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Union workers protest CAFTA, say Democrats betrayed working families Friday, Aug 19, 2005 By Wesley Brown Arkansas News Bureau LITTLE ROCK ? Union steelworkers from across the state gathered at the Federal Building here Thursday to protest the recent passage of CAFTA, and promised retribution on Democrats who supported the free trade agreement. Don Davies, president of United Steelworkers Local 9448 in Texarkana, called the decision by three Arkansas Democrats in Congress to support of the Central American Free Trade Agreement ?a betrayal of working families in Arkansas.? By a razor-thin margin of 217-215, the House passed the free trade pact in late July to remove most tariffs from goods traded between the United States and Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, voted for the free trade pact that was backed by the Bush administration. The Senate followed suit the same day, approving the trade bill 55-45. Arkansas Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both Democrats, voted to approve the trade legislation. CAFTA supporters say it would boost the economy of all the countries involved by removing trade barriers. Opponents charge that the United States would lose jobs because of the pact, saying it does not protect workers or the environment. ?We are doing nothing but hurting ourselves with CAFTA,? Davies said as steelworkers carried signs and placards lambasting Snyder, Lincoln and Pryor. ?Arkansas has lost 50 percent of their labor jobs here in the state due to NAFTA,? Davies said of the earlier historic free trade agreement passed during the Clinton Administration over a decade ago. ?CAFTA is nothing but an extension of NAFTA.? Davies and others in Thursday?s rally blamed Snyder for passage of CAFTA, saying the Arkansas congressman has traditional supported Arkansas workers and unions. ?(He) was pressured enormously by the Bush administration. It was a vote that passed in the midnight hours,? Davies said. ?We feel that Congressman Snyder?s vote is what passed CAFTA. That one vote would have put us where we are not facing this now.? Davies and the three dozen or so steelworkers from across the state who traveled to Little Rock to protest the passage also said they would not support Snyder or the two senators in the future. ?Steelworker are going to support candidates who support workers? rights,? Davies said. ?These three Democrats in Arkansas who supported CAFTA are not supporters of the rights of workers. They are voting to send our jobs out of this country.? A spokesman for Rep. Snyder said that unfortunately the Little Rock congressman and the union workers were on different sides of a controversial issue this time. ?The steelworkers have always been good advocates for workers in Arkansas and congressman Snyder appreciates them,? said Ed Fry, chief of staff for the Arkansas lawmaker. ?On this issue, they did not agree on what would create the most jobs in Arkansas.? Fry would not comment on other concerns raised by the labor group. Lincoln said that she firmly believes that opening markets for American goods and services is a good thing for workers and the U.S. economy. ?We produce far more than we consume in this country and the reduction or elimination of trade barriers benefits workers, farmers and manufacturers,? she said in a statement e-mailed to Arkansas News. The senator also said that she has met with labor union leaders and rank and file members and ?my door remains open to their concerns as it has throughout my public service.? ?In this case, I believe the net effect of CAFTA will be to create more jobs in Arkansas,? she added. Still, Jim Oden of Van Buren, the top labor representative for steelworkers in Oklahoma and Arkansas, said union officials will start looking at Republican candidates that support its causes. ?We are going to have to build better coalitions and we are working on that,? Oden said. |
