<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=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/do-no-harm-still-hurts_us_596f5ffbe4b0376db8b65c83" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class="">http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/do-no-harm-still-hurts_us_596f5ffbe4b0376db8b65c83</a><o:p class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""> </o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""><br class=""></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""><span class="author-card__details__name bn-clickable" style="box-sizing: inherit; font-size: 1rem; color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: ProximaNova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-weight: bold; white-space: pre-wrap; padding-right: 2px;">Leo W. Gerard , Contributor</span><span style="color: rgb(68, 68, 68); font-family: ProximaNova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px;" class=""></span><span class="author-card__microbio bn-clickable" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: block; font-size: 0.875rem; color: rgb(117, 117, 117); font-family: ProximaNova, 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Roboto, Arial, sans-serif;">International President United Steelworkers union</span></o:p></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><o:p class=""><br class=""></o:p></div><h1 style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; letter-spacing: 0.4pt; font-weight: normal;" class="">‘Do No Harm’ Still Hurts<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h1><h2 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.25rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.5rem; max-width: 720px; visibility: visible;" class=""><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(49, 49, 49); font-weight: normal;" class="">“No harm” is not enough for the administration that promised to cure the injury that international trade inflicted on workers.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></h2><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><span class="timestampdate--published"><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(117, 117, 117);" class="">07/19/2017 09:48 am ET</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: rgb(117, 117, 117);" class=""> | <strong class="">Updated</strong><span class="timestampdate--modified"> 3 hours ago</span><o:p class=""></o:p></span></div><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="margin: 0in 0in 5.25pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; text-align: center; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-size: 10pt; font-family: Symbol; color: white;" class="">·<span style="font-size: 7pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman';" class=""> </span></span><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue'; color: white;" class=""> </span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">Promises were made.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">And workers believed candidate Donald Trump when he pledged to stop corporations from exporting American factories. Workers cast votes based on Trump swearing he would end the trade cheating that kills American jobs.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">This week, though, workers got bad news from Washington, D.C. President Trump proposed virtually eliminating funding for a Labor Department bureau that helps prevent U.S. workers from having to compete with forced and child labor overseas. In addition, the administration issued only vague objectives for renegotiating the job-killing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).</span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">When NAFTA has cost <a href="https://www.citizen.org/sites/default/files/nafta-factsheet-deficit-jobs_wages-march-2017.pdf" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">at least 900,000 Americans their jobs</span></a>, vague is unacceptable. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wilbur-ross-nafta-tpp-starting-point_us_592f5cefe4b0540ffc845387" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said his first rule in negotiations</span></a> for a new NAFTA would be to “do no harm.” That’s not good enough. That’s the status quo, and promises were made. The first rule should be to “do substantial good.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">Substantial good would start with clear, firm goals for renegotiating NAFTA. That would include returning those 900,000 jobs to the United States. That would include restoring the jobs the United States continues to lose, <a href="http://www.indystar.com/story/news/2017/02/24/m-scared-death-last-bitter-days-rexnord/98072314/" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">like the 350 that disappeared</span></a> this year when Rexnord closed its Indianapolis ball bearing factory and moved production to Mexico. And like <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/24/here-is-the-number-of-jobs-carrier-is-moving-to-mexico-after-trump-said-hed-save-them/?utm_term=.ff602fc03ac0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">the 632 jobs at Carrier</span></a> in Indianapolis that will begin vanishing this week when the first layoff notices are issued because the heating and air conditioning manufacturer shifted some production to Mexico.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">In Monterrey, where both Rexnord and Carrier moved jobs, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/24/here-is-the-number-of-jobs-carrier-is-moving-to-mexico-after-trump-said-hed-save-them/?utm_term=.ff602fc03ac0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">the minimum wage is $3.90 a day.</span></a> Not an hour. It’s $3.90 a day. There is no way for American workers to compete with that. What they were looking for from the NAFTA renegotiation goals is some help.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">Instead, they got pabulum. Yes, there’s a whole section on labor, and it says the labor provisions should be in the main document, not in a side agreement. But the fuzzy language doesn’t provide much hope for workers like those who just lost their jobs at Carrier and Rexnord.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">It says, for example, that NAFTA countries should have laws regarding minimum wage, hours of work and occupational health and safety. That’s great. But Mexico has a minimum wage. It’s one so low that, as former presidential candidate Ross Perot would say, it sucks American factories right across Rio Grande.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">The NAFTA negotiation targets don’t say that the minimum wage should be a living wage or specify how it would be policed to prevent forced and child labor.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">Within the U.S. Department of Labor, there’s a section called the Bureau of International Labor Affairs that monitors compliance with labor provisions in international trade agreements and pays for programs to reduce child and forced labor internationally. The intent is to prevent American manufacturing workers earning family-supporting wages from competing with third world children paid with bread and blankets.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">The administration has, however, said it wants to gut that program, cutting its funding by 80 percent. In addition to workers, American food and clothing corporations have objected. Nate Herman, a senior vice president for the American Apparel and Footwear Association, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/as-white-house-touts-made-in-america-it-seeks-to-cut-office-us-firms-say-helps-them-compete/2017/07/17/27d2c3ac-624f-11e7-8adc-fea80e32bf47_story.html?utm_term=.8ed0218ccb47" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">told the Washington Post</span></a> that without the bureau’s efforts, “you’re saying, basically, that it’s okay for forced labor and child labor to run rampant, which undercuts our own labor force.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">Without specific protections in NAFTA and without even the Bureau of International Labor Affairs programs, U.S. workers are subjected to a no-win competition with exploited foreign workers. The Americans end up unemployed, like those at Carrier and Rexnord. The foreign workers continue to be abused.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">Promises were made to American workers. They need to be kept. Big league, not halfway.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">For example, the solution to Carrier, owned by United Technologies, moving out of Indiana was a half measure.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">United Technologies spared about 700 jobs at the Indianapolis Carrier plant only after Vice President Mike Pence, then governor of the state, handed the corporation $7 million. None of the <a href="http://www.toledoblade.com/business/2017/03/17/Job-cuts-endure-at-Indiana-factories-despite-President-Trump-pressure-About-1-500-workers-at-3-lcoations-are-still-facing-layoffs.html" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">700 job</span></a>s at the other United Technologies plant in Indiana was saved. All of those went to Mexico.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">That’s not what Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail. At a rally in Indianapolis last spring, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/24/here-is-the-number-of-jobs-carrier-is-moving-to-mexico-after-trump-said-hed-save-them/?utm_term=.ed8730130d81" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">he pledged:</span></a> “Here’s what’s going to happen. They’re going to call me, and they are going to say, ’Mr. President, Carrier has decided to stay in Indiana . . . One hundred percent. It’s not like we have an 80 percent chance of keeping them or a 95 percent. 100 percent.”<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">But then, it was President-elect Trump who called Carrier. And it wasn’t 100 percent. It wasn’t even 80 percent. And, to make matters worse, United Technologies CEO Greg Hayes said that the millions he’d promised to invest in the plant would be spent on automation, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/05/24/here-is-the-number-of-jobs-carrier-is-moving-to-mexico-after-trump-said-hed-save-them/?utm_term=.ff602fc03ac0" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">further reducing jobs</span></a>.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">This is, according to the Trump administration, <a href="http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/07/18/537897405/white-house-highlights-made-in-america-products-from-each-state" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(149, 79, 114);" class=""><span style="color: black;" class="">Made in America Week</span></a>. It began at the White House Monday with a showcase of products produced in every American state, from fire trucks to door hinges. But to really revive American manufacturing, the administration must keep its campaign promises. And that means strong language in a renegotiated NAFTA and strong enforcement of other international trade deals and trade laws.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 1.125rem; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; margin-bottom: 15pt; box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 1.75rem;" class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class="">“No harm” is not enough for the administration that promised to cure the injury that international trade inflicted on workers.<o:p class=""></o:p></span></p><div class=""><span style="font-size: 13.5pt; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue';" class=""><br class=""></span></div></body></html>