January 2008 Newsletter

Happy new year to all our member organizations and allies! Thank you for all your hard work this year and for the essential part that you play in generating support for fair trade policies.

The winds are changing in this country and around the world when it comes to trade - more and more people want to see fair trade replace the current flawed model! With your continued help and support, 2008 can be the year that we bring fair trade to this country. It will be exciting to be part of this effort with all of you.

Concern about product safety was a major issue recently, as recall lists grew and public faith in the products on our shelves fell. U.S. trade policy and the free trade model that encourages outsourcing, a race to the bottom for health and safety standards, and inadequate domestic inspections and regulation, is a large part of this problem. During the holidays these issues become even more alarming as people must question whether the toys purchased for the children in our lives are safe or harmful. It seems we are paying a dear price for this so-called free trade.

Last month many groups, including several of the WFTC's member organizations, held events, wrote articles, and otherwise engaged with the issue of the import and sale of toxic toys. Lists of items recalled due to lead and other toxic chemicals grew and grew, and many individuals and organizations decided it was time to speak out! These events and campaigns included:

1. The United Steelworkers held lead testing events throughout the state in December, where families were encouraged to bring in old or new toys to test for unsafe chemicals. Many families were awakened to the need to be vigilant in choosing toys for their children. USW is also spearheading the No More Toxic Trade campaign, highlighting the connection between unsafe products and the failed trade policy that enables them to enter our country. For more information see USW's stoptoxicimports.org website.

2. The Toxic Free Legacy Coalition is currently supporting legislation that would require strengthened domestic regulations to ensure that children are playing with safer toys. Learn more about this important bill on their website: Toxic Free Legacy Coalition's Safer Children's Product Act.

3. Nationally, the consumer watchdog organization Public Citizen released a comprehensive report entitled "Santa's Sweatshop: Made in D.C. with Bad Trade Policy," documenting many causes of the imported toxic toy crisis. (See the full report at: http://www.citizen.org/documents/Santas%20Sweatshop.pdf). The report clearly outlines how our children's safety has been compromised by trade policy that encourages the off-shoring of U.S. manufacturing, protects corporate overseas investments at all costs, and promotes corporate profits and obscene CEO pay levels. The report analyzes four decades of data related to toy manufacturing and toy recalls.

We join Public Citizen in calling for standards that will give higher priority to the safety and health of our children.

1970 __ 2006

% of toys produced in U.S.: 86% (0% from China) 13 %

U.S. workers employed making toys: 60,000 9000

Toy firms' annual avg. profits: $50 million $930 million

CEO Incomes compared to U.S. workers:
58 times 500 times
(21,000 times Chinese wages)

Number of toy recalls annually: 12 120

After the approval of the Peru FTA, the Colombia agreement may be next on the list to be pursued by the administration. However, it is still uncertain whether it will be brought to the floor before the 2008 elections, if at all. Of course, this is an extremely problematic FTA because, in addition to the problems that have been identified with all pending FTAS, this time we must also be concerned about rampant violence against and murder of unionists in Colombia.

Studies show that the number of unionists' murders has decreased recently, but this "reduced" number still counted 67 murdered unionists last year - that is more than one person per week! Clearly it is totally unacceptable to enable and reward this kind of abuse of rights, and the governmental impunity that enables it, by extending a preferential trade system to Colombia.

This FTA is much less likely to be introduced at all if it is clear that most Congress members are opposed. However, and very unfortunately, most in Washington state Congress members have not declared their opposition to the agreement! Not one Washington Congress member has openly declared their opposition yet. Thus, we encourage member organizations to put in calls to Congress members and insist on the importance of their declared opposition to this dangerous and unacceptable agreement.

A little-known but highly laudable proposed bill has been making news recently in light of growing concerns about the use of sweatshop labor overseas. A bill called the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act (S. 367) would prohibit U.S. companies from importing and selling products made overseas under "sweatshop" conditions.

Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the National Labor Committee in New York, said the recent U.S. product safety recall of Chinese-made children's toys is evidence that industry "self-regulation is not enough." Rather, Kernaghan said it is "essential" that Congress pass the Decent Working Conditions and Fair Competition Act. The Senate bill, which has 13 co-sponsors, also would allow U.S. companies to sue competitors for selling products made overseas under conditions that do not adhere to core labor standards, including the right to organize, a minimum wage, a ban on forced labor, and a minimum age for child workers (21 LRW 120, 1/25/07). A similar House bill (H.R. 1992), introduced by Rep. Michael H. Michaud (D-Maine), has 116 co-sponsors.

While this bill has very noble aims, currently only one WA Congress member supports the bill - Rep. Baird. Other Congress members have indicated that the bill is problematic because banning the import of goods based on how they were produced violates WTO rules. However, very fact that WTO rules prohibit this kind of regulation is something many people feel is a major fault with the WTO. The Washington Fair Trade Coalition believes that we need a world trade system that allows people to make distinctions based on important information about the process used to make goods. For more information see this summary:

The Iowa Fair Trade Campaign sent a letter to all presidential candidates campaigning in Iowa that set forth what Iowa's major labor, farm, religious, and environmental organizations considered principles of an acceptable trade and globalization policy. Below are candidates' responses � the most comprehensive trade and globalization statements to date. Read the Iowa Fair Trade Campaign's report.

Free Trade Zones - not only are they havens for the abuse of workers' rights, but they also support the dangerous market in counterfeit drugs.

For a number of articles written by the Third World Network on the recent climate conference in Bali see TWN's Climate News page