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Sterling, IL. - John David reports
NAFTA: Is it working for you?
Feb 6, 2006, 07:47 AM PST
By John David

STERLING, Illinois -- A dark, dismal day in Sterling, Il., sets the mood for the end of an era. Inside the 93-year-old Lawrence Hardware plant, this work represents the last of the line. That's where you'll find Rita Clifton. After 21 years at the company, losing her job to cheaper foreign competition.

"We knew it was coming because the economy all over is going that way," she said.

Lawrence Hardware endured bankruptcy and a depleted workforce in recent years. The company just couldn't recapture its glory days on an uneven playing field.

"We start out at a 22% disadvantage," said Jim Franson, general manager.

Global pressures and trade policies like NAFTA spelled the end of production.

"There's EPA regulations, OSHA regulations that we have to conform to and cost us money that foreign sources don't have to deal with right now," he said.

For many American workers, NAFTA represents lost promises and bitter reality. Free trade with Canada and Mexico that reflects a global economy -- cutting careers and creating hardship along the way.

Enacting NAFTA nearly a dozen years ago, both conservative and liberal supporters projected it would create hundreds of thousands of American jobs. But there was one voice in the wilderness, and it belongs to Ross Perot.

"We've got a little song," he told CNN's Larry King. "We'll remember in November when we get into that little booth."

Just mention Perot, and Alan Nelson launches into a dead-on impersonation.

"Let me tell you what's going to happen with these NAFTA laws, folks," he drawled. "You're going to hear nothing but a giant sucking sound. You know what that sound is? That's the sound of your jobs going to Mexico."