Every member of Congress of who supported CAFTA ? especially the 15 House Democrats who voted for it ? will be held accountable in the next elections, union leaders said Thursday.
Labor leaders also said the passage of CAFTA will put even more pressure on American workers.
Late Wednesday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement by a two-vote margin. Speaking the next morning to the AFL-CIO's national convention at Chicago?s Navy Pier, federation President John Sweeney called the 217 CAFTA supporters, who included 15 Democrats, "sellouts of working men and women."
"They should be ashamed and we'll make them ashamed," Sweeney said, to loud applause.
Labor was particularly upset that three of the Democrats -- Reps. Melissa Bean of Illinois, Jim Matheson of Utah and Dennis Moore of Kansas -- voted for the Bush administration's trade deal just a week after they were among the beneficiaries of a labor-assembled fundraiser that raised more than $300,000 for Democratic candidates.
Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger, chair of the federation's political committee, told Press Associates Union News Service that the first move of the 20 union presidents who signed the letter announcing the fundraiser "would be to see if we legally can get our money back.
"Beyond that, there will be primary races in several districts" against defecting Democrats, he said.
Three Republican members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation, Mark Kennedy, John Kline and Jim Ramstad, voted for CAFTA. But Republican Gil Gutknecht joined Democrats Betty McCollum, Jim Oberstar, Collin Peterson and Martin Sabo in voting against the pact.
For months, unions, environmental groups and other organizations have mobilized opposition to CAFTA. On June 30, the U.S. Senate passed the measure on a 54-45 vote, but opponents had high hopes of stopping the trade agreement in the House.
The sugar beet industry, based in the Red River Valley along the Minnesota-North Dakota border, has been especially critical of CAFTA, saying the trade pact threatens its survival.
Mark Froemke, a leader of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers union, which represents workers at the Red River Valley sugar processing plants, said he expects the effects to be immediate.
"It will put more pressure on our companies to do more with less," he said. Layoffs are likely as the sugar beet cooperatives try to compete with cheaper sugar imported from Central America.
The Grain Millers union and other members of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition won't forget the vote, Froemke vowed.
"It's like that '60s song, 'Where you go, I will follow,'" he said. "We'll be following Mark Kennedy all along the campaign trail" for the U.S. Senate.
Reported by Mark Gruenberg, Press Associates, Inc., news service; and Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota editor.
For more information
See the Workday Minnesota special section, Trade and jobs
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Every member of Congress of who supported CAFTA ? especially the 15 House Democrats who voted for it ? will be held accountable in the next elections, union leaders said Thursday.
Labor leaders also said the passage of CAFTA will put even more pressure on American workers.
Late Wednesday night, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement by a two-vote margin. Speaking the next morning to the AFL-CIO’s national convention at Chicago?s Navy Pier, federation President John Sweeney called the 217 CAFTA supporters, who included 15 Democrats, “sellouts of working men and women.”
“They should be ashamed and we’ll make them ashamed,” Sweeney said, to loud applause.
Labor was particularly upset that three of the Democrats — Reps. Melissa Bean of Illinois, Jim Matheson of Utah and Dennis Moore of Kansas — voted for the Bush administration’s trade deal just a week after they were among the beneficiaries of a labor-assembled fundraiser that raised more than $300,000 for Democratic candidates.
Fire Fighters President Harold Schaitberger, chair of the federation’s political committee, told Press Associates Union News Service that the first move of the 20 union presidents who signed the letter announcing the fundraiser “would be to see if we legally can get our money back.
“Beyond that, there will be primary races in several districts” against defecting Democrats, he said.
Three Republican members of the Minnesota Congressional delegation, Mark Kennedy, John Kline and Jim Ramstad, voted for CAFTA. But Republican Gil Gutknecht joined Democrats Betty McCollum, Jim Oberstar, Collin Peterson and Martin Sabo in voting against the pact.
For months, unions, environmental groups and other organizations have mobilized opposition to CAFTA. On June 30, the U.S. Senate passed the measure on a 54-45 vote, but opponents had high hopes of stopping the trade agreement in the House.
The sugar beet industry, based in the Red River Valley along the Minnesota-North Dakota border, has been especially critical of CAFTA, saying the trade pact threatens its survival.
Mark Froemke, a leader of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers union, which represents workers at the Red River Valley sugar processing plants, said he expects the effects to be immediate.
“It will put more pressure on our companies to do more with less,” he said. Layoffs are likely as the sugar beet cooperatives try to compete with cheaper sugar imported from Central America.
The Grain Millers union and other members of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition won’t forget the vote, Froemke vowed.
“It’s like that ’60s song, ‘Where you go, I will follow,'” he said. “We’ll be following Mark Kennedy all along the campaign trail” for the U.S. Senate.
Reported by Mark Gruenberg, Press Associates, Inc., news service; and Barb Kucera, Workday Minnesota editor.
For more information
See the Workday Minnesota special section, Trade and jobs