Unions Kill Trade Agreement - Real Improvement Unrewarded

By Warner Todd Huston Posted in Economy — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

The powerful union lobbies in the US have cornered their lapdogs in the Democrat Party and succeeded in killing the free trade agreement that we had brokered with Colombia. The main reason that unions twisted the arms of their Dem representatives is supposed to be because of Colombia's admittedly horrid history of violence against unions and workers.

John Sweeney, president of the largest US federation of unions, the AFL-CIO, detailed the allegations in a Washington Post op-ed April 14: "In Colombia, joining a union or advocating for workers' rights can be a de facto death sentence," he said. "The human-rights atrocities against union activists and supporters are not isolated, rogue events; they are committed largely by the armed forces and paramilitary organizations with ties to elected officials close to President [Alvaro] Uribe."

Now, who can deny that such a history is lamentable? I, for one, am one of those folks who complains that the US government works so closely with the murderous, inhuman Chinese, for example, so I can very much sympathize with the sentiment that we should not reward criminal nations that perpetrate such murderous and violent actions against their own people.

Michael Fumento, though, effectively demolishes the unions stance by noting the startling improvement in Colombia under Colombia's president Uribe.

Yes, Colombia has a high murder rate. With much of the country still in the control of vicious leftist narco-terrorists (supported by Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez), you'd expect a high murder rate among any one group - from union members to midgets. That said, last year's 17,198 homicides (among 45 million people) was a drop of 40 percent from the 28,837 in 2002.

Deaths among Colombia's union members plummeted even farther - from a high of 275 in 1996 to only 39 last year. That's a drop of 86 percent in a decade.

And that's 39 killings (a figure the AFL-CIO itself cited last month) out of about 800,000 union workers - or about five murders per 100,000 union members. How does that constitute "a de facto death sentence" - when the murder rate for the population as a whole is about eight times higher?

Now, wait a minute. Isn't it "improvement" and "success" and "effort" that leftists always claim to want to see to afford any rewards? How much better does Colombia have to do to show vast improvement than an 86% drop in the sort of murders that the unions here are complaining about?

In the end, it is all a lie by both the unions and their lapdogs in the Dem Party when they say that Colombia doesn't deserve the free trade agreement because of how unionists are treated there. What American unions and the Democrats want to avoid is any success for the waning Bush Administration.

That is it.

They couldn't care less about the lives of union members in Colombia. And by killing the trade agreement, the unions here are proving that they don't care if Colombia's union members get to keep their jobs, either!

Be sure and Visit my Home blog Publius' Forum. It's what's happening NOW!

The union bosses want Hugo Chavez's versions of unions by civil truth

To h**l with union democracy or human rights; they want unions that will enforce a left-wing government that will expropriate all private investment and destroy the economy so that they are the only ones left with money and arms.

This is not something I feel civil about; this is sheer sedition.

And Rightly So!

Reply To This — User Info — #1

And From the Website of Republican Senator... by cmugrad

.... Olympia Snowe explaining her opposition to the proposed Columbia Free Trade agreement:

April 7, 2008

Washington, D.C. -
U.S. Senator Snowe (R-Maine), a senior member of the Senate Committee on Finance, spoke out in opposition to the administration’s decision to submit the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement to Congress for consideration under the "Fast-Track" Trade Promotion Authority.

"I will not support the FTA with Colombia due to ongoing concerns about Bogotá’s failure to prosecute individuals, including some close to its government and military, who have murdered and otherwise oppressed union leaders in that country," Senator Snowe said. "Mere progress by the Colombian Government in reducing still unconscionable levels of violence against trade unionists is simply not enough. An FTA creates a privileged trade relationship between economies that function along the same basic lines, but that is not the situation with Colombia – where violent suppression of labor rights, in addition to the human rights outrage it represents, also put U.S. workers and businesses at risk from unfair competition by Colombian producers who willfully make use of exploited workers."

Senator Snowe also rejected the argument that the FTA simply eliminates the one-sided nature of the existing Andean trade preference program, under which most Colombian goods are already allowed into the U.S. at reduced duty rates.

"Unlike the current unilateral preference program which must be periodically renewed by Congress, the duty reductions extended to Colombian products under the FTA would be permanent, thus abandoning the main U.S. leverage for motivating Colombia to end violence against union leaders. Moreover, the agreement’s investment provisions— which are not part of the existing preference program—would make it easier for corporations to move their manufacturing operations to Colombia and out of countries, such as the United States, with greater labor rights protections."

Senator Snowe also expressed disappointment with the Administration’s decision to submit the agreement before legislation reauthorizing and expanding Trade Adjustment Assistance, such as the Trade and Globalization Adjustment Assistance Act she introduced with Max Baucus last year, had been enacted:

"I, like Chairman Baucus and several of our colleagues, repeatedly have made clear that a comprehensive reauthorization of TAA should be the first order of business. In ignoring this advice, the administration has again put its free-trade dogma ahead of the interests of American workers."

Reply To This — User Info — #2

Translation: by RandomGuy

I'm from a squishy state and I'm a coward.

"I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist – jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference." - John McCain

Reply To This — User Info — #3

How About This Translation... by cmugrad

....directed toward Columbia.

We are not going to negotiate any new free trade agreement to replace the current unilateral trade agreement in which Columbian goods can enter the US with few or no tariffs but US goods still face tariffs when exported from the US to Columbia.

You, the country of Columbia, will either reduce or eliminate your tariffs on US made goods entering Columbia AND address the issue of the harassment and the murder of union members in Columbia or the US will scrap its current unilateral agreement and impose tariffs on Columbian goods entering the US.

Sounds fair to me.

Reply To This — User Info — #4

disengenuous to the point of evil by kyle8

Or at least to the point of abject stupidity. She is falling for the anti trade garbage and passing it off as a condemnation of an ally for pursuing TERRORISTS in their own country. Terrorists who have done far more damage to them than any we have ever had to encounter.

"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle

Reply To This — User Info — #5

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