The Washington Fair Trade Coalition works to empower the people of Washington State to take action for a fair global trading system.

 Natural Disaster and SweatShops          in Haiti

As earthquakes continue to devastate the people of Haiti, many people are learning for the first time how this country has been politically and economically exploited for centuries. Consecutive US Governments have used the need to ‘stabilize the Caribbean’ as a rationale for imposing ‘democratic leaders’ to rule Haiti and for implementing trade policies that claim to create economic opportunities for its people but instead create more debt and dependence.

Most recently, in 2008, the US passed the HOPE II (the Haitian Hemispheric Opportunity through Partnership Encouragement Act) to spur the creation of jobs in garment manufacturing by giving garments made in Haiti tariff-free access to U.S. markets. This ‘trade preference’ is an extension of a similar policy passed in 2006, only this one will last for 10 years. In March, 2009 UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Former President Bill Clinton visited Haiti and emerged with an even louder call for foreign investment in Haiti which was also echoed by the IMF and others during the Haitian Donors Conference held in April of 2009 in DC.

However the people of Haiti have their own ideas of how to address issues of poverty in their country. They are calling for the development of national industry particularly in the agricultural sector. They recognize that working in sweatshop factories for Disney and the Gap is not the way to develop their country and education their children. The people of Haiti know that these trade deals have only made them more dependent on foreign corporations and remittances from friends and family living and working outside of the country.

It is important to support the people of Haiti in this time of great need. It is also important that as the work begins rebuilding its communities, that the interests of the people of Haiti are at the fore and that trade policies are used to strengthen local Haitian industries and not create more profits for multinational corporations.

If you want more information about how to contribute to relief efforts, WFTC friends KEXP and KCBS have sites listed and opportunities to attend benefits throughout Seattle.

Visit: www.kexp.org or www.kbcs.fm

For ongoing coverage visit: www.democracynow.org 

What’s the Trade Climate in 2010?

As 2009 came to end, free trade agreements with South Korea, Columbia and Panama were still lingering. Ron Kirk with USTR was reported to be talking with unions, the automobile, meat and textile industries to move South Korea along. Obama had his first visit to South Korea and in preparation Washington State’s own Reps. Adam Smith and Dave Reichert wrote a letter that was signed by the entire WA State delegation (with the exception of Reps Jim McDermott and Jay Inslee) encouraging support for another Bush Administration Free Trade Agreement.

Also at the end of the year, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) emerged as a trade priority for the Obama Administration with growing interest in adding South Korea, Malaysia and Japan to discussions with Vietnam, Australia, Peru, Chile, Singapore, Brunei, and New Zealand set to begin in March of 2010. TPP will be the largest US trade accord since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Ron Kirk is planning a US tour to generate support for TPP, the details of which are yet unknown.

The TPP represents the first opportunity for the Obama Administration to make due on its campaign promises to reform trade policy. The TRADE Act is an important model for Obama to take into these negotiations. As it already has support from the majority of Democrats, it is sending a clear message of what needs to be in future US trade agreements to get Congressional support.

Therefore the work of the WFTC, our members and friends is to 1) insure that none of the FTAs from the Bush Era are passed 2) enable the Obama Administration to make TPP a turn-around in US trade policy 3) align the Washington State Congressional Delegation with the majority of democrats who are calling for trade reform!

It was the People’s Summit!!!

The People’s Summit (November 27^th-29^th) was a dynamic series of events, organized by the CAGJ and WFTC and Seattle Plus10 Organizing Committee, that involved over 1500 people reflecting, learning and moving to act on the most important issues of our day: climate change, trade policy, immigration reform, racism and multi-cultural organizing, independent media, food sovereignty and people’s self-determination. Thank you to everyone who contributed to the overwhelmingly successful of this event! Over 70 organizations facilitated workshops, presented in plenaries, cosponsored and endorsed the People’s Summit, which was free and open to the public.

In addition to fabulous workshops by CAGJ, Seattle CISPES, Public Citizen, the national AFL-CIO, COMITE, Tilth and many others, the WFTC educated hundreds on the TRADE Act throughout the weekend and collected almost 400 postcards targeting Rep. McDermott.

Thea Lee with the AFL-CIO, Jim Sinclair with Canadian Labor Council and Verlene Jones with MLKCLC made the final event of the People’s Summit on Sunday night at Town Hall incredibly memorable, along with the Seattle Labor Chorus, Jack Chernos, Patti Goldman with Earth Justice and Eric Holt-Gimenez with Food First and a special message by Leo Gerard.

At the People’s Summit, the WFTC also videoed people talking about the impact of trade on their lives as workers and consumers. We will be posting this on the website as soon as it is edited. Special thanks to Debbie Carlsen for her great efforts. SweatFree WA also sponsored an art display that highlighted the plight of women garment workers around the world-showing the art of Janet Essley, a Vancouver, WA based artist.

Special thanks to SPEEA, WSLC, IAM & AW District Lodge 751, MLK County Labor Council and the Pierce County Central Labor Council for generous contributions to the People’s Summit.

If you missed part or all of the People’s Summit, many of the talks and workshops were filmed! See http://seattleplus10.org/peoples-summit/audio-and-video

On November 30^th, the WFTC again postcarded at Westlake Center as part of WTO+10 activities which included Climate Justice theater organized by SEEDS and CAGJ, direct action, and a march organized by Washington Immigrant Rights Action Coalition. Special thanks to everyone who came out postcarding for their great efforts to get hundreds of folks involved in TRADE Act advocacy!

Then we rallied a delegation to march to Rep. Jim McDermott’s office and meet with Damian Cordova. We decided that drums, cymbals and bullhorn need to accompany all of our future actions-thanks Bill Moyer and Backbone!

We were told that despite McDermott’s support of the principles in the TRADE Act, as a member of the Trade Subcommittee of Ways and Means, he does not want to ‘show his hand’ and is waiting to hear from the Obama Administration. Along with the postcards, we presented a letter on behalf of the WFTC calling on Rep. McDermott to be a leader on trade as he is on development for least developed countries in African and South-east Asia.

Back at the rally at Westlake, we got everyone to take out their phones and immediately call McDermott’s DC office and urge him to support the TRADE Act-so he heard from us in more than one way on the anniversary of the WTO+10! Stay tuned for more ways you can get involved to get Rep McDermott to co-sponsor the TRADE Act.

It is that time of year again, when children put on costumes and with the help of Global Exchange’s Reverse trick-or-treating program become fair trade advocates as well as ghosts or goblins.

Get your school, youth group, church or social justice organization involved today!

On Halloween night, trick-or-treaters in across the US and Canada will give Fair Trade chocolate back to adults in their communities on Halloween.  Each chocolate has an informational card educating about the social and environmental justice issues in the cocoa industry as well as how to buy Fair Trade certified chocolate.

Parents rave about how Reverse Trick-or-Treating transforms Halloween into a meaningful event when youth activists give back to their neighbors and to cocoa growing communities.

Click HERE to get a FREE Reverse Trick-or-Treating Kit Today !

DEADLINE TO REQUEST KITS:
October 1 for Groups
October 13 for Individuals

Join Global Exchange and the WFTC to Reverse Trick-Or-Treat this year!

Community to Community (C2C) joined the WFTC as our 45 member! For those of you who are not yet familiar with their work they are a Bellingham based, women-led, grassroots organization working towards social, economic and environmental justice. Their programs seek to empower under represented peoples to have an equal voice in decision making processes through 1) developing cross-cultural awareness 2) restoring justice to food, land and cultural practices and 3) promoting community relationships towards self-reliance.

We are honored to have Community to Community join the WFTC and look forward to reaching out in particular to farm workers in Whatcom County who are facing challenges because of unfair trade policies.

As Obama prepares to host the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh this month, the Trade Stories Project took the opportunity to release its newest report Trade Matters-First Hand Accounts of Why President Obama and Members of Congress Should Keep their Promises on Trade Policy Reform. Fair Trade Coalitions from Maine, Ohio, Minnesota, Oregon and Washington held a press call to enable displaced workers in manufacturing; as well as farmers and IT workers share how they have been hurt by current trade policy.

From Washington State, Rennie Sawade an IT worker with over 20 years of experience, and communications chair at WashTech, a union of over 1100 IT workers including many at Microsoft, explained the growing difficulties of obtaining full time employment that provides a living wage in the IT sector. He urged our elected officials to support a new trade policy which benefits workers.

For more information visit: www.tradestories.org