Kucinich: U.S. should abandon NAFTA, WTO
Originally published in the San Jose Mercury News
Posted on Fri, Feb. 06, 2004
Kucinich: U.S. should abandon NAFTA, WTO
JAMES PRICHARD
Associated Press
GREENVILLE, Mich. - The only way for the United States to start creating new manufacturing jobs instead of losing existing ones to other nations is to withdraw from the North American Free Trade Agreement and the World Trade Organization, Dennis Kucinich said Friday.
The Democratic presidential candidate's message hit close to home for the 150 or so people who came out to see him speak at the United Auto Workers Local 137 union hall the day before the state's Democratic caucuses.
The local represents 2,500 production workers at an Electrolux AB refrigerator plant scheduled to close in November 2005. The Swedish appliance maker is moving most of the production to Mexico, where labor costs a fraction of the amount it costs in the United States.
"The United States must, must get out of NAFTA. We must get out of the WTO. We have to get out," Kucinich said. The union hall erupted with thunderous applause and loud cheers before he could finish the word "NAFTA."
The Ohio congressman said this country must go back to its previous way of doing business with other countries: dealing one-on-one with them under bilateral trade agreements.
This time, other nations must agree to follow certain rules or they cannot trade with the United States, Kucinich said. Among other provisions, workers must be permitted to have the right to organize, to have collective bargaining, the right to strike and the ability to earn "decent" wages and benefits.
"This takes away the incentive for cheap labor," he said.
With such agreements in place, the United States can again attract factory jobs, Kucinich said.
"All over this country, there's an infrastructure where we can go back into manufacturing," he said. "We can make things again. But it has to be a matter of national policy to do so."
After Kucinich's appearance, Rex Johnson, 56, of Belding, said he "learned a lot" about the candidate's stand on labor issues. Johnson retired a year ago from Electrolux after working nearly 20 years at the plant; his wife still works there.
"I agree with what he said - NAFTA's got to go, WTO's got to go. It's all got to go," Johnson said. "It's doing American business good but it's not doing the American people any good. And if we shrivel up and die, what's left?"
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