The controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement tops a legislative laundry list as Congress heads towards its scheduuled August recess.
But while CAFTA may come up on the House floor during the week of July 18, according to news reports, it's not the only issue labor faces. And even as Congress has gotten sidetracked into social issues -- from Terry Schiavo's right to die to flag burning -- labor has had to play defense, sometimes unsuccessfully, in a number of cases.
The Senate passed GOP President George W. Bush's legislation implementing CAFTA -- though not the treaty itself, since a vote on it is not required -- by a 55-45 margin in June. The House vote is expected to be close, after the Ways and Means Committee approved Bush's bill, which lacks labor rights and protections, in early July.
If approved, CAFTA would remove all barriers between the U.S. and six Central American nations: Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Bush and his allies tout the new market for U.S. firms, even though Sen, Barack Obama, D-Ill., points out that the six nations combined have gross national products, total, equal to one-sixth of the gross domestic product of Illinois.
Labor and its allies retort CAFTA would lead to further U.S. job losses as multinational firms transfer production to use Central America?s rock-bottom wages, income inequality, weak labor laws and non-existent enforcement. That's what CAFTA's predecessor, the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement, let firms do, they noted. Since then, the U.S. has lost at least 880,000 factory jobs to plants transplanted to Mexico. But CAFTA's not the only item on labor's agenda. Others include:
* The House on July 12 passed four GOP-sponsored bills aimed at weakening the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It passed a similar package two years ago, but the bills died in the Senate. The legislation would, among other things, exempt some businesses from OSHA rules, force OSHA to pay business' legal bills in cases it loses and let businesses stall in responding to OSHA citations. The largest margin, 256-164, was on the measure forcing OSHA to repay legal fees.
* The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the decks for its Supreme Court nomination hearings by sending its asbestos trust fund legislation (S. 852) to the floor. Both labor and asbestos victims groups oppose the bill, which would establish a $140 billion trust fund to pay the 200,000-plus victims of mesothelioma -- a cancer -- asbestosis and other asbestos-caused diseases. Both say the fund, iniitially to be paid for by asbestos manufacturers and their insurers, has no guaranteed source of money when it runs out. More importantly, the bill bars the victims from court, and sets too-high standards for which asbestos-stricken people can get money.
* Social Security privatization isn't quite dead yet. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman William Thomas, R-Calif., planned to include a variation of privatization in a comprehensive pension bill his panel is working on. The variation would use the system's surplus to fund the private, Wall Street-controlled accounts. But full congressional debate over it has been postponed until September.
* By a 238-177 House vote on June 30, the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists won a battle when lawmakers banned privatization of the nation's flight service stations, now run by the Federal Aviation Administration. Passage of the amendment to the Transportation Department's funding bill "is critical to the nation's airspace system and national security," the union said.
* On that same bill, the House voted 222-203 to ban Bush's Office of Manage-ment and Budget from spending money in the year starting Oct. 1 to extend its federal job privatization plan. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., whose suburban D.C. district includes thousands of federal workers, led the fight.
* Workers overall lost a round when lawmakers voted down, 190-231, a move by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., to ban federal contracts to any company that shifts its "headquarters" to overseas nations such as Bermuda or Barbados to avoid paying U.S. taxes. DeLauro's amendment was prompted by a Connecticut firm's attempt to shift its headquarters to a tax haven. Labor protests and publicity halted the transfer.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.
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The controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement tops a legislative laundry list as Congress heads towards its scheduuled August recess.
But while CAFTA may come up on the House floor during the week of July 18, according to news reports, it’s not the only issue labor faces. And even as Congress has gotten sidetracked into social issues — from Terry Schiavo’s right to die to flag burning — labor has had to play defense, sometimes unsuccessfully, in a number of cases.
The Senate passed GOP President George W. Bush’s legislation implementing CAFTA — though not the treaty itself, since a vote on it is not required — by a 55-45 margin in June. The House vote is expected to be close, after the Ways and Means Committee approved Bush’s bill, which lacks labor rights and protections, in early July.
If approved, CAFTA would remove all barriers between the U.S. and six Central American nations: Guatemala, Honduras, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Bush and his allies tout the new market for U.S. firms, even though Sen, Barack Obama, D-Ill., points out that the six nations combined have gross national products, total, equal to one-sixth of the gross domestic product of Illinois.
Labor and its allies retort CAFTA would lead to further U.S. job losses as multinational firms transfer production to use Central America?s rock-bottom wages, income inequality, weak labor laws and non-existent enforcement. That’s what CAFTA’s predecessor, the controversial North American Free Trade Agreement, let firms do, they noted. Since then, the U.S. has lost at least 880,000 factory jobs to plants transplanted to Mexico. But CAFTA’s not the only item on labor’s agenda. Others include:
* The House on July 12 passed four GOP-sponsored bills aimed at weakening the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. It passed a similar package two years ago, but the bills died in the Senate. The legislation would, among other things, exempt some businesses from OSHA rules, force OSHA to pay business’ legal bills in cases it loses and let businesses stall in responding to OSHA citations. The largest margin, 256-164, was on the measure forcing OSHA to repay legal fees.
* The Senate Judiciary Committee cleared the decks for its Supreme Court nomination hearings by sending its asbestos trust fund legislation (S. 852) to the floor. Both labor and asbestos victims groups oppose the bill, which would establish a $140 billion trust fund to pay the 200,000-plus victims of mesothelioma — a cancer — asbestosis and other asbestos-caused diseases. Both say the fund, iniitially to be paid for by asbestos manufacturers and their insurers, has no guaranteed source of money when it runs out. More importantly, the bill bars the victims from court, and sets too-high standards for which asbestos-stricken people can get money.
* Social Security privatization isn’t quite dead yet. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman William Thomas, R-Calif., planned to include a variation of privatization in a comprehensive pension bill his panel is working on. The variation would use the system’s surplus to fund the private, Wall Street-controlled accounts. But full congressional debate over it has been postponed until September.
* By a 238-177 House vote on June 30, the National Association of Air Traffic Specialists won a battle when lawmakers banned privatization of the nation’s flight service stations, now run by the Federal Aviation Administration. Passage of the amendment to the Transportation Department’s funding bill “is critical to the nation’s airspace system and national security,” the union said.
* On that same bill, the House voted 222-203 to ban Bush’s Office of Manage-ment and Budget from spending money in the year starting Oct. 1 to extend its federal job privatization plan. Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., whose suburban D.C. district includes thousands of federal workers, led the fight.
* Workers overall lost a round when lawmakers voted down, 190-231, a move by Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., to ban federal contracts to any company that shifts its “headquarters” to overseas nations such as Bermuda or Barbados to avoid paying U.S. taxes. DeLauro’s amendment was prompted by a Connecticut firm’s attempt to shift its headquarters to a tax haven. Labor protests and publicity halted the transfer.
Mark Gruenberg writes for Press Associates, Inc., news service. Used by permission.