The California Trade Justice CoalitionCTJC) , in partnership with US Rep Barbara Lee, will hold a hearing on the North American Free Trade Agreement Aug 31. NAFTA is now being renegotiated and the Trump Administration’s plan would continue all its worst features.
The panel is part of CTJC’s campaign to replace NAFTA with an agreement that puts people and the environment first. Speakers will include:
* David Bacon, photojournalist, author, and activist
* Robert Longer, California Political Coordinator, Communication Workers of America, District 9
* Gary Hughes, Senior California Advocacy Campaigner, Friends of the Earth
* and more
Sunflower Alliance is a co-sponsor of the event.
“The promise of NAFTA being a job creator was hollow,” said California Labor Federation Executive Secretary-Treasurer Art Pulaski. “Thousands of California workers watched helplessly as this flawed trade agreement led to the outsourcing of middle-class jobs.” Part of that process has been NAFTA’s “investor protection” clause, which allows transnational corporations to sue local or national governments if they do anything to reduce the corporations’ ability to make profits.
Trump’s plan for replacing NAFTA, writes the CTJC, “does not mandate the strong and enforceable labor and environmental standards needed to protect jobs at home and human rights abroad. It doesn’t propose eliminating NAFTA’s special investor protections for corporations that make it easier to offshore jobs and to attack our laws. It doesn’t even state that these talks will eliminate NAFTA’s ban on ‘Buy America’ government purchasing preferences. It also does not contain anything for immigrants, family farmers, consumer safety or access to medicine.”
Official negotiations on changing NAFTA are going on now — this hearing is part of CTJC’s campaign to build public pressure on the administration to conduct an open process and “negotiate an agreement that protects working families and the planet.”
Download NAFTA Public Hearing Flyer