Sen. John McCain has a long history of supporting the kind of trade deals like the Columbia FTA that have devastated our economy and sent our jobs overseas. He continues to proclaim his support for new trade agreements despite evidence of how harmful agreements like NAFTA and CAFTA have been. He supported allowing China to enter the WTO despite its horrible worker safety and product safety record, exposing our children to toxic toys and our families to contaminated food. McCain has added insult to injury by voting against measures intended to help stem the flow of jobs lost due to these agreements.
Sen. McCain has not protected workers from the ill-effects of these trade agreements:
McCain Supported President Bush’s Outsourcing Efforts. McCain voted to allow overseas outsourcing of government contracts after President Bush’s economic advisers released a report saying America should outsource its jobs. [S.1637, Vote #32, 3/4/04]
McCain Voted Against Limiting Tax Breaks to Companies That Re-Import Foreign Manufactured Goods. He voted against a bill to tax multinational companies on income from foreign factories when goods are shipped back to the United States and to require companies to notify employees and give a reason before they move their jobs overseas. [S.1637, Vote #83, 5/5/04]
McCain Supported Waiving and Weakening Buy American Laws. McCain voted to allow the Secretary of Defense to waive Buy American laws for defense systems and place our defense manufacturing industry in jeopardy. He also voted to exempt defense goods from six European countries from Buy American requirements that traditionally have required most military equipment and defense systems to be manufactured in the United States. [S. 2400, Vote #135, 6/22/04; S. 1050, Vote #191, 5/21/03]
McCain Voted to Allow Unsafe Foreign Trucks on U.S. Roads. McCain voted against an amendment to prohibit Mexican trucks from operating beyond a limited border zone because they are not held to the same safety standards as U.S. trucks. [H.R. 2299, Vote #252, 7/26/01]
McCain Abstained from Voting to Protect Steel Jobs. McCain abstained from a vote to filibuster a bill to protect steelworker jobs from illegal dumping after 10,000 steelworkers lost their jobs. [H.R. 975, Vote #178, 6/22/99]
McCain Voted Against Providing Health Insurance for Employees and Retirees of Bankrupt Steel Companies. McCain voted against a measure that provided temporary health insurance assistance to retirees of bankrupt steel companies. [S.Amdt. 3433, Vote #117, 5/21/02]
Dozens of students at UNC Chapel Hill have staged a sit-in since April 17, 2008. The students are protesting Chancellor Moeser’s refusal to adopt the Designated Suppliers Program (DSP), a program that would ensure that Chapel Hill branded apparel is not produced in sweatshops.
2008 will surely be the most expensive election in history, and political parties at every level will need to raise and spend vast sums of money to secure victories in November.
Decades of struggle by workers and their unions have resulted in significant improvements in working conditions. But the toll of workplace injuries, illnesses and deaths remains enormous. Each year, thousands of workers are killed and millions more are injured or diseased because of their jobs. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers on April 28, Workers Memorial Day.
The Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) represents a continuation of the Bush administration’s failed trade policies, an agenda that has contributed to the loss of more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since 2000, skyrocketing trade deficits and shrinking paychecks.
“The only effective answer to organized greed is organized labor.”