<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.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/17/1865405/-NAFTA-Old-and-New-Deals-by-the-Rich-for-the-Rich?_=2019-06-17T11:04:05.263-07:00" class="">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/17/1865405/-NAFTA-Old-and-New-Deals-by-the-Rich-for-the-Rich?_=2019-06-17T11:04:05.263-07:00</a><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div class="row" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-right: -15px; margin-left: -15px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"><div class="col-sm-12" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; min-height: 1px; padding-right: 15px; padding-left: 15px; float: left; width: 650px;"><div class="story-title heading" style="box-sizing: border-box; border-top-width: 0px; padding-top: 18px; padding-bottom: 25px; font-family: 'Open Sans Condensed'; cursor: default; padding-right: 25px; font-size: 3.2em; line-height: 1.03em;"><a class="designation-community" href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/6/17/1865405/-NAFTA-Old-and-New-Deals-by-the-Rich-for-the-Rich" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;">NAFTA Old and New: Deals by the Rich for the Rich</a><i style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""></i></div><div class="bump-post" style="box-sizing: border-box;"></div></div></div><div class="row-story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 5px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;"><div class="col-story-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 0;"><div class="story-info" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div class="story-byline pull-left" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left !important;"><div class="pull-left author-avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left !important;"><img class="avatar" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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color: rgb(60, 55, 54); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer;" class="">Leo W Gerard</a></span></div><div class="designation author-byline" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 13px; margin: 0px auto; line-height: 18px;"><span class="designation-community author-designation" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(58, 156, 217);">Community</span> <span class="author-disclaimer" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(134, 131, 131);">(This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)</span></div></div><div class="author-date hidden-sm" style="box-sizing: border-box; float: left; clear: both; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.2px; margin-top: 1em;"><span class=" timestamp" data-localize-time="" data-epoch-time="1560794644000" data-time-zone="-0400" data-time-format="%A %B %d, %Y" style="box-sizing: border-box;">Monday June 17, 2019</span> <span class="time-dot" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-size: 7px; margin-left: 2px; margin-right: 2px; position: relative; top: -1px;">·</span> <span class=" timestamp" data-localize-time="" data-epoch-time="1560794644000" data-time-zone="-0400" data-time-format="%l:%M %p %Z" style="box-sizing: border-box;">2:04 PM EDT</span></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Mick Mulvaney, </span><a href="https://www.gobankingrates.com/net-worth/politicians/mick-mulvaney-net-worth/" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">a millionaire</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> who is President Trump’s </span><a href="https://www.gobankingrates.com/net-worth/politicians/mick-mulvaney-net-worth/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">acting chief of staff</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> and director of the Office of Management and Budget, awarded himself another job last week: spokesman for labor. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Referring to the proposed new NAFTA, </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mulvaney-sees-approval-of-usmca-trade-deal-likely-11560292213" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">he told the Wall Street Journal</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">, “We know that labor supports it.”</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">That, right there, is the problem with NAFTA, old and new. One percenters like Mulvaney, self-dealing corporate honchos and fancy-pants corporate lobbyists negotiated the deals. Those fat cats claimed they spoke for labor. But when they opened their mouths, only the word profit emerged. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">They didn’t give a damn about jobs or wages or workers’ welfare. The ravages NAFTA inflicted on the non-rich prove that. The proposed new NAFTA is barely different. Mulvaney, though he tried to usurp labor’s voice, is far from labor’s mouthpiece. Labor speaks for itself. And </span><a href="https://aflcio.org/speeches/trumka-new-nafta-not-good-enough" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">it is railing against NAFTA</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">, old and new. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The United Steelworkers (USW) union opposed NAFTA from the outset and even filed suit in an attempt to prevent it from taking effect. Like 1992 independent presidential </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_sucking_sound" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">candidate Ross Perot</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">, the union knew NAFTA was a giant vacuum that would suck American and Canadian factories and jobs south of the Mexican border, where wages were, and remain, untenably low and environmental laws unenforced.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">In the quarter century under NAFTA, more than </span><a href="https://www.citizen.org/wp-content/uploads/press-release-nafta-at-20.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">1 million American jobs were lost</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">, U.S. wages stagnated and U.S. trade deficits with Mexico increased. That 1 million is a 2013 number and does not include untold thousands of U.S. jobs lost more recently at the likes of </span><a href="https://www.courant.com/business/hc-carrier-jobs-mexico-utc-20160212-story.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">Carrier furnace, UTC electronics</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> and </span><a href="https://www.indystar.com/story/news/2018/02/09/laid-off-rexnord-once-bitter-worker-settles-into-new-norm/308508002/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">Rexnord</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> bearings factories, all in Indiana, and General Motors’ </span><a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-03-29/gm-brushed-off-union-concessions-before-idling-ohio-car-plant" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">Lordstown assembly plant</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> in Ohio. Rexnord told its 350 Indianapolis workers they could keep their jobs if they’d work for Mexican wages – that is, for less than U.S. minimum wage. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">That’s what NAFTA did: It pitted U.S. and Canadian workers earning family-supportive wages against Mexican workers subsisting on pathetic pay and mostly denied the right to form independent labor unions that would help raise those wages. At the same time, NAFTA displaced </span><a href="http://www.bu.edu/gdp/2019/06/07/small-gains-big-risks-evaluating-the-proposed-united-states-mexico-canada-agreement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">2 million</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> Mexican family farmers as U.S. agricultural products, sometimes subsidized, flowed tariff-free south of the border. Workers in all three countries suffered.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Corporations like Carrier and Rexnord that had perfectly profitable factories in the United States, ginned up revenues by moving to Mexico and paying workers there a pittance. The minimum wage in Mexico is </span><a href="https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2018/12/mexico-to-increase-minimum-wage-for-2019" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">$5.10 a day</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> – yes, a day – for most workers and </span><a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=e3f080b4-148e-4408-bfdf-e17b700e1298" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">$8.79 a day</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> for those in factories near the U.S. border. Corporations also profited by skipping off to a country that </span><a href="http://www.bu.edu/gdp/2019/06/07/small-gains-big-risks-evaluating-the-proposed-united-states-mexico-canada-agreement/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">turned a blind eye toward pollution.</a></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The promise was that a new NAFTA would fix all that, disengaging the vacuum that pulled factories south and upgrading environmental enforcement. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Some of the new provisions seem, on the surface, like they could help. The proposed deal requires that </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/01/us-canada-mexico-just-reached-sweeping-new-nafta-deal-heres-whats-it/?utm_term=.83d7ad6dd4f1" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">workers earning an average of $16 an hour</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> produce </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/01/us-canada-mexico-just-reached-sweeping-new-nafta-deal-heres-whats-it/?utm_term=.42e1f79c2c7b" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">40% of car and truck parts by 2023</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> to get tariff-free treatment. </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">There is some evidence, however, that this requirement may already have been met. And the auto companies have refused to release data to support the claim that this would be an important provision. It may help retain jobs in higher wage countries like the United States and Canada but is unlikely to increase wages or move jobs there. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">In addition, under the proposed new deal, to be tariff-free, </span><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/10/01/us-canada-mexico-just-reached-sweeping-new-nafta-deal-heres-whats-it/?utm_term=.42e1f79c2c7b" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">75% of vehicle components</span></a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> would have to be produced in one of the three countries. That’s significantly higher than the current 62.5% and would reduce importation of parts from countries that illegally subsidize their industries like China. But a good portion of the jobs that might result will probably be created in Mexico.</span></span></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Also, while these changes may help autoworkers, they do nothing for furnace workers and those in a multitude of other industries. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">More significant to preventing a new NAFTA from failing workers like the old NAFTA would be enforcement of Mexico’s </span><a href="https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=961cf8f4-c4cb-435a-a166-22dbd5a66152" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">new labor laws</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">. As it is now, labor unions in Mexico frequently are fakes, created and controlled by corporations. The new laws, passed in April, </span><a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/2019-mexican-federal-labor-law-amendment" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">empower Mexicans to form their own worker-controlled labor unions</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> that could negotiate for higher wages and exercise the right to strike without workers suffering violent attacks by authorities. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Realistically, however, free unions aren’t going to pop up overnight in hundreds of thousands of Mexican workplaces. Unions must be formed, voted in and certified, then would have to successfully negotiate labor agreements at factories where owners will dig in their heels to remain in control. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">For workers to get real unions and labor agreements, the Mexican government will have to actively assure workers’ rights. But right now, Mexico has no budget for implementation and has not even started to hire the hundreds of judges and inspectors that the new law requires </span><a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-labor-leader-on-usmca-mexico-first-must-prove-its-killing-700000-protectionist-contracts-2019-04-23" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">or to review some 700,000 current labor agreements to determine their validity</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">. The structure to eliminate fake unions and certify worker-controlled organizations is supposed to be phased in over four years, but corporatists and other opponents already are attempting to thwart the labor reforms with lawsuits and other actions. For Mexican workers, nothing has changed. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Based on the long history of labor suppression in Mexico, organized labor in Canada and the United States legitimately fears free unions won’t emerge in Mexico without swift and certain enforcement mechanisms written into the text of the new NAFTA.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Speaker of the House </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/mulvaney-sees-approval-of-usmca-trade-deal-likely-11560292213" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">Nancy Pelosi said it best</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">: </span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">“If you don’t have enforcement, you’re just having NAFTA again with sprinkles on top.” </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Bad experience jaundiced labor toward ethereal enforcement – that is, enforcement based on nothing but sleight of hand and empty promises. In 2008, the AFL-CIO and six Guatemalan </span><a href="https://laborrights.org/publications/wrong-turn-workers%E2%80%99-rights-us-guatemala-cafta-labor-arbitration-ruling-%E2%80%93-and-what-do" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">trade unions filed a formal complaint</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> that Guatemala had failed to enforce its labor laws as required by the Central American Free Trade Agreement, known as CAFTA and similar to NAFTA. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">The allegations included that Guatemala failed to register unions, neglected to implement minimum wage regulations and refused to investigate or prosecute violence against trade unionists, </span><a href="https://laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications/Wrong%20Turn%20for%20Workers%20Rights%20-%20March%202018.pdf" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">including murders</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class=""> intended to intimidate workers</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">. </span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Nine years later, after inquiries, failed settlements and formation of a CAFTA arbitration panel, next to nothing was done. Particularly galling was the official U.S. position that the assault and murder of Guatemalan trade unionists was a domestic criminal matter, </span><a href="https://laborrights.org/sites/default/files/publications/Wrong%20Turn%20for%20Workers%20Rights%20-%20March%202018.pdf" title="" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; color: rgb(153, 107, 61) !important;" class="">not an issue to be resolved by CAFTA labor law requirements</a><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">.</span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 10px; color: rgb(60, 55, 54); font-family: 'Open Sans'; font-size: 16px; letter-spacing: 0.125px;" class=""><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">Mechanisms embedded in trade deals to enforce labor provisions are crucial. But, ultimately, l</span><span style="box-sizing: border-box;" class="">abor needs trade deals negotiated with workers at the table from the start to ensure that human well-being is the priority, not assuaging one percenter greed. </span></p></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class=""><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div><div class="">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; border-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; " class=""><div class="">Arthur Stamoulis</div><div class="">Citizens Trade Campaign</div><div class="">(202) 494-8826</div><div class=""><br class=""></div></div></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"></span><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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