Stop the FTAA — learn from NAFTA

by Scott Marshall

Thousands will be marching in the streets of Miami, Florida, during the 
week of November 17-21, protesting the proposed Free Trade Agreement of the 
Americas (FTAA). They will pour into Miami from all over the country and 
from all over the world. The protestors will be trade unionists, anti-
globalisation activists, environmentalists, family farmers, religious 
activists, civil and human rights activists. Thousands will come to Miami 
to make their voices heard at a meeting of trade ministers from around the 
Americas.

This, the eighth trade ministerial meeting to discuss the FTAA, is widely 
viewed as a critical step toward its creation.

The FTAA is a North and South American hemispheric trade agreement that 
will enhance the influence of US monopolies and corporate economic 
domination on both continents. The proposed agreement involves 34 
countries. Cuba is the only country in the hemisphere not participating. 
The US aims to have a treaty in place by January of 2005.

"NAFTA on steroids"

The proposed FTAA trade agreement has been described as "NAFTA on 
steroids". NAFTA, the existing North American Free Trade Agreement, has so 
far resulted in the loss of over one million jobs in the US, mostly in 
manufacturing.

In Mexico NAFTA has driven an additional eight million people into poverty. 
An estimated 28,000 small businesses in Mexico have folded due to unfair 
competition from huge transnational corporations. Since NAFTA, over a 
million additional workers in Mexico now make less than $4.60 a day, the 
minimum wage in that country.

FTAA will accelerate and geometrically increase this "race to the bottom" 
for all workers in the hemisphere. FTAA will extend the reach of NAFTA 
(read US and other multinational corporations) to cover 800 million people. 
This is double the number covered by NAFTA. The FTAA's expansion will mean 
about a 400 percent increase in the number of low-wage workers competing 
for jobs.

If approved, the FTAA will become the world's largest "free trade" zone. 
The FTAA would greatly increase the potential power and scope of 
corporations and banks over local and national economies.

The FTAA would extend pro-corporate "free trade" rules to cover many 
service and financial interests. These include the insurance industry, 
health care, energy, education, transportation, and construction.

Just as NAFTA has been devastating to manufacturing in the US, FTAA will 
accelerate this "race to the bottom" effect by greatly increasing the 
mobility of capital in the service industries. With new technologies like 
the internet and advanced communications, FTAA will mean quicker and 
greater job loss for US service workers. And, as has been the case with 
manufacturing under NAFTA, it will mean even greater poverty and misery for 
those in areas where work is shifted in pursuit of low wages.

Needless to say, FTAA will not expand labour rights and environmental 
standards. Both labour and the environmental movement fought long and hard 
to build a vast coalition to defeat NAFTA. While NAFTA was ratified, it was 
by a slim majority. Even so, the anti-NAFTA coalition had grown to include 
most mainstream civil rights, human rights, women, youth, religious and 
even many small business groups.

Sham "side agreements"

This broad people's coalition forced side agreements to the NAFTA treaty 
that were supposed to deal with labour and environmental standards. But 
these side agreements turned out to be a total sham. In most cases, 
complaints have resulted in stonewalling because there are no mechanisms 
for forcing companies to comply with labour or environmental standards.

For example, Sony workers in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, brought complaints 
against Sony and the Mexican Government for conspiring to deny workers the 
right to organise an independent union at the plant. The company fired 
workers trying to organise and worked with the government to guarantee that 
the company union won the election in violation of Mexican labour law.

They also used police violence to break up a peaceful picket by the 
independent union. Even though the NAFTA officials who heard the case 
agreed that there were serious labour violations, no workers were 
reinstated, no penalties were assessed, and no independent union was 
allowed to be organised.

The FTAA negotiators have already made it clear that the new treaty will 
also have no enforcement power on labour and environmental standards.

Disaster for agriculture, immigration

NAFTA has been a disaster in agriculture and FTAA only promises to make 
matters worse. NAFTA has made it easier for large agribusiness to control 
prices and markets across all borders. Both US and Mexican farmers have 
seen their incomes decline.

NAFTA has also aggravated immigration issues. The continued impoverishment 
of Mexican workers and farmers has forced thousands more to leave home in 
search of jobs to support their families. NAFTA and FTAA are all about 
freedom of capital to migrate without any barriers, but labour is not 
allowed the same rights. Instead, these treaties have contributed to new 
levels of immigrant-bashing, racist hysteria and anti-foreign sentiment.

"Free trade" and sovereignty

Another key issue that has emerged from bad experience with NAFTA is 
violations of local and national sovereignty and democracy. The most famous 
case involves the Canadian postal system. In 2000, United Parcel Service 
(UPS) sued the Ottawa Government for US$230 million in damages under 
provisions of NAFTA.

The suit claimed that Canada was hurting UPS's business with its national 
postal service monopoly, Canada Post. UPS is suing for damage to future 
profits claiming that the postal monopoly has an unfair advantage in its 
express package service. The case is still pending.

Another well-known case involves a suit against a local Mexican Government 
in the state of San Luis Potosi by Metalclad, a US-based company. When the 
Mexican Government dared to insist on a regulatory process for Metalclad to 
reopen a toxic waste dump, the company sued, stating that its right to make 
a profit had been infringed upon. Metalclad won in a secret three-person 
tribunal, and was paid US$17 million.

These examples also illustrate the "free trade" attack on basic democracy 
and the destruction of the people's right to demand government protection 
of their interests. It has long been the social compact of this country, 
and most others, that the government acts for the people to protect 
citizens against unbridled corporate monopolies and power.

This democratic and protective role of government is deeply embedded in the 
US Constitution. Yet NAFTA provides companies the mechanism to challenge 
and even overthrow this government function. FTAA would even go further by 
expanding the use of secret tribunals and mechanisms now in place under 
NAFTA.

Another anti-democratic feature of the FTAA is the secrecy surrounding the 
negotiations. The original talks between trade ministers were begun in deep 
concealment in 1994.

As word leaked out, public demands for transparency, especially from labour 
and the anti-globalisation movement, forced them somewhat into the 
daylight. Nevertheless, the actual language of the agreement was long 
shrouded in secrecy and only belatedly published due to intense protest.

While there are no labour, environmental or civil society representatives 
at the negotiating table, 500 corporate representatives have the necessary 
secret clearances to read all documents and to participate in deliberations 
of FTAA drafting and working committees.

Growing movement

American labour has been in on the ground floor of raising the alarm on 
FTAA. The AFL-CIO, working with ORIT, a regional labour organisation that 
includes most of the major labour federations in the hemisphere, held the 
first labour forum and demonstration against FTAA at the Denver, Colorado, 
trade ministers meeting in 1995. American labour and the AFL-CIO have 
increased their participation in FTAA protests exponentially ever since.

The Seattle demonstrations against the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in 
1999 marked a new stage in opposition to corporate controlled "free trade" 
in the United States. The labour movement was the critical force around 
which such a broad coalition of forces gelled in Seattle.

Many observers remarked on the "Teamsters and Turtles" phenomenon 
representing the impressive new unity of labour and the environmental 
movements in opposing corporate controlled globalisation. But the coalition 
was much bigger and broader, including farmers, women, civil rights and all 
manner of nationally and racially oppressed people's organisations, youth, 
and religious activists.

The Miami protests are shaping up to be even bigger than Seattle, not only 
in size, but also in their breadth and potential impact. Already the AFL-
CIO, and the industrial unions in particular, are working hard to mobilise 
for Miami. The AFL-CIO has initiated an "I vote no on the FTAA" campaign in 
the US: www.unionvoice.org/campaign/ftaaballot.

The initiative comes out of the Hemispheric Social Alliance, a coalition of 
unions and community allies from all of the Americas. Plans are to deliver 
millions of ballots and postcards opposing the FTAA from all around the 
hemisphere.

The newly formed Industrial Union Council of the AFL-CIO has an ambitious 
plan of mobilisation for Miami. It includes targeting key cities in 
"battleground" states and designating key unions that are strong in each 
area to head up the efforts.

Both the Steelworkers and the Teamsters, big participants in Seattle, are 
hitting the ground running. The Steelworkers have scheduled their executive 
board meeting and are also calling a conference of their Rapid Response 
activists at the same time in Miami, just prior to the demonstrations.

The 2004 US presidential elections will figure large in deliberations about 
the FTAA. George Bush accelerated the FTAA talks after taking office and 
many consider him vulnerable because of the bad economy and the worsening 
trade imbalances.

Already an exciting mixture of marches, demonstrations and educational 
activities are being planned for the entire week of November 17-21 in 
Miami. The week will feature a "People's Gala," an evening of speakers, 
entertainment and cultural presentations. Local coalitions are forming all 
over the place to mobilise for Miami.

Scott Marshall is a vice-chairman of the Communist Party USA and serves as 
chairman of the Party's National Labour Commission.

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People's Weekly World, paper Communist Party, USA (Abridged)