Labor & Employment Law

Senate Measure Backing Korea-U.S. FTA Dies

By admin

This is a cross-post from the Washington State Labor Council.

Legislation before the Washington State Legislature?pushed by multinational corporations and the notorious billionaire Koch brothers?urging Congress to pass the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has died without a vote in the state Senate. Senate Joint Memorial 8006, sponsored by Sen. Val Stevens (R-Arlington), failed to survive Monday’s cutoff deadline for legislation to pass from its house of origin. Though it could be revived through extraordinary procedural means, it is effectively dead for the session.

Organized labor and other advocates for job creation in the United States are strongly opposed to the Korea FTA, another in a long string of trade agreements pushed by multinational corporations in recent decades that have proven time and again to promote the offshoring of American jobs.

“The experiences of union members and working people with too many flawed trade deals like the North American Free Trade Agreement and China’s accession to the World Trade Organization do not justify optimism that this deal will generate the promised new jobs,” AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka said in a statement. “We’ve seen U.S. multinational companies take advantage of the investment and other corporate protections in past trade deals to shift production offshore, while maintaining access to the U.S. consumer market and undermining the jobs, wages and bargaining power of American workers. And the results have been catastrophic, with chronic and unsustainable trade deficits that sap economic growth and domestic job creation.”

SJM 8006 was instigated by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative corporate-funded organization promoting “small” government that produces model legislation for state lawmakers. Among ALEC’s primary funders are the infamous Koch brothers, the Kansas billionaires who are funding right-wing activities ranging from the Tea Party to Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s assault on Wisconsin public employees’ collective bargaining rights.

Sen. Maralyn Chase (D-Shoreline) led opposition to SJM 8006 within the state Senate, and strong grassroots pressure was coordinated by the Washington Fair Trade Coalition (WFTC) and its member groups, including the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO. The effort was also coordinated by Sarah Edelman of Public Citizen.

WFTC Director Kristin Beifus thanks everyone involved in defeating this legislation and is now spreading the word across the country to “watch out for similar bills coming to your state!”

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on March 10, 2011 (boomark / email).