Thread: Tell Congress to Say 'NO' to Colombia FTA! -(Teamsters)

RE: http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-110939.html

go to the url to fill out your name and address to forward to your reps. the letter is already written for you. See http://www.teamsterstakeaction.org/camp ... q3tEq2pcNE to take action.


Tell Congress to Say 'NO' to Colombia FTA!

The Bush administration has done it again -- negotiated another unfair trade agreement that would have damaging consequences here at home as well as abroad. Today President Bush transmitted the Colombia free trade agreement (FTA) to Congress, and under fast track rules, this means that it must be voted on before the August Congressional recess. Congress can only vote a straight YES or NO and cannot make any amendments to the agreement.
The Teamsters want good, job-creating trade policies and not more of the same job-killing trade agreements that the Bush administration continues to push through. While the labor chapter of the Colombia FTA is an improvement, the rest of the agreement is modeled off of the same flawed language found in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). NAFTA and CAFTA resulted in major job loss here at home, environmental degradation and the decimation of family farmers in other countries, and increased immigration to the U.S. We can only expect the results of the Colombia FTA to be the same.

What is even more alarming is that Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the world to be a trade union activist. Since 1991, the National Labor School reports that 2,238 trade unionists were assassinated in Colombia, more than any other country in the world. Already this year, 11 trade unionists have been killed. The Colombian government has done very little to bring justice to these senseless killings, with only 68 convictions related to violence against trade union activists since 2001 according to the Office of the Colombian Attorney General. Trade unionists and their families in Colombia live in a climate of fear that makes it impossible for them to fully and confidently exercise their rights to organize, bargain collectively, go on strike, or criticize their government.

This trade agreement is not "free." It comes at a huge cost for Americans and Colombians alike. For Americans, it means more losses in jobs and exports, decreased living standards for middle-class families, and a weaker domestic manufacturing base. For Colombians, it means more substandard wages, the destruction of their country's biodiversity, ruined livelihoods for family farmers, an increased pressure to emigrate, and no justice for the thousands of trade unionists already assassinated and those who continue to live in fear.

We need your help! Please take a moment to call and/or send an e-mail to your members of Congress and let them know that if the Bush Administration forces a vote on the Colombia FTA, they must oppose it and ensure that it is defeated. U.S. workers do not want the Colombia FTA, and it is outrageous for anyone to even consider an FTA with the Colombian government in light of their impunity with regard to trade union assassinations in their country. Such impunity should not be rewarded with more access to the American market.

A sample e-mail is provided below, and the Capitol switchboard can be reached at (202) 224-3121.

http://www.teamsterstakeaction.org/camp ... q3tEq2pcNE

It's too bad they support amnesty for illegal aliens and actively recruit them for their membership...

Phred and Butterbean, this vote has not even taken place yet the Colombian airline Avianca is already planning direct service from Washington DC Dulles airport to Bogota. They must think they have the votes and the Colombian government has ben paying hundreds of thousands to lobbyists to get it voted in.

The unions HERE are more concerned with union leaders in COLOMBIA than they are with an Air Force contract going to a FRENCH company. Yes, the union leaders now love illegals and go figure? Hispanics have risen up the ranks of the union chain of command SEIU. Eliseo Medina for example!

The minumum wage in Colombia is $200 a month while it is lower in China so don't look for any major US company to bolt off to Colombia while closing a US factory when China is cheaper!

After Nafta and Cafta Colombia does not matter much! Too little too late!

I still think that lots of this is about Colombian flowers and little else and Washington's Plan Colombia...the sending of billions to Colombia in the name of stopping drug trafficking. Has it worked?

Originally Posted by PhredE

It's too bad they support amnesty for illegal aliens and actively recruit them for their membership...

I know. And they are hypocrits. But, isnt it really the leaders of the Teamsters who want amnesty, and not the actual members of the Teamsters Union?

I know that the Teamster members are against Mexican trucks coming into America because they are afraid their jobs will be taken. Why would they want illegal immigrants from Mexico coming here and lowering their pay and job stability?

I dont think that these blue collar workers fully understood the consequences of union leaders promoting illegal aliens and amnesty. When they realized that sooner or later they could be replaced by illegals willing to work for half the salary, they woke up, and now want to fight against that possibility.

I dont know. I hope it made them realize that they have to fight for their future.

AND AS FAR A BUSH GOES...What a rat. A Colombia trade deal? How absurd could this be for America? How can Bush keep making deals with such corrupt nations?

Butterbean, I am a union member but I am rank and file. You see, the LEADERS of the unions are "activists" not just union leaders. They are in bed so to speak with the far leftist wing of the Democratic Party.

The union known as the SEIU represents the illegal janitors. Most of we rank and file union people fully understand that the new "Scab" is the illegal immigrant.

The SEIU and a few of the AFL-CIO unions think they can somehow organize these illegals in the U.S. and they think there will be worldwide unions someday. Globalist companies and globalist unions. I think not!

The teamsters are different from the SEIU.

The SEIU is the bad union you want to watch out for!

Sure, I'll send that letter to my reps and senator, as soon as the teamsters stop advocating amnesty for illegals!