Few days remain to take action against the Peru Free Trade Agreement. The House Ways and Means Committee passed the FTA implementing legislation on October 31, and a House floor vote is planned for the week of November 5. A Senate vote will follow shortly thereafter.

So far, NONE of the Washington State members of Congress have declared that they will vote against Peru. This is a huge problem - we need to make sure that our representatives do not simply accept this flawed agreement, but instead listen to the rapidly increasing numbers of people who are fed up with this failed trade model. This is your LAST CHANCE TO CALL YOUR MEMBER OF CONGRESS - please don't let this be an easy win for the Bush administration! Contact your Representative and Senators immediately to urge them to oppose the Peru Free Trade Agreement (Washington Democrats' phone numbers are below).

Here are a couple of hot off the press notes about why Dems should vote against this deal:

A) Because, it would be ridiculous for Democrats to give George Bush a victory on NAFTA expansion, even as he is threatening to VETO the Democratic proposal to expand Trade Adjustment Assistance (yes, unbelievably Bush is both encouraging Dems to pass Peru NAFTA and threatening to veto TAA).  After Bush threatened to veto TAA yesterday, this point was made well in a release today by Illinois Congressman Phil Hare, which can be accessed here: http://hare.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=77623

B) The fact is that this vote has become about a lot more than just Peru.  A recent edition of THE HILL newspaper makes it clear that we are talking about a green or red light on the rest of the trade deals in the pipeline -- and whether or not the Dem leadership will have to go back to the drawing board and truly shift away from the NAFTA/WTO model. It says: "if less than half the Democratic Caucus supports the deal, Pelosi, Rangel and Levin will face serious questions, not least from their own caucus members, about whether the framework on trade needs revisiting."

The framework DEFINITELY needs revisiting, and we have to make that loud and clear.

Here are the key talking points on the agreement:

·     

     The Peru FTA contains a NAFTA/CAFTA-style foreign investor chapter that promotes off-shoring and subjects our domestic environmental, zoning, health and other public interest policies to challenge directly by foreign investors in foreign tribunals. It allows challenges by foreign investors in foreign tribunals of to challenge timber, mining, construction and other concession contracts with the U.S. federal government, and affords foreign investors greater rights than those enjoyed by U.S. investors.

·     The Peru FTA's procurement rules subject many common federal and state procurement policies to challenge in trade tribunals, continue the NAFTA/CAFTA ban on anti-off-shoring and Buy America policies, and expose U.S. renewable energy, recycled content and other requirements to challenge.

·     There is justifiable concern about the likelihood that improved labor and environmental standards will be enforced - especially by the current administration.

·    The Peru FTA's agriculture trade rules undermine U.S. producers' ability to earn a fair price for their crops at home and in the global market place. They favor multinational grain trading and food processing companies while farmers on both ends will be hurt. The Peru FTA is projected to increase hunger, illicit drug cultivation, and undocumented migration, while continuing the race to the bottom for commodity prices. This pits farmer against farmer and country against country to see who can produce food the cheapest, regardless of labor, environmental or food safety standards.

·     Washington state asparagus growers are upset that this agreement will further decimate their already very threatened industry.

·     While the amended text of the Peru FTA removes the most egregious, CAFTA-based, provisions limiting the access to affordable medicines, it still includes NAFTA-style provisions that undermine the right to affordable medicines for poorer countries.

·     The Peru FTA, like NAFTA and CAFTA, still contains language requiring the United States to accept imported food that does not meet our safety standards.

Recent trade-related events in Washington

1. NAFTA conference

I recently traveled to Minneapolis to represent the coalition at a conference entitled "Lessons from NAFTA: Building a New Fair Trade Agenda", which was put on by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. The conference brought together eminent workers and organizers from all three NAFTA member countries, and thus provided a rich variety of insight and reflection on what we have learned from NAFTA, and how we can fix the flaws in this agreement and the model it has established.

Topics covered in panels and discussions included: Food and Agriculture, Energy and the Environment, Immigration, the Security and Prosperity Partnership, and What Would a Fair Trade Agenda Look Like? While of course there are no easy answers to how we can "fix" our trade policy, many suggestions were brought to the table - including the importance of working in collaboration to change trade policy and educate the public on key trade issues - precisely the work of the Washington Fair Trade Coalition!

It was an inspiring event. If you would like more details on what transpired at the conference, feel free to contact me.

2. Reverse Trick-or-Treating

The Washington Fair Trade Coalition joined on to a national campaign organized by Global Exchange to support fair trade this Halloween. The event was called Reverse Trick-or-Treating, and involved thousands of children across 299 cities in the US and Canada turning the traditional Halloween ritual on its head. It was the kids handing out the chocolate! Reversing the trick or treat model these young people gave away tens of thousands of samples of Fair Trade Certified dark chocolate to address the persistent problems of chronic poverty in cocoa-growing communities, abysmal working conditions, and the use of exploited child labor in the Ivory Coast -- which produces 40% of the world's cocoa.

The Washington Fair Trade Coalition supported this event as part of our overarching aims to support public education around the problems in the world trade system. In addition to supporting Fair Trade Certified goods, we put out a message that trade policy must also be changed - including convincing Congress to stop passing flawed FTAs!

About half a dozen families in the greater Seattle area took part in this event on Halloween night. And perhaps the most successful - at least in terms of media attention - were the efforts of a group of Reverse Trick-or-Treaters from America in Solidarity, who did their trick or treating on Sunday Oct. 28, and got over three minutes of coverage on KOMO 4 news. Great work everyone!

3. UFCW Product Safety Wake up Walmart event

UFCW Local 21 organized an inspiring event as part of their Wake Up WalMart holiday campaign. Several organizations, including UFCW and the Washington Fair Trade Coalition, gathered at the Renton WalMart to protest the multitude of recalls that have brought attention to the unsafe goods procured by WalMart from overseas suppliers.

Protesters arrived dressed in relevant Halloween costumes - and the theme was "recalled products." These creative and startling costumes included unsafe toothpaste, steak with E. Coli, and a Toxic Barbie! Protesters carried a banner over 15 feet long that listed all the unsafe goods that have been pulled from WalMart's shelves recently, and distributed information about product safety concerns to customers.

These safety concerns are very much linked to the flawed trade model, which allows and even encourages companies to use overseas subcontractors, while actively pressuring these suppliers to keep costs low. Thus, it is really no surprise corners end up being cut in health and safety! This event asked WalMart to increase its concern about these issues, as well as linking the problem to the global trade system where workers rights, the environment, and safety are often sacrificed for the sake of low costs.

Upcoming events

1. America in Solidarity NW Progressive Convention

On Saturday, November 10^th, join America in Solidarity and fellow progressives to learn more about important issues, including affordable health care, ending the Iraq occupation, examining free trade policies, and more. The NW Progressive Convention will take place at the First Congregational Church, 209 South J St, Tacoma WA, from 9am-4pm.

Register online: www.americasolidarity.org

2. CISPES Speakers tour

WE ARE NOT TERRORISTS! ORGANIZING IS DEMOCRACY!
featuring Josefina Lazo Molina of El Salvador's National Vendors' Movement

Saturday, November 10th, 6-8PM

2100 Building - 2100 24th Ave. S., Seattle

Salvadoran dinner - live music - presentation

Bilingual event - childcare available

$10-$20 suggested donation, no one turned away for lack of funds

Contact Seattle CISPES for more information: 206.325.5494, seacispes@igc.org

“In May, the government captured working vendors and beat them, and later they began a psychological war by issuing arrest warrants for leaders of our movement. The government wants to stay on good terms with transnational corporations while people are dying.” - Josefina Lazo Molina

Josefina Lazo Molina is a leader of the organized workers of El Salvador's informal sector. For her organizing work, Josefina and members of her movement have been labeled by their government as "terrorists" and members of "organized crime." Josefina is touring the United States to attest to the devastating effects of free trade in El Salvador and increasing repression at the hands of the U.S.-trained Salvadoran police. Josefina has represented her organization in negotiations with the the government's Human Rights office and Ministry of Economy.

3. South Sound Clean Clothes Campaign's November movie series

The first annual Anti-Sweatshop Film Fest, sponsored by SSCCC, begins on Monday, November 12 at Traditions Café at 7 pm. Films will be shown three consecutive Mondays, November 12, 19 and 26 and all will be shown for free.

Films include: "China Blue", "A Killer Bargain", and "Made in LA" - all engaging and informative documentaries regarding the use of sweatshop labor. For more information visit the South Sound Clean Clothes Campaign's website.

4. More Wake up Walmart Holiday events 

More Wake up WalMart events will take place this holiday season, including and Thanksgiving event on Nov. 19^th, and a Christmas/Hanukkah event on December 18^th. More details to follow.

For further reading:

White House Threatens to Veto Worker Aid Bill

US House panel OKs Peru free trade pact including labor, environment standards

Reverse-Trick-or-Treating: Kids Give Chocolate Back on Halloween to Their Neighborhoods and the World

Spreading chocolate and a message
A short article on America in Solidarity's Reverse Trick-or-Treating success.