Kucinich raps free trade agreements
Originally published in the Brattleboro Reformer
Kucinich raps free trade agreements
By TOBY HENRY
Reformer Staff
KEENE, N.H. -- Ohio Congressman and Democratic presidential hopeful Dennis Kucinich brought a message of workers' rights and job protection to a crowd of more than 80 on Tuesday evening.
Eliminating pacts such as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization can help shore up workers' rights across the nation and reduce the loss of United States jobs to corporations overseas, he said.
"I am here ... to support fair trade and the organizational efforts that extend so deeply in this state," Kucinich said. "Americans are just vaguely aware of what these (free trade) structures are. As a former mayor, I can tell you that the Free Trade Agreement of the Americas and the propositions of the World Trade Organization ... strike at the very heart of democracy ... and open the door for the privatization of everything that we call community. This is really about workers' rights, human rights."
In his brief speech, Kucinich, the former mayor of Cleveland, underscored a tone of widespread national job loss that was further emphasized by testimony from former workers of New England-based manufacturing and textile industries.
The speakers, who included former paper mill worker Jayne DeWitt, former Troy Mills labor union president Robin Eno and labor union consultant and freelance writer Gale Kinney, claimed that the establishment of NAFTA during the early 1990s, as well as other free trade agreements, has devastated United States' manufacturing jobs. In New Hampshire alone, more than 20,00 manufacturing jobs have been lost since the establishment of NAFTA, Kucinich said.
Generally defined, free trade agreements are international charters between several countries that allow for the lowering of trade tariffs -- a tax on imported items. Supporters of these agreements maintain that the arrangements mesh well with principles of supply-and-demand and allow for lower retail prices. However, critics attack the agreements as giving more power and profits to corporations and investors as manufacturers close U.S.-based plants in the interest of starting plants in foreign countries with lower labor costs. Those who oppose free trade tend to instead support fair trade, a practice which aims to work on economic needs at local city- and town-based levels instead of international ones and encourages workers' rights movements such as unions.
The discussions were held before a panel which included New Hampshire Democratic representatives Chuck Weed of Keene and Barbara Hull-Richardson of Richmond. Peterborough Unitarian Church minister emeritus David van Strein and former Keene State College history professor Jim Smart rounded out the four-member panel. In his remarks, Weed noted that NAFTA had once been highly touted as being of benefit to workers in Mexico. But some corporations, after relocating plants to Mexico from the U.S., learned that labor prices were even cheaper in China and subsequently relocated plants to the orient.
"In Mexico, it might cost them $12 per day (for each worker), but in China, the same labor costs $12 a week," he said. "It's a lose-lose situation for workers, but I think the shareholders won."
Later, Kinney described her experiences as a labor consultant throughout New England as she visited factories which were closing due to overseas relocation. These former industries included Joy Technologies, a steel fabric plant in Claremont, as well as a Fisher-Price furniture factory in Medina, N.Y. Although the Medina plant, which closed in 1995, had been dubbed the most profitable domestic Fisher-Price plant, Kinney said that it didn't stop the plant's relocation overseas for cheaper labor after it had been purchased by the Mattel toy company. She also noted that many displaced workers tend to be in their late 40s or early 50s, a factor which makes some employers reluctant to hire them.
Kinney said that these job losses at factories that employ hundreds of people in one town are devastating to the local communities, and called for residents to redouble their efforts in gaining grassroots support against free trade agreements.
"Maybe we don't work in a factory, but the time to speak out is now," she said.
The discussion, sponsored by a variety of local groups including labor unions and the Peterborough-based nonprofit organization Worldview, garnered a positive reaction from audience members.
"I was aware of this when it first started coming together and I get the impression that a lot of people are aware of how important the local roots are that are tied to these political issues," said Keene resident Erin Stewart.
"It was especially good to hear from the displaced workers," said Greenville resident and Lowell, Mass., political talk radio show host Jim Giddings. "It's important for people to be aware of this ... especially when it's coming from someone who has experienced firsthand that loss of community and income."
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