Workers and their allies are fighting to stop the Dominican Republic-Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA), signed May 28, 2004, by the United States, the Dominican Republic and five Central American countries. The Bush administration plans to present the deal to Congress later this year.
CAFTA, which does not include protections for workers’ right to form a union or safe work conditions, is the first bilateral or regional agreement the Bush administration has pushed since fierce opposition from workers in North and South America and their community allies stymied trade ministers in November 2003 from consolidating the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). If approved, FTAA would eliminate tariffs from 34 countries with a population of more than 800 million. Negotiations on FTAA were suspended for most of 2004 and trade ministers have not met this year to discuss it.
At the same time, the Bush White House is pushing CAFTA and has made it the top trade priority. “The Bush administration has negotiated an agreement that will utterly fail to create good jobs at home or promote equitable and sustainable development in Central America,” AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said. “This agreement will leave workers, family farmers, the environment, and communities more vulnerable, while enriching and empowering corporate elites.”
If approved, CAFTA would eliminate tariffs from the United States, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. It would extend to Central America the disastrous job loss and environmental damage caused by 11 years of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). U.S. workers lost more than 1 million jobs and real wages in Mexico have fallen as a result of NAFTA in the past 11 years, according to the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute.
A recent report by Human Rights Watch has highlighted how workers in Central America are often denied such basic rights as the right to organize and bargain collectively. Yet, the Bush administration has refused to include workers’ rights in CAFTA.
What You Need to Know About CAFTA
AFL-CIO Fact Sheets on CAFTA
Citizens Trade Campaign's fact sheet on CAFTA.
Deliberate Indifference: El Salvador’s Failure to Protect Workers’ Rights, a report by Human Rights Watch.
What You Need to Know About FTAA
What is the impact of FTAA on:
Time to Choose: Good Jobs and Strong Communities or NAFTA Times Ten, a report by the AFL-CIO (PowerPoint).
Economic Policy Institute's report: The High Price of 'Free' Trade.
Read Fast Track to Lost Jobs.
