Thread: Letter to Senator Dianne Feinstein

Senator Dianne Feinstein
U.S. Senate
331 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-0001

Dear Senator Feinstein,

I am writing to urge you to oppose the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade
Agreement (FTA) that the Bush administration has transmitted to
Congress. This is yet another example of a job-killing trade
agreement that will have damaging consequences both here at home
and abroad.

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.

Furthermore, it is reprehensible that this agreement was even
negotiated when Colombia remains the most dangerous place in the
world in which to be a trade union activist. According to the
National Labor School, there have been 2,238 assassinations of
trade unionists in Colombia since 1991, with 11 assassinations
already this year. Due to ongoing assassinations and continuous
threats of violence and death, trade unionists and their
families live in a constant 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. To make matters worse, the Colombian
government has acted with total impunity and done very little to
bring justice to these senseless killings. Perpetrators in only
14 cases have been convicted, which means that 19 out of 20
criminals responsible for murder are still at large and facing
no charges.

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.

I ask you to make your opposition to the Colombia FTA heard
today. Americans cannot afford more of these unfair, unbalanced
trade agreements, and we should not be negotiating with a
country that does not enforce international labor standards and
dismisses assassinations of trade union activists. Please oppose
the Colombia FTA today!




Sincerely,

Jim Xxxxxxxx

Best of luck, Frankenstein always sent me a form letter back that had nothing to do with the topic. I am glad she is no longer my senator.

This sounds like a stock AFL CIO letter, or something similar. No, I don't know all the ins and outs of hemispheric free trade agreements. But I am no longer impressed with labor union bullc--p either. Where does the truth leave off and the politically motivated spin start?

I cannot stand Diane Feinstein!!!!! When can we get rid of that old dynasour already!!! She needs to be on the unemployment line with all the other poor american's that were displaced by an illegal!

Originally Posted by alexcastro

I cannot stand Diane Feinstein!!!!! When can we get rid of that old dynasour already!!! She needs to be on the unemployment line with all the other poor american's that were displaced by an illegal!

The way things are going here in California you might get your wish, only a mater of time.