Date of publication: July 1, 2008
Source: AFL-CIO
Sen. John McCain's trip to Colombia and Mexico is yet one more example of how out of touch he is with working families, and how close he is to corporate special interests. Working people have seen bad trade deals send their jobs overseas and decimate their communities, yet McCain enthusiastically supports the proposed U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement and celebrates the effects of NAFTA.
McCain has said he would negotiate a "free trade" agreement with "almost any country willing to negotiate fairly with us" - without any consideration of the negative job impact on American workers or the egregious abuse of workers' rights abroad. In Colombia, hundreds of trade unionists have been systematically murdered, tortured, kidnapped and threatened by paramilitary organizations during the tenure of President Alvaro Uribe. Yet Sen. McCain will tout the supposed benefits of the proposed U.S.-Colombia FTA in the resort city of Cartagena, Colombia, while ignoring the real threats that workers in Colombia face every day.
And in Mexico, real wages have stagnated in the 15 years since NAFTA went into effect, while income inequality has increased. Illegal immigration flows from Mexico have doubled since NAFTA, since it is harder and harder to earn a decent living - despite the inflow of foreign capital along the border.
The business leaders McCain will talk to on this visit have done very well under these deals, not surprisingly. However, working people in Canada, Mexico, and Colombia have borne the brunt of these failed corporate trade policies - just like workers here in the United States.
The issue goes beyond trade agreements. We need a global economic framework that works for ordinary people. Working people around the world are clamoring for real change, not agreements that benefit the corporate elite at the expense of working families.
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