[CTC] South Korea Free Trade Agreement Will Destroy American Jobs

[Andrew Gussert]

A couple LTEs in response to an article about our job-loss report...

Arthur Stamoulis
Oregon Fair Trade Campaign
(503) 736-9777




http://www.oregoncitynewsonline.com/opinion/story.php?story_id=127905000574617200

LETTERS

Kurt Schrader should reconsider stance on TRADE Act

Letters, July 14
, Jul 14, 2010

To the Editor:

Kurt Schrader has done well in his first term representing Oregon in  
Congress, but his understanding of global trade and its effect on  
American workers is lacking. About the call from representatives of  
Blue Heron paper mill workers ("Workers rally against free trade at  
Blue Heron," July 7) to pass the TRADE Act, Schrader "acknowledges  
that China has caused a lot of pressure on local paper mills, but  
maintains that such processing plants will not be the answer to the  
recession".

The problem with trade is not limited to U.S. paper plants. NAFTA,  
GATT, WTO and the whole global trade regime have destroyed millions of  
family-wage jobs in our nation - allowing corporations to move  
production where wages, worker rights and environmental protection are  
minimal. When the U.S., which has been called "the Saudi Arabia of  
cellulose", cannot compete in the recycled paper market, something is  
very wrong. Neither can we compete at making cars, steel, machinery,  
nor electronics; all because of the free trade policy so long in favor  
in Washington, D.C.

If the U.S. economy is to export more, we need a level playing field  
on which to compete. That is the purpose of the TRADE Act. Yes, the  
act is tough and comprehensive It must be to counteract decades of job- 
destroying treaties.

Schrader should look into the issue further. The livelihoods of his  
constituents and the economic health of his district are at stake.

Tom Civiletti

Oak Grove

Congressman’s comments ‘uninformed’
To the Editor:

Thank you for Raymond Rendleman's article about trade-related job  
losses in Oregon ("Workers rally against free trade at Blue Heron,"  
July 7). While the reporting itself was very strong, I found the  
comments by freshman Congressman Kurt Schrader both uninformed and  
offensive.

In the article, the Congressman appeared to argue that supporting  
trade deals that offshore Oregon's manufacturing jobs is okay, because  
we can also export more under them. Once the high-paying mill and  
factory jobs he cares so little about are gone, what does he think  
we're going to be exporting anyhow?

It's true that the nation's free trade agreements have increased U.S.  
exports, but they've largely been of subsidized and/or low-value  
products like corn and scrap metal. Meanwhile, these trade policies  
have also resulted in record levels of imports, creating a massive  
trade deficit that is directly responsible, as Rendleman's story  
suggested, for 10,000 job losses in Oregon over the past year alone.

If Congressman Schrader thinks he's going to strengthen the state's  
economy – or win re-election – by support job-killing trade deals,  
he's got another thing coming.

Tom Holden

Albany
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