[WestMALocals] Greens see harm to US, int'l workers under CAFTA

[kate harris]

From: Nancy Allen <nallen at prexar.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 11:11:00 -0400

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Friday, August 5, 2005

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty at greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene at greens.org
Julia Willebrand, Co-chair of the International Committee, 212 877-5088, 
julia.willebrand at verizon.net

GREENS SEE WIDESPREAD HARM TO WORKERS IN THE U.S., CENTRAL AMERICA UNDER CAFTA

Citing CAFTA's NAFTA-like provisions, Greens warn of damage from water 
privatization, lost jobs and depressed wages, and blocked access to medicine.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called the House's recent passage 
of the Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) a 
disaster for working people in the U.S., Central America, and the Dominican 
Republic and the environmental health and safety in the signatory nations.

"CAFTA will extend NAFTA's job loss, workers' rights abuses, and 
environmental damage throughout Central America," said Nan Garrett, Georgia 
Green and Spokesperson for the National Women's Caucus of the Green 
Party.  "It will prohibit governments in the region from ensuring that 
foreign investment serves national development goals.  Instead, it'll 
enable further schemes for the profit of U.S.-based corporations."

CAFTA encourages nations to privatize and deregulate services such as 
education, health care, postal service, construction, transportation, and 
the provision of water.

"Privatization and deregulation have proved particularly devastating for 
families living in poverty," said Julia Willebrand, co-chair of the Green 
Party's International Committee.  "In Bolivia, forced water privatization 
resulted in an economic breakdown when poor families were forced to pay 
exorbitant fees to Bechtel, a U.S.-based corporation.  CAFTA will require 
the officials in more than a third of Nicaragua's municipalities to open 
water management to bidding by transnational companies."

Greens note that CAFTA contains a provision similar to NAFTA's Chapter 11, 
which allows foreign corporations to sue national, state, and local 
governments that pass strong labor, public health, or environmental 
protections.  Under the provision, companies can bypass domestic courts and 
sue a government directly for cash compensation if they think an 
environmental or public health law might interfere with their ability to 
profit.

CAFTA's "data exclusivity" provisions and monopoly protections for 
brand-name drug manufactureres threaten access to affordable life-saving 
medicines in a region where half the population live in poverty. According 
to the World Health Organization and UNAIDS, more than 78,000 Guatemalans 
are HIV-infected; annual AIDS-related deaths totaled 5,800 in 2003.

"CAFTA is modeled on NAFTA and other failed trade policies, under which the 
U.S. trade deficit reached a record $600 billion last year after American 
companies relocated to take advantage of lower wages and weaker worker and 
environmental protections," said Jill Bussiere, Co-chair of the Wisconsin 
Green Party.  "The NAFTA-related trade deficit cost U.S. workers nearly 
900,000 net jobs through 2002.  Companies that stayed in the U.S. used the 
threat of leaving the country as a means of breaking union organizing 
drives, and to win concessions at the bargaining table."

"Despite rosy predictions from supporters about new jobs, NAFTA continues 
to harm workers in the U.S. and Latin America.  CAFTA will compound the 
damage," added Jody Grage Haug, who lives in Seattle, Washington and serves 
as co-chair of the Green Party of the United States.  "Protests similar to 
Seattle in 1999 may be necessary to show widespread opposition to CAFTA, 
but it's equally urgent that we remove the Republicans and Democrats who 
voted for it from public office."

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Green Party International Committee
http://www.gp.org/committees/intl/

Statement on CAFTA and access to medicine
Rachel Cohen, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontierès, New York, 
New York
House Committee on Ways and Means, April 21, 2005
http://waysandmeans.house.gov/hearings.asp?formmode=printfriendly&id=2828

CAFTA Masks Hidden Water Privatization
Resource Center of the Americas.org
http://www.americas.org/item_14706

"NAFTA's cautionary tale: Recent history suggests CAFTA could lead to 
further U.S. job displacement" by Robert E. Scott and David Ratner
Economic Policy Institute, July 20, 2005, Issue Brief #214
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/ib214


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