over a certain quota

Remove duties on textile and apparel goods traded among participating nations

Prohibit export subsidies for agricultural goods traded among participating nations

Provide for cooperation among participating nations on customs laws and import licensing procedures

Encourage each participating nation to adopt and enforce laws ensuring high levels of sanitation and environmental protection

Recommend that each participating nation uphold the International Labor Organization Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work

Urge each participating nation to obey various international agreements regarding intellectual property rights

Reference: CAFTA Implementation Bill; Bill HR 3045 ; vote number 2005-443 on Jul 28, 2005

Whitfield’s was thedeciding vote on that one.

Then we ended with this:

Voted YES on promoting free trade with Peru.

Approves the Agreement entered into with the government of Peru. Provides for the Agreement’s entry into force upon certain conditions being met on or after January 1, 2008.

Prescribes requirements for:

enforcement of textile and apparel rules of origin;

certain textile and apparel safeguard measures; and

enforcement of export laws governing trade of timber products from Peru.

http://www.massscorecard.org/H…

We need a leader in Washington who doesn’t scorn and ridicule American workers daily. We need a leader in Washington who believes that America should indeed have a middle-class:

It is not hard to figure out that outsourcing American jobs to third world countries is destroying our middle class.  We must stop rewarding companies who send our jobs oversees with tax cuts and begin rewarding companies who invest in our nations future.  

As a member of a staunch union family, and a former union member myself, I understand first hand the need for a living wage as well as benefits and training programs.  I will work tirelessly to fight for the rights of the working person.  For far too long, the citizens of Kentucky have been victimized by the million dollar boy’s club.  It is time for change!

http://www.ryanforkentucky.com…

New leadership brings promise to Kentucky, and American workers!!:

Old leadership brings about the same old complaints:

Please, help us win this race and bring a young, energetic, and most of all compassionate leader who isn’t afraid to fight for workers and Democratic values to Washington:

 

 

What’s for dinner?

 

• Fruit and Veggies laced with pesticides?
• Oysters tainted with Listeria?
• Shrimp sautéed with Salmonella?
• Spinach with a side of E. coli?
• Just plain filthy fish? 

 

Hungry yet? In the last couple months, I know many of us have thought twice while picking our food for our families at the supermarket, and we should. The CDC estimates that 76 million Americans suffer from foodborne illnesses every year, 325,000 are hospitalized, and 5,000 die.

 

While the mainstream media is happy to tell the public of the great threats to their health and safety, scaring them stiff into watching the evening news, they rarely ask why the flood of dangerous imports is happening and of our leaders, what can be done to stop it.

 

 A new report by Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch offers an answer to those questions. The report called “Trade Deficit in Food Safety: Proposed NAFTA Expansions Replicate Limits on U.S. Food Safety Policy that Are Contributing to Unsafe Food Imports” draws the link between the Bush administration’s damaging trade policies and our food safety problems.

 

Our food imports have increased sharply, almost doubling in value, since NAFTA and the WTO passed in the mid-‘90s. Seafood imports alone have increased 65 percent. For the first time in 2005, the United  States, formerly known as the world’s bread basket, became a net food importer, with a food deficit of nearly $370 million. 

 

There may not be anything inherently wrong with increasing the food imports into our country, but there is something inherently dangerous about doing so when our ability to inspect those imports is decreasing even more sharply than our increase in imports. In 1992, the FDA inspected 8% of all the food imports under its jurisdiction. In 2006, the inspection rate is now less than one percent, a staggering .6%.

 

NAFTA started this trend, and the Bush administration’s policy of free-trade-at-any-cost has made it worse. Under Bush, the U.S. has already expanded NAFTA to Central America and is now pushing for passage of NAFTA-expansion deals to Peru, Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. 

 

The real problem is that these so-called “trade” agreements do more than increase trade of goods between nations. Trade rules incorporated into the proposed FTAs with Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea limit food safety standards and border inspection. The agreements require the United  States to rely on foreign regulatory structures and foreign safety inspectors to ensure that food imports are safe. The agreements require that the U.S. food safety regulators treat imported food the same as domestically produced food, even though more intensive inspection of imported goods is needed to compensate for often weak domestic regulatory systems in some exporting nations.

 

Last November, Democrats won a much-needed and much-deserved majority in Congress, and trade issues played no small part in helping usher in new leadership. 37 supporters of our failed trade policy lost their seats to Democrats campaigning on fair trade. The food safety issue is just one aspect of the Bush administration’s trade policy that has hurt Americans, but it’s also an issue that Democrats can start fixing right now to make a real difference in people’s lives. While several Democratic leaders have proposed legislation to help mend our food safety regulatory system, none of those steps will suffice if our leaders keep passing these Bush administration trade deals. The first step that Democrats can take is to vote “no” to NAFTA expansions to Peru, Panama, Colombia, and South Korea. 

 

To read the report, sign a petition or find out what you can do to protect yourself from dangerous imports visit http://www.citizen.org/trade/food/ or read our blog, http://www.eyesontrade.org for continuing coverage of the unsafe food import crisis.