URGENT: Stop the Colombia FTA

[Omaha Steve]

With the U.S. economy in near free fall, President Bush has sent the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to Capitol Hill—Bush wants to force a vote before he leaves office next January.

The all-out, nationwide mobilization to let members of Congress know that working Americans oppose this deal begins today.

As the fight gears up, we need to know whose side your members of Congress are on.

Call your senators and representative today to ask if they will side with workers and oppose the Colombia FTA. The call is toll free:

1-866-338-5720

We need you to report back to us: Click here to let us know how your lawmakers will vote: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/call_no_colombia_fta

The deal is wrong for workers in both countries.

Bush has made passing this agreement a priority, even though it will do next to nothing for the failing U.S. economy.

The Colombia FTA represents a continuation of the Bush administration’s failed trade policies, an agenda that has contributed to the loss of more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000, skyrocketing trade deficits and shrinking paychecks.

Colombia remains the most dangerous country in the world for union members—39 trade unionists were murdered in 2007 and another 17 to date in 2008. Of the more than 2,500 murders of trade unionists since 1986, only some 70 cases—about 3 percent—have resulted in convictions.

Balanced trade agreements must guarantee the right to organize, lift the lives of workers in both countries and prevent exploitation. But this can’t happen in a country where workers who try to organize are killed.

Colombia’s government has thwarted workers' right to organize and bargain collectively—by weakening labor protections, refusing to register legitimate unions and failing to enforce the law against anti-union discrimination.

Remember to call your representative and senators today. Tell them to oppose the Colombia FTA: 1-866-338-5720.

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO

P.S. Please tell your friends to call the U.S. House and Senate today at 1-866-338-5720. Together, we can stop the Colombia FTA.



Click the link below to tell your friends about this campaign.
Tell-a-friend: http://www.unionvoice.org/wfean/join-forward.tcl?domain=wfean&r=

If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for Working Families e-Activist Network. http://www.unionvoice.org/wfean/join.html?r=A7qd3r7qW1gVE




President Bush is demanding a vote on the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) before he leaves office next year. The Colombia FTA is wrong for workers both in the United States and Colombia.

Tell your senators and representative that you OPPOSE the Colombia Free Trade Agreement and that they should, too. Use our toll-free number to do so today:

1-866-338-5720

And please click here to let us know how your lawmakers plan to vote on the Colombia FTA: http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/call_no_colombia_fta

[Omaha Steve]

1. Self limit

One kick. At least it had 4 R's before going to page two.

[morgan2]

2. I want my duty free cocaine!

[Usrename]

3. What has changed since this time last year?

Except for the death toll going up.

Unionists' Murders Cloud Prospects for Colombia Trade Pact

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, April 10, 2007; Page A09

SANTA MARTA, Colombia -- Zully Codina was a mother, veteran hospital worker and union activist. The last role was the one that cost Codina her life at the hands of paramilitary death squads, whose records show they collaborated with the country's intelligence service to liquidate her and other union activists.

Codina was killed on Nov. 11, 2003, when a gunman pumped three bullets into her head moments after she kissed her family goodbye and walked out of her Santa Marta home. Her murder remains unsolved, as do those of the vast majority of the 400 union members killed since President Álvaro Uribe took office in 2002.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/09/AR2007040901250.html

[JohnnyCougar]

4. Great! The workers of the US and the world thank you!