Labor

I believe it is wrong for this Congress to allow citizens in the wealthiest nation in the world to work a full-time job and still live in poverty. Millions of working men and women, and their families, can ill-afford to wait for Washington partisan politics. It is far past time that Congress raise the minimum wage $2.10, from $5.15 to $7.25.

For me, this is not just a fiscal issue it is a moral issue. Since 1997 -- the last time Congress passed an increase in the minimum wage -- the price of gas has gone up, the price of food has gone up, rent has gone up, mortgage costs have gone up, the cost of college has gone up, the only thing that has not gone up is the minimum wage.

The reality is the minimum wage today is at lowest point in over 50 years.

I think that after ten years time it is time to make an adjustment.  I'm confident that we can get a bill that can raise the minimum wage and protect small businesses and farms from added burdens.

By AFL-CIO President John Sweeney

The closeness of today’s vote on the Oman Free Trade Agreement shows that the trade debate in this country is becoming more intense, as politicians in both parties are beginning to realize that our trade policy needs deep reform, not acceleration.

Today's House vote was much narrower than expected, 221-205. Only 22 Democrats voted for this flawed deal, along with 199 Republicans, while 176 Democrats (almost 90 percent of the caucus) and 28 Republicans voted no.

With working people going to the polls in only three and a half months, members of Congress are increasingly reluctant to ratify this administration’s failed trade policy. This policy has resulted in an exploding and out-of-control trade deficit (now at an annual rate of $800 billion a year), millions of good jobs lost, eroding standards of living for the typical worker, and devastated communities.

The upside-down priorities of the Bush Administration are reflected in this deeply flawed agreement. The Oman deal has the same weak and inadequate protections for workers’ rights contained in CAFTA and the other FTAs negotiated by this administration. These provisions are made all the more problematic because Oman’s labor laws are the weakest of any country with which we have ever negotiated a free trade agreement.

Despite the Administration's assertions, these trade agreements don't strengthen security or our government's relationships with other countries any more than they create jobs. They actually generate resentment toward the US and are perceived negatively in many parts of the developing world including the Middle East. So the irony is that while the Administration says this agreement would improve the US image in the Middle East, it will likely do the opposite. The Oman deal also threatens our national security by potentially opening up landside port operations to Omani-based companies – precisely the kind of transaction rejected by Congress and the American public in the Dubai ports debacle.

While we in the American labor movement were deeply disappointed in today’s outcome, we also believe the closeness of the vote reflects the tremendous progress we have made over the last decade in bringing the issues of fairness and workers’ rights to the center of the trade debate. We plan to work harder than ever to ensure that America’s trade policies reflect the values and protect the interests of America’s working families, and create a foundation for a truly just global economy.

I didn't think it had sufficient protections for workers.  I am worried about additional losses of jobs in my Congressional district, which has suffered enormously from previous trade agreements.

The U.S. trade deficit is far too large and the time has come for Congress to enact common sense initiatives that are going to boost American exports and level the playing field for domestic employers.

Congress must commit to strengthening our domestic trade remedy laws to ensure that our trading partners fully abide by the rules-based global trading system. We must implement a tax structure that includes border adjustability and promotes savings and investment. If Washington moves to embrace these changes now, we will improve the trade playing field for our commerce, end the artificial advantages we’ve dealt our competitors, and finally reverse the trend of our trade deficit.

Today during the Ways and Means Committee hearing on Welfare Reforms, the results and outcomes of the 1996 welfare reform law were discussed.  It has been ten years since this legislation was enacted and I am very pleased to bear witness to the significant accomplishments of this legislation.

Essentially, since its inception, this program has brought millions of Americans out of poverty and into the workforce.  Poverty among families led by single mothers, the group most likely to go on welfare, dropped 15 percent from 1996 to 2004.  The overall child poverty rate dropped 13 percent in the same timeframe meaning 1.4 million fewer children living in poverty.  I am confident that these programs will continue to flourish and bring more Americans out of poverty and into employment.

Law-abiding, tax-paying American workers scored a victory in the long battle for fairness when the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday passed legislation that would reform Federal Prison Industries.

Inmates paid a fraction of the federal minimum wage in prisons across America are currently given contracts for products and services by the federal government, contracts for which private sector firms are not even allowed to compete.

Inmates would still receive the training in prison that will be necessary for them to successfully reenter the workforce under the bill, only private sector firms will be able to compete with FPI for the contracts that they pay for with their tax dollars.

I look forward to the full House again passing the comprehensive legislation - as it did in 2003 by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 350-36 - and the Senate passing a companion bill so that we can finally send it to the President for his signature.

The Bush-Oman Free Trade Agreement is a rotten deal for American working families.  The Bush-Oman deal follows in the bad tradition of deals like CAFTA, which have caused millions of American jobs to disappear to countries where employers can pay much less and pollute much more.

Even worse - and I can't emphasize this enough - entering a free trade deal with a country that has an abysmal record on human trafficking is a betrayal of the American commitment to freedom.

I don't understand how President Bush can make campaign speeches calling for freedom everywhere, and then reward a country that fails to stop the trafficking of people into forced labor.

Posted by AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
We’ve seen what a failure the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) has been. From 1993 to 2004, the United States lost more than 1 million jobs due to growing trade deficits with our NAFTA partners, while workers in Mexico have seen their real wages erode.

But that didn’t stop the Bush administration from twisting arms in Congress to pass by a bare one-vote margin the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA)—yet another deal that looks out for the interests of Big Business but includes few protections for workers’ rights or the environment.

Now, the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (OFTA) is on the table, and Congress should reject this latest expansion of NAFTA’s failed model. This model has accelerated the loss of good jobs here while exacerbating poverty and social disparities in our trading partners.

The lack of effective labor provisions in OFTA is particularly significant in light of the recent New York Times article revealing egregious labor abuses in Jordan—a nation with which the United States has a free trade agreement. These violations include human trafficking, 20-hour workdays, and widespread failure to pay back wages. Worse—the Oman FTA contains even weaker labor provisions than the Jordan FTA.

Congress must oppose the Oman agreement and send a message to the American people and to the world: America’s workers want trade pacts that don’t ignore fundamental human rights.

It doesn't look as though they've made any moves toward international labor standards, and some of our members have problems with their boycott of Israel.