"Brands and retailers are the ones
driving the industry today. They search the world for the cheapest
source of supply,
they ignore blatant labor abuses, and they pay prices that bolster
exploitation."
But who believes that conscience, or
shame, should have any place in our current system of international
trade and investment?
In his oral and
written
testimony,
Bishop Ramazzini emphasized that he was speaking "as a pastor who lives
and works among some of the poorest people in the hemisphere."
Although trade ministers often urge him "to stop talking about social
issues in relation to trade agreements," he said he makes "no apologies
for calling trade agreements moral documents [since] they are about
the lives of millions of poor people who will be left high and dry."
To support his position, he quoted from a Pope John Paul II
statement in 1999: "If globalization
is ruled merely by the laws of the market applied to suit the powerful,
the consequences cannot but be negative."
Ramazzzini added examples of
negative consequences cited by the Pope: "unemployment, the reduction
and
deterioration of public services, the destruction of the environment
and natural resources, the growing distance between rich and poor,
unfair competition which puts the poor nations in a situation of ever
increasing inferiority." But he left out one that headed the
Pope's
list:
"the
absolutizing of the economy" (see paragraph 20 of the Pope's apostolic
exhortation,
Ecclesia in America), probably
because the English translation of the term is unclear (the
French
version, translated, is "the attribution of an absolute
value to the economy").
CAFTA Likely To Lock In the Wide
Inequalities That Already Exist
"We have been liberalizing trade in Guatemala for many years," he told
the subcommittee. "Yet poverty levels have increased, and the
disparity between the super-rich and the very poor has become wider...I
fear that current trade agreements will most likely
lock in those inequalities."
Bishop Ramazzini disputed the promises made
for CAFTA: "The path of
trade integration...has been
presented as a wide avenue along which all can travel towards greater
prosperity. In reality, it is a narrow path across a deep gorge
that only the strongest and most capable can travel. It offers
hope only to a few, and I fear no hope to those whom the Pope calls the
'weakest, the most powerless, and the poorest'."
Among his specific criticisms of CAFTA:
- Increasing U.S. agricultural imports into Guatemala: "Our
farmers
are hardworking and
will continue to find ways to compete with their northern neighbors,
but they cannot compete against the U.S. Treasury and the $170 billion
in
subsidies granted in your farm bill of 2002." Result: increased
migration into Guatemalan cities and into the United States.
- Its lack of protection for workers, mostly women, employed in the
country's export industries: Trade agreements need enforceable
worker rights requirements,
"with sanctions for non-compliance."
- The absence of in-put from the people most affected, a "fatal
flaw": "The poor were not consulted during negotiations. In
fact, they have been shut out. Instead, they should be the
protagonists
in this process, if we are
going to be serious about democratic stability and a secure
hemisphere. What we see is public unrest met with violent police
action."
In short: "The current model [that CAFTA follows] is deficient,
and I am
confident that we can repair it so that trade works for all, and
especially the poor....To do so, we must all look at trade policies
from the bottom up -- from their impact on the lives and dignity of
poor families and vulnerable workers across the hemisphere."
'Fast Track' Speeds Trade Bill
Through Congress By Tying Congress' Hands
Unfortunately, Congress cannot repair CAFTA itself. Congress can
only accept
it or reject it.
That's because of a 2002 law, passed by a narrow
margin under Chamber of Commerce and Bush
Administration pressure, that puts trade bills on a 'fast track." It
requires them to be rushed them through Congress without the
possibility of any amendments, and thus increases Presidential powers
to get Congress to approve the kind of trade agreements the White House
wants -- agreements that idolize the "laws" of the market applied from
the top down to suit the powerful.. (See "A
Fast Track to Fast Track to...Where?" in the August
12, 2002, issue of Human Rights for Workers.)
Attached to Bishop Ramazzini's testimony was last year's joint
statement on CAFTA by the Bishops of the United States and of
Central America.
Church Leaders to WTO: Reform!
An ecumenical group of religious leaders visited the headquarters of
the World Trade Organization in
Geneva
April 13 to demand a moral reform in
the conduct of world trade. The delegation delivered a petition
expressing
1) the belief that trade must promote justice and 2) the demand that
the WTO and governments revise trade rules and practices
accordingly.
Under the heading "Trade for people, not people for trade," the body of
the petition,
signed by more than l80 leaders of churches and faith-based
organizations, read as follows:
"We believe that trade must
promote human well-being, sustainable communities, and economic
justice, and that governments must be able to set trade policies to
safeguard the rights of all people, especially those living in
poverty.
"We demand that
our government
and the governments of the world change the international rules and
practices that govern trade so that they give priority to human rights
and protection of the environment, and contribute to the eradication of
poverty.
"In
particular, we call for
trade rules and practices which ensure:
- "The right to food for all people;
- "Access to water, education, health care, and information on
an
equitable basis;
- "The regulation of transnational corporations."
The WTO's director for external relations,
Alain Frank, who accepted the petition, suggested that it be
sent also to other international agencies and national
governments, since
the WTO "cannot do more than it is equipped to do."
The delegation was headed by the
Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the World Council of Churches,
and also included
representatives of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, the
Lutheran World Federation, the World Young Women's Christian
Association, and Franciscans
International.
Applying Moral Values to Global Reality
As never before, religious leaders are criticizing today's trade rules
for their failure to reflect basic moral values. These
initiatives deserve your support. . But to be effective that
support should be grounded not just in a commitment to principles but
also in a solid knowledge of the facts.
Here are two recent reports that will give you a good grasp of
the facts:
- On worker rights in CAFTA: "The
United States-Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement
Falls Short on Workers' Rights," the Human Right Watch's written
testimony submitted to the House Ways and Means Committee on April 21.
"If passed, [CAFTA] will mark an unfortunate step backwards for the
protection of workers' human rights in the context of U.S. trade."
Among other deficiencies, it "specifically fails to protect women
workers against discrimination."
- On the World Trade Organization: "Ten
Wasted Years," a talk at the World Economic Forum by Neil Kearney,
general secretary of the International Textile, Garment and Leather
Workers' Federation. Kearney charged that, after the WTO's ten
years of existence, "the global economic situation is more unstable
than ever before."
'Special' Treatment for UN
Global Norms
The UN Commission on Human Rights last month voted overwhelmingly to
continue working to establish a global set of human rights standards
for multinational corporations and their contractors. The
iniative thus survives a two-year campaign of opposition from the U.S.
government and business organizations.
By
a roll-call
vote of 49 to 3, the Human Rights Commission on April 20 adopted a
resolution to have a Special Representative, to be appointed by the UN
General Secretary, develop the set of standards for
consideration by the Commission meeting next year. The three No
votes belonged to the United States, Australia, and South Africa --
South Africa because it regarded the resolution too watered down.
Corporations Said To be Exempt from
Human Rights Obligations
In a two-page
statement explaining his vote, the U.S. delegate made this
claim:
"Human rights obligations apply to states, not non-state actors [such
as corporations], and it is incumbent upon states when they deem
necessary to adopt national laws that address the obligations of
private actors." The
International
Organization of Employers made the same point in a
three-page statement issued in March.
On April 21 an Amnesty
International statement praised
the Commission's most recent decision, but expressed "strong
disappointment that the United States...voted against it." Among
the 80 or more other non-governmental organizations applauding the
decision was
the Interfaith
Center on Corporate Responsibility, headquartered in New
York City.
The Commission's
involvement began when its
subsidiary body of human rights experts in August 2003 approved a
document called "Norms on
the Responsibilities of Transnational
Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human
Rights." The U.S. Council for International Business
denounced it
as
"unfeasible, unnecessary, and counter-productive." A
coalition of human rights organizations welcomed it.
While the U.S. media, big and small, have ignored the controversy, Human Rights for Workers has
been tracking it over the past 16 months, most recently with the
article "Why Global
Norms for Business Matter" in the April 2 issue. And all this
was before I learned of a statement by John Paul II in his 2001 address
to the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences:
"As
humanity embarks upon the process of globalization, it can no longer do
without a common code of ethics....Such a search is indispensable if
globalization is not to be just another name for the absolute
relativization of values and the homogenization of life-styles and
cultures."
I found the full text of the Pope's address in the Winter 2005 issue of
the Journal
of Catholic Social Thought, which just came in the mail. The
text can also be found on the Vatican's Website in English,
as well as in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.
I felt mixed emotions as I browsed through this issue of the Journal,
with its 260
pages devoted to globalization -- glad, because of the richness of
Catholic
social thought; sad, because of the small number of Catholics who
appreciate this gift and act on it.
Freedom of Choice Act Relaunched
Although it gained 210 co-sponsors in the House of
Representatives and 30 in the Senate last year, the Congressional
Republican
leadership refused to allow the Employee Free
Choice Act to come up for a vote (see "A
Freedom Widely Suppressed"). This year
Congress must again decide whether it will restore that freedom -- the
right of American working men and women to be
represented by a union.
On April 19 the Employee
Freedom of Choice Act was introduced as H.R. 1696 and S. 842 under
bi-partisan sponsorship: Senators Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts
Democrat, and Arlen Spector, Pennsylvania Republican, and
Representatives George Miller, Democrat of California, and Peter King,
Republican of New York.
At present, workers are commonly unable to unionize even if a majority
of them want to do so. They are blocked by militant employer
opposition, in conjunction with employer-friendly National Labor
Relations Board (NLRB) procedures. A key feature of the proposed
legislation would require employers to recognize a union if a majority
of workers sign cards authorizing union representation. This option was
previously available to by-pass the sluggish NLRB bureaucracy, which
reacted by gradually shutting it down.
Human Rights for Workers: Bulletin No. X-6
May 4, 2005
http://www.senser.com
Robert A. Senser, editor
Copyright 2005
(Send e-mail)
Back to Home Page
