Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 17, 1993 TAG: 9403180004
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: D-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: TOM CADORETTE
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The Greens believe NAFTA to be fundamentally flawed, including the side agreements recently negotiated by the Clinton administration. The Greens warn that Virginia's jobs, environment and its democratic processes will be placed in serious jeopardy by ratification of NAFTA, and are therefore calling for its defeat in Congress.
NAFTA will allow corporations greater ability to force workers to accept lower wages, longer working hours, fewer benefits and greater health risks. NAFTA does nothing to address the dramatic wage disparity between the United States and Mexico, and very little to deal with the disparity existing between environmental and worker-safety standards between the two nations. These factors create a situation in which U.S. companies are actually encouraged to take advantage of cheap labor and lax environmental and worker safety regulations by investing in Mexico.
A recent Wall Street Journal/Roper Poll of 455 executives of major manufacturing firms showed that 55 percent said that they would be inclined to move to Mexico if NAFTA passed, 25 percent said they would use the threat of moving to Mexico to keep wages down in this country, and 35 percent said that they believed NAFTA would be unfavorable to the average American worker.
These shifts in production to Mexico will translate into a loss of millions of U.S. jobs. According to a thorough analysis undertaken by the Manufacturing Policy Institute, more than 400,000 of these potential job losses could be suffered by citizens in Virginia. Studies by the Economic Policy Institute and the Citizens' Trade Campaign show similar findings.
NAFTA also stands as a threat to current U.S. wage levels and other hard-won worker rights, as attested to by the statements of 25 percent of the executives polled by The Wall Street Journal. In effect, these CEOs have admitted that by providing an easy out, NAFTA will enable them to raise the threat of ``take a pay cut, or we'll take a hike.'' Most of the job growth, if any, that will occur under NAFTA will be an acceleration of recent trends in the job market: temporary, benefit-less positions and/or part-time jobs with low wages.
The Greens believe that this kind of economic ``growth'' is not suitable or sustainable for the future of America, and is not acceptable for the high-school and college graduates who will be seeking jobs and careers.
In addition, NAFTA has the potential to undermine our current state environmental, consumer and worker-safety laws by providing for the ability to label and challenge them as ``barriers'' to trade. Virginia's citizens have worked hard to win initiatives that may be lost under this provision.
The Greens are greatly disturbed by this direct affront to state sovereignity and the democratic process. Laws such as the Clean Air and Clean Water Act will be threatened, and the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act and the Endangered Species Act will be in serious jeopardy as well. Polluters will be allowed to continue to poison the air and water, and local citizens will lose the right to control their own environments.
NAFTA opens up previously unavailable agricultural land in Mexico to purchase by large corporate agribusiness, and will do little to protect the family farm from import surges. The Greens are greatly concerned about the resulting potential NAFTA has to further erode the livelihood of Virginia's family farmers, the role that family farming plays in the health of Virginia's economy, and its contribution to the maintenance of local sustainability.
Rather than make any substantial changes to NAFTA, President Clinton has offered only a quick-fix solution to economic woes and associated social ills. As with any such action, not only does the fundamental problem remain, it often becomes worse. The Greens believe that the fallout from NAFTA will be a lower standard of living, further disruption of communities, and increased risks to public health, worker safety and the environment.
A fair trade agreement that adequately addresses consumer, labor, environmental and family farm concerns can be crafted, but only if NAFTA is set aside.
Tom Cadorette of Norfolk is a member of the Greens of Virginia.
by CNB