Date: 2003-07-22
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Chairman. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. I thank the gentleman from Arizona for withholding on his point of order so we may make our points. I am most concerned with this amendment with respect to the sections dealing with labor. the issues of forced labor and exploited child labor. and the right to associate and to bargain collectively. Those are all determinations that would be made in the countries that we signed the agreement with. To suggest that somehow we cannot conduct free trade. that we cannot conduct trade with countries in Central America and South America. or anywhere in the. world. that if those people have the right of freedom of association. or they have a right to collective bargaining. that that would destroy the trade agreements. Yet. we have seen a country like Cambodia that now has a textile agreement. that has the ILO poor labor standards in it. We see American companies flocking to Cambodia to do business there. because. in fact. they find those poor labor standards provide a value added. They find out now that when they come under attack for the processes in which they use to manufacture their goods. they have the ability to refer them to the ILO. It has been settled and many of them have escaped jebpardy because they had done nothing wrong. but there was a neutral forum to do that. The Cambodian Government finds. as I said. that this is a value added for them. What are they doing? They are allowing people in a country that just a few short years ago was considered a killing field. they are allowing people to freely associate. to collectively bargain. to form the union. and to develop the workers rights in accordance with that proposition. That is all we are asking. We are not asking them to take American labor union agreements. the American labor collective bargaining standards. but we are allowing people to freely associate and to participate. And the fact of the matter is. it can work because if you do not do that. then what you simply do is develop what has been written about the first generation of globalization. and that is the incredible exploitation. the incredible exploitation in the Third World countries as we open them up for trade for purposes of manufacturing where the benefits are not shared. the benefits are not derived in those societies. and that has got to stop. Not only is that unfair competition for American workers. but it is exploitative competition for the people in those countries. Why is it that when banana pickers try to get together in Ecuador. they are beaten by the police? Their houses are set on fire. They are beaten outside the place of their employment. Their families are intimidated. That is fair trade? That is the treatment that we want to bring to people? We do not want to suggest that these people are entitled to more? You can buy 10 pounds of bananas for 99 cents. so that somehow we can justify that? No. This is about whether or not over a long period of time if these people have these rights and they are enforceable. they will have the ability to freely associate. to collectively bargain. to get rid of forced labor. to get rid of child labor. And that would be the American market being used for the best of purposes to leverage these people into a better life and a better standard of living.