Contrary to high-tech industry claims, the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement would endanger more high-tech workers' jobs, unions say.
As part of labor's push against CAFTA, the GOP-sponsored "free trade" treaty between the U.S., Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, the unions added it would permit free transshipment of low-cost high-tech goods produced in third countries, notably China.
"Little new tech industry business (is) to be generated by the paltry amount of new market access granted under the proposed CAFTA," said the report, released by the Communications Workers, the Professional and Technical Engineers and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, an IFPTE affiliate.
"On the contrary, the U.S. already enjoys duty-free access to the bulk of the CAFTA target country markets, and the negligible new access gained would come through WTO channels, where the U.S. high-tech industry would risk being displaced by lower cost information-technology-exporting countries.
"For U.S. high-tech workers, this would sustain the pattern of job losses already experienced due to offshoring of U.S. high-tech jobs," it adds.
Representatives of SPEEA, WashTech -- a Communications Workers local trying to organize Microsoft and other information technology workers -- and IFPTE released the report May 10. Other unionists headed to Capitol Hill to lobby against NAFTA.
The latter group, from the nation's industrial unions, stressed CAFTA follows the pattern of NAFTA, the labor-opposed U.S.-Mexico-Canada treaty that cost 880,000 industrial jobs in the last decade.
"Attempts by the U.S. high-tech industry to sell the agreement as a boon need to be examined carefully, both regarding how real the touted gains would be, and against which large CAFTA-caused problems any small gains must be measured," the union report warned. Microsoft is leading the high-tech industry lobbying for CAFTA, it adds.
No date has been set for Congressional votes on CAFTA, which has drawn opposition from farm-state lawmakers, unions, workers in the Central American nations and other groups. Legislation implementing CAFTA on an up-or-down vote with no amendments is the Bush administration's top trade priority this year.
This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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Visit the Workday Minnesota special section, Trade and jobs
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Contrary to high-tech industry claims, the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement would endanger more high-tech workers’ jobs, unions say.
As part of labor’s push against CAFTA, the GOP-sponsored “free trade” treaty between the U.S., Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador and the Dominican Republic, the unions added it would permit free transshipment of low-cost high-tech goods produced in third countries, notably China.
“Little new tech industry business (is) to be generated by the paltry amount of new market access granted under the proposed CAFTA,” said the report, released by the Communications Workers, the Professional and Technical Engineers and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, an IFPTE affiliate.
“On the contrary, the U.S. already enjoys duty-free access to the bulk of the CAFTA target country markets, and the negligible new access gained would come through WTO channels, where the U.S. high-tech industry would risk being displaced by lower cost information-technology-exporting countries.
“For U.S. high-tech workers, this would sustain the pattern of job losses already experienced due to offshoring of U.S. high-tech jobs,” it adds.
Representatives of SPEEA, WashTech — a Communications Workers local trying to organize Microsoft and other information technology workers — and IFPTE released the report May 10. Other unionists headed to Capitol Hill to lobby against NAFTA.
The latter group, from the nation’s industrial unions, stressed CAFTA follows the pattern of NAFTA, the labor-opposed U.S.-Mexico-Canada treaty that cost 880,000 industrial jobs in the last decade.
“Attempts by the U.S. high-tech industry to sell the agreement as a boon need to be examined carefully, both regarding how real the touted gains would be, and against which large CAFTA-caused problems any small gains must be measured,” the union report warned. Microsoft is leading the high-tech industry lobbying for CAFTA, it adds.
No date has been set for Congressional votes on CAFTA, which has drawn opposition from farm-state lawmakers, unions, workers in the Central American nations and other groups. Legislation implementing CAFTA on an up-or-down vote with no amendments is the Bush administration’s top trade priority this year.
This article was written by Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
For more information
Visit the Workday Minnesota special section, Trade and jobs