US Unions on FTAA and Fast Track

 
Despite the fact that much of Brazil's steel production was subject to fewer penalties under the new US steel tariffs than other countries' products, US and Brazilian unions are playing up the issue. US unions support the new anti-dumping tariffs on foreign steel, and their glee includes the possible repercussions for the future of the FTAA and fast- track legislation. Below is an example from the Communications Workers of America's FTAA Update Vol. 2, No. 11:

Among the US trading partner countries which have been complaining loudly about President Bush's decision to apply import tariffs and restrictions on foreign steel, Brazil is one of the loudest. And now the impacts may go to the negotiations for the FTAA (Free Trade Area of the Americas, NAFTA X10).

Their President Cardoso this week berated US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, that the US keeps demanding that other countries open their industries and markets to imports from the US, but doesn't really believe in "Free Trade". The Brazilian leader went so far as to suggest that the US doesn't really want the FTAA, if the it is going to push "protectionism" for the domestic industry.

This is great news for slowing down the FTAA, which the US is trying to have go into effect nationwide by 2005. However, the "legacy costs", the commitments to the retirement benefits and the health care costs of hundreds of thousands of former steel workers still need to be provided for in the solution to the harm caused by years of dumping of foreign steel into the US at less than the actual cost to produce and deliver it.

  
As the US Senate heads towards consideration of the FAST TRACK bill (which passed the House of Representatives by one vote 215 to 214 in December), Amendments are taking shape. The Senate will probably vote on FAST TRACK after their Spring recess, so in early April.

The latest letter to Majority Leader Daschle, signed by 37 Senators, urges that COBRA be more compassionately dealt with in the TAA bill. COBRA is the plan which allows laid off workers (or anyone who is losing their employer provided medical care) to purchase the coverage themselves at the group price plus 2% for a period of 18 months. TAA is the Trade Adjustment Assistance that is supposed to help workers who lose their jobs because of the work going overseas to one of the "free trade areas" or a lower wage trading partner country.

The TAA program is often hard to get certified to qualify for benefits, and is traditionally poorly funded. This year the Republicans are pushing the idea of a tax credit for the COBRA payments a laid off worker would make rather than providing the needed medical coverage. The Senators point out in their letter that meaningful help needs to be provided to laid off workers, not just requiring them to spend 60% of any TAA benefit to get keep their medical coverage and then reimbursing them down the road when they file their taxes.

The Senate is going to link TAA and FAST TRACK when they take it up in April. Since it is likely to pass, it should at least provide some relief to the workers harmed by their jobs going overseas. Urge your Senators to Vote No on FAST TRACK! Even if the TAA is tied to it! Note that this is the position of the AFL-CIO for all working families in the US.

For more information, see the CWA website: http://www.cwa-union.org/international/ftaa