Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, May 6, 1993                   TAG: 9305060099
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: LEIGH ALLEN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

UNION RALLY VOICES FEARS OF LOSING JOBS TO MEXICO

Virginia AFL-CIO President Daniel LeBlanc said it could lead to the elimination of hundreds of jobs in the Roanoke Valley and 500,000 in the United States, because companies would move operations to cheaper labor markets in Mexico.

The average worker in Mexico earns $1 per hour, LeBlanc said, compared to the minimum wage of $4.25 an hour in the United States. The best jobs in Mexico pay $6 an hour, he said.

LeBlanc spoke to an International Union of Electronic Workers rally at which about 100 people gathered in the new Carpenters Union Hall in Southeast Roanoke to protest the proposed trade agreement.

If approved, the agreement would create the largest and richest trading bloc in the world by eliminating all tariffs, duties and other trade restriction among the United States, Mexico and Canada. The agreement is in debate in the U.S. Senate.

Proponents say it would increase U.S exports and reduce production costs for U.S.-based industries.

But opponents say it would flood U.S. markets with cheap foreign goods and force companies to seek cheaper labor in Mexico and Canada.

LeBlanc called on the Clinton administration to negotiate a revised agreement that would include protection for U.S. workers and ensure that Mexico and Canada adhere to environmental laws for U.S. industries that move there.

But some in the crowd said they were skeptical of what the administration could accomplish.

"Clinton promises protection for American workers," said J.D. Morris, a Roanoke sheet-metal worker. "But how can he ensure enforcement of laws in another country?" Morris said he hopes to see a revised agreement that would prevent American companies from moving to Mexico.

LeBlanc said the European Economic Community, which is organizing a free-trade agreement for Europe that is similar to to the North American agreement, has laws that prevent companies in one country from gaining an unfair wage or environmental advantage over those in another. The North American pact has no such protection, LeBlanc said.

In the Roanoke Valley, electronics manufacturing and computerized-billing industries would be the hardest hit, because they rely more on labor than machinery to produce goods and services, LeBlanc said.

The General Electric Co. plant in Salem could face closure if GE decides to put a lower-wage plant in Mexico, said Gerald Meadows, president of Electronics Workers union's Local 161, which represents 900 employees at the GE plant.

"Plants that aren't now thinking about Mexico would jump at the chance to go," Meadows said. Even if plants elect to stay in the United States, management could force workers to take pay cuts in order to keep their plants competitive with factories operating with cheaper markets, he said.

But agriculture, including that in the Roanoke Valley, could get a boost from the agreement.

Mexico, though primarily an agricultural nation, is not able to feed its skyrocketing population and in recent years has looked increasingly to food from the United States. The agreement would make it easier for U.S. farmers to sell their products in Mexico.

In Virginia, the dairy, meat and tobacco industries have the most to gain from the agreement. Virginia Tech Professor David Orden says Mexico would provide a big market for Virginia cattle products. At the same time, it is unlikely that Mexico could sell similar products in the United States because of the stringent health standards.

The agreement also would increase U.S. tobacco exports to Mexico tenfold, the Tech reports said. That's good news for tobacco farmers who have seen smoking decrease in the United States and Canada.