CAFTA sucks! (And San Diego alert.)

[Senior citizen]

Just got back from a presentation on CAFTA given by Amelia Simpson of the San Diego Environmental Health Coalition. They have documents on their website www.environmentalhealth.org proving that NAFTA has been harmful to people on both sides of the Mexican/American border, and they say that CAFTA, the Central American Free Trade Agreement modeled on NAFTA, will be even worse if Cuckoobananas succeeds in pushing it through.

One of the things they mention is that the San Diego area used to have 90,000 good paying jobs in TV manufacturing, but there are only 3,000 left. Tijuana became the TV manufacturing capitol, however they have lost 60,000 manufacturing jobs since October, 2000, as jobs have been outsourced to places like Singapore where wages and worker protections are even lower. San Diego has also lost 4,100 IT jobs.

NAFTA did not reduce the immigration to the US of undocumented workers as its supporters had claimed it would, indeed it has greatly increased poverty in Mexico, thereby increasing the pressure for workers to attempt to cross into the U.S. and doubling the number of undocumented workers. First increasing the pressure on people to force them to look for jobs elsewhere, and then attempting to seal the border to prevent them from doing so, doesn’t make sense.

NAFTA has no environmental enforcement mechanisms, so even when they formally recognize “a grave risk to human health,” there is absolutely nothing they can do about it. Regarding the maquilladoras, not a single independent union has been granted recognition, and 60% of workers in the electronics industry report that they have had no safety training in working with hazardous materials.

Under NAFTA hazardous wastes are not tracked or documented, and there is something called Chapter 11 that lets countries sue for loss of profits if another country enacts environmental laws. As an example of this, a Canadian firm, Methenex, is suing California for banning MTBE.

The EHC has taken San Diego Congresswoman Susan Davis to Tijuana to see the harm that NAFTA has caused, and many organizations, including unions, environmental, and religious groups, have been urging Davis to oppose CAFTA. But Davis belongs to some group called the New Democrats, and they are supporting CAFTA. When asked for an explanation Davis has said things like preferring to remain on the inside so as to be able to change CAFTA, but it will be a simple up or down vote, so no changes are permissible. Davis is a key swing vote on CAFTA, but so far has been nonresponsive to constituents. There has been some speculation that Davis might be beholden to Qualcomm which, should CAFTA pass, is likely to move a lot of San Diego jobs to Tijuana.

Please tell Rep. Susan Davis to vote NO on CAFTA.

San Diego Office: 4305 University Ave., S.D. 92105 [phone] Fax: [phone]

Or call 1 [phone] for the Capitol switchboard for Susan Davis’ Washington D.C. office. And tell your friends. Davis has opposed the puke agenda on several other issues, and really ought to be on our side.

[lonestarnot]

1. CAFTA sucks alright! Making those calls.

[Senior citizen]

3. Thank you, lonestarnot

I'm thinking that since it is a local or toll-free call, there is no reason I can't phone every time I think of it. And I'm thinking about it a LOT lately.

[lonestarnot]

5. You keep on thinking and calling Senior citizen! Make them tired of your

voice!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

2. they promise a new market for american products

but what they don't tell you is that cafta countries only have a purchasing power equal to new haven, ct

so why are millions being spent on passing this if the market is so little? it wouldn't have anything to do with the slave labor wages in those countries and the prospects of more corporations saving a buck by sending employment there, now would it?

[Senior citizen]

4. Ya think? n/t

:kick:

[stickdog]

6. Who are we to restrict capital from fully exploiting the most exploitable?

It's only fair that cheap labor conservatives get their chance to lower wages even further both here and there.

[Senior citizen]

7. Yeah, depends what the meaning of "fair" is, right?

Thanks for the sarcasm. I woke up this morning even more angry than when I went to sleep. And it seems to me that my post, which I wrote from the notes I took at that presentation, would, with a few words changed here and there, make an excellent snail mail letter to Rep. Susan Davis. Since phone calls are tallied, but snail mail is harder to ignore, I think I'll change a few words, add the snail mail formalities, print it out, and drop it in the mail box. Everyone else is welcome to do the same or write your own. Not that I won't keep phoning, but letters help too and are a little harder to ignore. The San Diego office address is 4305 University Ave., San Diego CA 92105, and the DC office is 1224 Longworth House Office Building, Washington DC 20515.

And for those not in San Diego, please check to see how your Congresscritter stands on CAFTA and try to get their commitment to vote against it!

[OzarkDem]

8. "New Democrats" = DLC

Its a term they've used in the early days to define themselves.

Its a pity the Congresswoman is backing a group whose public policy ideas have become a sham. They used to have innovative ideas several years ago, but have since substituted blind allegiance to the US Chamber of Commerce for innovative policymaking.

[Senior citizen]

9. Oh, they've defined themselves alright......

New Democrat = DLC = corporate shill.

Got it. Thanks for the info, Demgirl!