Worker Advocates Demand Voice at NAFTA Hearing

After seeing only pro-NAFTA CEOs and corporate lobbyists invited by Senator John Cornyn to testify at a hearing on the North American Free Trade Agreement in San Antonio, the Texas Fair Trade Coalition and its allies held an impromptu press conference outside to ensure pro-worker and pro-environment voices would be heard on both the impact of NAFTA in Texas and civil society visions for a fair NAFTA replacement that would benefit the majority of people in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

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“Working people haven’t seen a pay increase in years and can’t find better jobs in large part because of trade deals like NAFTA.  Instead of leveling the playing field, NAFTA made it easier for companies to outsource jobs to countries with low and unfair wages,” said Bob Cash, Director of the Texas Fair Trade Coalition.  “We’re never going to see the NAFTA renegotiation that working people need if Senators and other policymakers are only listening to the corporations who have benefited from this system.”

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Cash and Texas AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasuer Montserrat Garibay spoke with reporters outside the San Antonio Marriott Plaza Hotel, where a NAFTA hearing was held with witnesses included Mitch Bainwol, CEO and president of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Washington, D.C.; Paola Avila, chair of the Border Trade Alliance, San Diego, Calif.; Richard Perez, CEO and president of the San Antonio Chamber of Commerce, San Antonio, Texas; Jeff Moseley, CEO of the Texas Association of Business, Austin, Texas; Russell Boening, president of the Texas Farm Bureau, Waco, Texas; and Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, Austin, Texas.

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“A lot of the things that we really want to make sure happen is that the workers will get paid fairly,” said Garibay. “If a worker gets paid in one month an hour of what they get paid here in the U.S., that’s unacceptable.”

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“We were told that NAFTA was going to create high-paying jobs on both sides of the border. The fact is now, a single government program has verified that there has been close to 1 million U.S. manufacturing jobs lost to Mexico.  Summer before last, when Mexican workers went on strike, it turns out they were being paid less than average Chinese factory wages,” said Cash. “The old NAFTA was a great success for the economic elites — for the 1% of Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. — but workers got the short end of the stick in all three countries.  That can’t continue in this renegotiation.”