Date: 2002-07-23
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. I thank the gentleman for yielding me this time. and I rise in opposition to the resolution. The United States and Vietnam have had a long and sometimes difficult history. Today. that relationship is one of increasing cooperation. best symbolized by the expanded trade. growing tourism. liberalized emigration policies and improvements in the standard of living of the Vietnamese people. As in the past. this record warrants waiving JacksonVanik trade restrictions. as requested by Democratic and Republican Presidents alike. The passage of the Bilateral Trade Agreement last year played a major role in building a new relationship between our people. The Vietnamese government has made continued efforts toward economic. legal and labor reforms in the 10 months since the BTA was approved. Trade between our countries is growing. there is continued full cooperation on the important POWMIA issues. and the Vietnamese government has moved forward by enacting legal reforms in the areas of intellectual property. investment. transparency and labor. Reimposing trade restrictions at this point would represent an enormous and unnecessary step backwards in thisflourishing relationship. Earlier this year. I visited Vietnam for the third time and had an opportunity to meet with representatives of local business and labor unions. the National Assembly. the International Labor Organization. and American business people who are investing in Vietnam. As a critic of many other trade agreements that are insensitive to the legitimate needs of working people. I reiterated my message of support for closer trade and economic relationships between our countries. with the expectation that working men and women would benefit from these policies. My support for the BTA and for JacksonVanik waivers has never been. and is not today. unconditional. Trade needs to work for more than corporations and shareholders: it must also uplift workers and their families through decent wages. fair working conditions. safe workplaces. and basic. internationally recognized labor rights. Trade can and must be an important tool for uplifting the conditions and rights of workers around the world to internationally recognized standards. The National Assembly of Vietnam has just completed rewriting a labor code which expands the rights of workers with respect to hiring and termination. severance. workers compensation. and protections for worfen workers. These are significant reforms. and through the Labor Memorandum of Understanding we signed at the time of the BTA. I expect that the U.S. Government. together with international groups like the ILO. which has opened H5102 cc a new office in Hanoi. and Social Accoiftntability International. will continue to work with the Vietnamese to expand labor protections and upgrade labor standards. By our own standards and those recognized by. the signatories of the ILO. Vietnam still falls short on several core human rights conventions. especially the right of free association which is the core to a genuine independent trade union movement. During my visit to Vietnam. I continued to emphasize the need for truly independent trade unions and a legally protected collective bargaining policy. The United States should continue to carefully monitor progress on this crucial topic. as will international unions and the ILO itself. because frbe unions are the measure of true worker democracy. in Vietnam. in Cambodia. in Mexico and. for that matter. in much of the United States where labor organizing is often inadequately protected by current law. Unquestionably. we would like to have these political reforms as well as liberalization of the economic system. Mr. Speaker. I rise in opposition to this joint resolution and ask others to do so as well.