Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1992 03:45:01 -0500
From: Phillip.Dampier@f228.n260.z1.fidonet.org (Phillip Dampier)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom
Subject: CWA on Free Trade
Reply-To: phil@rochgte.fidonet.org
Organization: TELECOM Digest
X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu
X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 12, Issue 635, Message 3 of 7

STATEMENT FROM CWA PRESIDENT MORTON BAHR ON NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE
AGREEMENT

WASHINGTON -- "Three cheers for President George Bush -- he keeps
finding ways to make a bad situation in the American economy even
worse.  The so-called 'environmental President' -- who has presided
over one of the worst recessions in recent American history -- now
brings us a trade agreement which will accelerate environmental
degradation and cause the loss of thousands of good American jobs.

"The North American Free Trade Agreement announced by President Bush
will put tens of thousands of American families out of work, and to
send their jobs to people whose desperation makes them easy targets
for corporate exploitation.

"In the telecommunications industry, where the Communications Workers
of America represents more than 450,000 American workers, the
handwriting on the wall already shows us what will happen when this
agreement goes into effect.  AT&T -- one of the most profitable
corporations in America -- has closed manufacturing plants here in the
U.S., displacing people who made $9 an hour, and sent their jobs to
Mexico to workers who make about 90 cents an hour.

"We would be even bigger fools than Bush thinks we are if we believed
that American corporations -- this century's new generation of robber
barons -- will not fall all over themselves to dump American workers
in favor of cheap labor free from environmental, health, safety, and
workers' rights regulations in Mexico.  This agreement will simply
make it easier for them to export even more jobs than have already
gone abroad, and to make even more money for themselves in the
process.

"Americans have to fear not only the loss of manufacturing jobs, but
the loss of high tech, service sector jobs that are the future of our
economy.  Advances in telecommunications technology mean that
companies can easily move work around the globe with the touch of a
few buttons on a computer.  The advent of satellite and computer
communications allows any service job, such as billing and directory
services, to be transferred to any foreign location.

"We fear the NAFTA would lead to the expansion of the maquilladora
system throughout Mexico -- not only for manufacturing, but for the
service sector, too.

"AT&T has moved major pieces of its manufacturing operations overseas.
It has closed five production plants and downsized many others,
eliminating an estimated 60,000 production jobs.  At the same time, it
has invested in 14 manufacturing facilities in five European and seven
Asian countries, as well as several locations in Mexico.

"The regional Bell telephone companies are moving overseas to expand
into services, including some that they are blocked by law from
entering here.  This is why CWA opposes the North American Free Trade
Agreement: we have yet to see any real benefit to our members or our
nation as our employers expand their operations abroad.

"The Bush Administration's negotiators learned nothing from the
farsighted European Community.  When the Europeans consolidated trade
they protected the rights and the standard of living of workers -- the
people who would be most affected by the changes. Their social charter
made an excellent model for us to follow. The fact that Bush did not
underscore that this agreement is designed to make the rich richer at
the expense of the American people and is not in the best interests of
our nation."