 October 2002
American Friends Service Committee Peacework Magazine Patrica Watson, Editor Sara Burke, Assistant Editor Pat Farren, Founding Editor 2161 Massachusetts Ave. Telephone number: Fax number:
pwork@igc.org Peacework has been published monthly since 1972, intended to serve as a source of dependable information to those who strive for peace and justice and are committed to furthering the nonviolent social change necessary to achieve them. Rooted in Quaker values and informed by AFSC experience and initiatives, Peacework offers a forum for organizers, fostering coalition-building and teaching the methods and strategies that work in the global and local community. Peacework seeks to serve as an incubator for social transformation, introducing a younger generation to a deeper analysis of problems and issues, reminding and re-inspiring long-term activists, encouraging the generations to listen to each other, and creating space for the voices of the disenfranchised. Views expressed are those of the authors, not necessarily of the AFSC. |
Getting to Know the Free Trade Area of the Americas
Text of a pamphlet prepared for use in New Hampshire by Arnie
Alpert, NH Fair Trade, c/o AFSC, 4 Park St., Suite 209, Concord,
NH 03301; aalpert@afsc.org or (603) 224-2407. They encourage people
to adapt it for use in their own communities. What if someone told you there was an international agreement which could:
Would you want that agreement to pass? Such an agreement has been under negotiation since 1998.
It's called the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
There's still time to stop the FTAA. We need your help! Negotiations on the FTAA are scheduled to be completed in 2004. A ratification vote is expected in the US Congress in 2004 or 2005. Ask the candidates about the FTAA (sample questions)
How did they respond? Please send your report to:
Arnie Alpert, NH Fair Trade, c/o AFSC, 4 Park St., Suite 209,
Concord, NH 03301 Additional information on-line:
People's Consultation, www.peoplesconsultation.org What is the Free Trade Area of the Americas? The Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a proposed trade agreement which would strengthen and extend the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) to the entire Western Hemisphere, except Cuba. The FTAA would further reduce the power of local, state, and national governments to determine their own health, environmental, and labor policies, and would go even further than NAFTA in extending rights and protections to international investors and trans-national corporations. It includes no enforceable rules to protect the environment or the human rights of workers.
The FTAA is being negotiated behind closed doors. It will come
before Congress for ratification in 2004 or 2005. Under "Fast
Track" authority Congress cannot amend the FTAA. Trading Away Public Services
The FTAA would give corporations a right to bid on buying or operating
all public services, including schools, libraries, and even the
public water supply force governments to give contracts to the
lowest bidder without considering fair labor practices, corporate
safety records, or environmental responsibility. Trading Away Democracy
The FTAA would expand the rights of foreign investors to directly
sue a government over laws that threaten their profits, including
laws protecting workers, the environment, public health, and consumer
safety. The case would be heard by a closed tribunal, not in open
court. In similar cases under NAFTA, tribunals have already awarded
corporations millions of taxpayer dollars in compensation. Trading Away Jobs Even before NAFTA and the WTO, manufacturing companies were leaving New Hampshire for countries with weak or non-existent unions, low labor standards, and poor environmental protection. While NAFTA and the WTO protect corporate trademarks and the rights of investors, they give no protection to the human rights of workers to form unions. In the summer of 2002, the foreign owners of Milford's Permattach Diamond Tool Corp. announced the plant's closure and the layoff of 45 people, citing "competitors using cheaper materials, labor and overhead from countries such as Mexico, China and India." L.W. Packard, a woolen mill in Ashland, closed shop, laid off 50 people, and shipped its state-of-the-art equipment to its new factory in China.
FTAA would accelerate the loss of New Hampshire jobs by making
it easier for companies to move their work to sweatshops. Trading Away Worker Protections and Human Rights Prevailing wage laws in more than thirty states require contractors working on public construction projects to pay their employees at least the wages and benefits that "prevail" in their local communities for similar work. More than 77 cities and counties have passed "living wage" ordinances that set a threshold for wages and benefits higher than the legal minimum. State laws and local ordinances penalized corporations doing business in South Africa during the years of apartheid.
Under FTAA, such laws would be subject to challenge by foreign
companies if they are "more burdensome than necessary"
to business. Qualifications other than on price and quality would
be considered unfair barriers to trade. What you can do: Contact your Senators and Representatives and tell them to vote NO on the FTAA. Tell Presidential candidates what you think about the FTAA and find out their opinions. Contact us to arrange a presentation on the FTAA for your organization or class.
Join the international grassroots campaign to defeat the FTAA
(www.peoplesconsultation.org). 
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