USA TODAY | By John Sweeney | October 2, 2003
Let's face it. Globalization under the old rules -- reflected in current trade policies -- just isn't working. It's not working for American workers, who have lost millions of family-supporting jobs due to flawed trade policies such as NAFTA and the one that created the World Trade Organization (WTO). It's not working for state and local governments, which are finding that common-sense policies to protect workers, public health or the environment are increasingly being challenged by obscure trade rules. And it's certainly not working for developing countries, which are seeing poverty and inequality grow even as trade and investment increase.
Here in the U.S., poverty is up, incomes are down, and we are losing more jobs than at any time since the Great Depression, especially in the manufacturing sector. America is saddled with a half-trillion-dollar trade deficit. We've let multinational corporations write our trade policies for too many years. The result is a set of agreements that grease the skids for our jobs to go overseas, while doing too little to protect human rights, workers' rights and the environment.
Given this reality, President Bush certainly should keep his 2002 steel safeguards in place so the domestic industry can continue to recover and adjust. The safeguards have stabilized steel prices. Bankruptcies and layoffs have slowed, and steel companies are more profitable now than they were before the safeguards took effect.
The fact is that a majority of Americans do not support unregulated free trade; 54% say the United States needs to focus on keeping American jobs for American workers, while only 35% say companies must operate in worldwide markets, according to a recent poll conducted for NBC and The Wall Street Journal. U.S. policy needs to address growing public concerns, not ignore them.
Trade, tax and health care policies need to put jobs first. The Democratic presidential candidates have all vowed to reshape globalization so it really works for working people -- with enforceable protections of workers' rights and safeguards for domestic regulations and our trade laws.
Until we achieve this goal, workers here and abroad will continue to fall behind.
John Sweeney is president of the AFL-CIO, which represents 13 million workers.USA TODAY:
