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(continued)
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Globalization
& World
Trade
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In
the Wake of Seattle ...
Nix it ...
or Fix It?
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In Seattle, some called it the "nix it or
fix it" debate: Should future trade agreements negotiated
through the WTO sanction countries that don’t allow basic
worker rights like the right to organize? Or is the WTO, a
structure created to promote global corporate interests, the
wrong place to advance such global labor standards?
The AFL-CIO is calling for an
"overhaul" of the WTO. It is circulating a petition
calling on the WTO to incorporate core workers rights
(including no child labor or compulsory labor, no
discrimination in the workplace, freedom to associate and
organize) and environmental protection into its trade rules.
The federation also calls for institutional changes in the WTO
to make it more open and accountable. The International
Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), the world’s
largest federation of unions around the globe, has endorsed a
similar program.
BEYOND REFORM?
But others think the WTO is beyond reform. The
United Steelworkers of America has come close to calling for
eliminating the WTO. "Fix it or we’ll nix it!"
Steelworkers President George Becker told protesters in
Seattle. Becker said that unless labor rights, human rights,
and environmental standards were included in the core
agreement being negotiated at the WTO meeting, the union would
call on U.S. leaders to "take whatever steps are
necessary to replace the WTO." Becker said the WTO was
designed solely to promote the interests of multinational
corporations and Wall Street financiers and was "nothing
more than a smokescreen for the free flow of capital across
borders in pursuit of the cheapest labor."
Days after the WTO meeting, the Canadian Auto
Workers Council held its largest gathering ever. Delegates
there approved a resolution calling for the WTO to be
dismantled. The statement condemns the WTO as undemocratic,
unaccountable, bureaucratic, and unresponsive to people’s
concerns around the world.
ELIMINATE THE WTO
"The Labor Party is not for reforming the
WTO; we’re for eliminating the WTO," Tony Mazzocchi
said at the LP reception. "We have the opportunity today
to work with all the groups that have come together to fight
the WTO to really reveal the nature of the [two major]
political parties that are supporting and pushing through this
corporate globalization." He added, "I am
consistently amazed that my brothers and sisters in the
American labor movement, after all that has been done to them,
continue to support the very politicians who brought this
about."
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Young
people dominated
the Seattle protests. ©2000
David Bacon, Impact Visuals |
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Baldemar Velasquez says he believes the WTO
"is a good forum for doing demonstrations and making a
lot of noise about our issues. But I don’t thing it offers
much promise as a vehicle to do anything to promote workers’
interests. Nor does the International Labor Organization,
since it has no enforcement power. There’s nothing in
existence right now that can do what we need. The only thing
that will change that is if we have strong trade unions and
civil rights organizations and environmental justice
organizations."
José Bravo has a similar view: "We were
definitely on the ‘nix it’ side of the fence," he
says. "The WTO is not interested in promoting labor
rights — or women’s rights, or human rights. That’s not
what it’s about."
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