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Kaptur Urges
Trump Administration to Listen to the Voices of Ohioans
While Renegotiating NAFTA
In letter to USTR, Kaptur urges action to protect workers
and submits testimony from recent field hearing in Brook
Park, Ohio
Amidst ongoing NAFTA renegotiations with Canada and Mexico,
Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) sent a letter, along with
pages of testimony from Ohioans, to U.S. Trade Ambassador
Robert Lighthizer urging that real labor standards and
enforcement be included in any new continental trade
agreement.
“Millions of Americans have endured relentless job
outsourcing and significant downward wage and benefit
pressures under NAFTA's rigid provisions. Significant as
well, our nation has never achieved a trade balance with our
NAFTA competitors in over a quarter century. Indeed, since
1993, America’s cumulative deficit with NAFTA partners now
totals nearly $2 trillion. This negative result represents
an astounding abdication of economic growth,” Kaptur wrote
in the letter.
The letter included testimony from
Kaptur’s August town hall on NAFTA, trade, and
jobs in Brook Park, Ohio. This included analysis and
perspectives from the National Farmers Union, Teamsters
Local 416 in Cleveland, Blue Green Alliance, Sierra Club,
Policy Matters Ohio, United Steelworkers, and the United
Auto Workers.
“To drive through our district and speak to our constituents
provides a daily reminder of the plight these workers face:
shuttered factories, hollowed out neighborhoods, chronic
economic stress due to diminished employment opportunities
in quality jobs. Time and again during the field hearing,
participants called for increased worker protections,
improved environmental provisions, and elimination of
special courts that further enhance already bloated
transnational interests. You now have [a great] opportunity
to rectify these troubles by focusing on the American worker
as you negotiate with Canada and Mexico. To amplify the
concerns of the hearing’s participants, I am including their
prepared testimony so you can read their stories and
understand their experiences,” Kaptur continued.
Kaptur again called for the inclusion of a tri-party
Independent Labor Secretariat, to ensure the labor standards
are enforced. An idea that is supported and outlined by the
AFL-CIO
here.
“Ultimately, the American worker demands fair trade and a
level playing field with workers in Canada and Mexico. I
have little doubt that you will have the votes from Congress
to support your achievement if you negotiate a deal that
puts American workers’ interests first,” Kaptur
concluded.
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