UNIONISTS, LAWMAKERS
CHEER END OF FAST TRACK

Unionists and lawmakers, led by Steel Workers President Leo Gerard, AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), cheered the end of anti-worker GOP President George W. Bush’s “trade promotion authority,” also known as “fast track,” at midnight on June 30.

But just because Bush cannot now bargain trade pacts and send them to Congress without labor rights--and without any possibility for Congress to change them--does not mean unionists still don’t face fights on trade.

That’s because Bush got four trade pacts signed “under the wire”--before the deadline--with Peru, Panama, Colombia and South Korea. Lawmakers must still vote on legislation to implement those pacts under the old “fast track’ rules.

Still, Gerard, Sweeney, Pelosi and others made clear Bush will not have untrammeled leeway to ride roughshod over workers as he bargains future trade treaties. Fast track would have given him that, and he still wants it, too.

Priorities for the new Democratic-run Congress “do not include the renewal of fast track,” Pelosi and other Democratic leaders said in a joint statement. “Before that debate can even begin, we must extend benefits of globalization to all Americans.”

Pelosi and the others also said they would strongly oppose the South Korean and Colombian free trade pacts, which still come under the fast track rules. Workers and their allies are campaigning vigorously against both.

Their statement drew praise from Gerard, whose union is leading the opposition to the Colombian trade pact. USW also helped survivors of murdered Colombian unionists sue for damages against U.S.-based multi-nationals--who were complicit in the murders--in U.S. courts. And USW testified before Congress on the issue on June 28.

“Business-as-usual trade agreements that have resulted in rising trade deficits, stagna-ting incomes, millions of lost jobs and shuttered factories should be a thing of the past,” Gerard stated. That goes for fast track, which permits such pacts, too, he added.

“Agreements with Korea and Colombia do not merit congressional support in their current form. In Colombia, thousands of trade unionists have been killed and the government has not even begun to really address the problem. Violence against unionists must end and the perpetrators must be brought to justice. Concrete and lasting progress on the ground must be achieved before any discussion of expanded trade relations can be considered,” Gerard declared.

Unions oppose the Colombian pact because of that nation’s murderous--literally--labor rights record. In the last 30 years, 2,662 union leaders have been assassinated, often with the complicity of the military and political leaders and U.S. multinationals. U.S. and Korean unions oppose the South Korean pact because it harms workers in both countries and keeps the Asian nation’s trade barriers against U.S.-made cars.

“We welcome the clear commitment from Pelosi and the Democratic leadership to oppose flawed trade agreements with South Korea and Colombia and any renewal of fast track until we change our nation’s trade policy to promote the interests of working people,” Sweeney said.

Sweeney praised two of the Democratic leaders for forcing Bush to insert workers’ rights--the International Labor Organization standards--into the texts of the Peru and Panama pacts. But he called that only “a first step down the long road towards deep reform of U.S. trade policy,” and warned “Democratic leaders must remain vigilant to ensure Bush will aggressively and consistently enforce these new provisions.”