Issue Position: Jobs, Trade, and the Economy

Issue Position

Working together, our businesses and labor organizations built Northern Ohio into an industrial powerhouse - always standing up for America, whether in war or peace.

Springing from the rich soils of the former Great Black Swamp, our farms combined with businesses and industries to form a diversified economy in the crossroads of America. That economy has weathered many economic storms, only to come back with even more vigor. Now, at the dawn of the 21st Century, the economy of Northern Ohio faces even greater challenges.

Unfair trade agreements are draining the economic lifeblood of our region. Unbalanced federal budgets have saddled future generations with staggering amounts of debt and drastically reduced their range of opportunities. Unequal funding formulas have denied many Ohio schoolchildren of an adequate education and threatened our economic future.

America's working men and working women and their families deserve a government that takes their side, not the side of big money. They deserve fair trade agreements that produce a level playing field, not a race to the bottom. They deserve fiscal responsibility, not budget deficits for as far as the eye can see. And, they deserve quality educational opportunity.

Free Trade Among Free Peoples

Trade can be an important development tool for emerging and developing economies. Almost every cycle, the trade deficit explodes to record levels, unemployment remains at undesirable levels and more jobs are being sent overseas. Trade agreements that protect environment, human, and workers rights are significant to furthering this goal while agreements failing to include an ethic and seeking only a race to the bottom only work to cripple the foundation of our economy.

It is imperative to call upon presidential administrations to fight for the domestic automotive industry by opening up Asian markets--especially the closed Japanese market--to autoparts, cars, and trucks made in the U.S.A.

Because of their lack of workers rights, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the bill granting Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) to China are creating increased job loss, more factory shutdowns, and more plants being moved abroad. In Ohio alone, over 160,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since June 2000. With continued pressure from grassroots organizations and businesses-small and large-the tide can turn against unfair trade deals managed by unrepresentative international organizations.

One step in this process involves creating an intracontinental commission to study the working conditions of the people of the United States, Mexico, and Canada. Before any additional trade deals are signed, we must examine the devastating legacy of job loss and the decline in real wages due to NAFTA. We need to put a human face on trade and demand fair trade for all and declare economic independence for all of our working families.

Legislation

H. Res. 336 : This resolution establishes moral and ethical principles to which all trade agreements should adhere in order to use trade as a development tool as opposed to an exploitative one.

H.R. 169 : This bill would require the President to rethink one-sided trade relationships that continue to result in staggering deficits for more than three years.

H.R. 1958 : This bill would withdraw Permanent Normal Trade Relations status from China.

H.R. 4329 : This bill sets certain benchmarks for NAFTA that, if left unmet, would require the President to renegotiate the agreement.

H. Res. 1087: This resolution, also introduced in the Canadian and Mexican legislatures, expresses the sentiment that the North American Free Trade Agreement must be renegotiated to foster fair trade that truly benefits all the people of Canada, the United States and Mexico.

H. Con. Res. 324 : The resolution states that Congress should not enter into the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement. (Read more about this bill.)

Source