<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><a href="https://www.goiam.org/news/machinists-union-working-people-must-come-first-nafta-negotiations/" class="">https://www.goiam.org/news/machinists-union-working-people-must-come-first-nafta-negotiations/</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><b class=""><font size="5" class="">Machinists Union: Working People Must Come First in NAFTA Negotiations<br class=""></font></b><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""><em style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">AM International President Robert Martinez, Jr., issued the following statement ahead of Monday’s release of the U.S. Trade Representative’s objectives for renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement:</em></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">When NAFTA was passed in Congress, over our strong objections 24 years ago, workers in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico were told that it would be good for them.<span id="more-70020" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-size: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" class=""></span></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">NAFTA has cost hundreds of thousands of jobs, as U.S. companies shift production to Mexico, a country that has repeatedly failed to honor fundamental human rights, like the right to form a union or be free from discrimination.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">If we only consider the number certifications for Trade Adjustment Assistance that have been filed, over 900,000 U.S. jobs have been lost due to NAFTA. </p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Since NAFTA was implemented, aerospace companies and their suppliers have moved to Mexico to take advantage of weak laws and a workforce that is paid around $3.00.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">There are now over 35,000 aerospace workers in Mexico.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Some of the earliest victims of NAFTA were IAM members—like the over 1,200 loyal workers at Maytag’s Galesburg, Ill., plant who lost their jobs when Maytag fled to Mexico.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">While we are heartened, that after all of these years, NAFTA will be renegotiated, we urge U.S. negotiators to adopt our suggestions for improving it.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">To begin with, any renegotiation that starts off with the current trade template found in TPP is unacceptable.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Labor provisions, rules of origin, special corporate courts that undermine important food safety and environmental protections, and many other provisions in TPP fall far short of the substantive changes that need to be made in order for trade agreements to begin benefiting working families.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">These provisions must be changed so that multinational corporations cannot continue to profit from the advantages of a trade agreement while workers suffer stagnate wages and economic insecurity.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Too many U.S. companies are all too willing to move our manufacturing jobs to countries that do not respect fundamental human rights.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">NAFTA serves as a green light for U.S. companies to continue outsourcing our vital manufacturing sector—and with it—our economic future.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">Renegotiation of NAFTA represents an opportunity to get trade policy right.</p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-family: Roboto, sans-serif; font-size: 18px; line-height: 1.4; vertical-align: baseline;" class="">###</p></div><div class=""></div></div></body></html>