Wisconsin State AFL-CIO

2005
June 29	Take Action: Contact Mark Green and tell him “ Wisconsin Wants Fair Trade!” Congressman Mark Green is undecided on whether he’ll vote for the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Mark Green also wants to be Governor, and represent all of Wisconsin . Call his congressional office – tell him you are a Wisconsin resident -- and ask the Congressman to oppose CAFTA. Unless we stop the flawed approach of NAFTA and CAFTA, we will continue to outsource Wisconsin jobs, offshore Wisconsin businesses, destroy our environment, and hurt women workers. ...more...
June 23	Writing a letter to the editor of your local paper has never been easier. With three simple steps, you can generate media coverage on CAFTA, outsourcing and unfair trade agreements. With new technology, here’s all it takes: Visit MoveOn’s “Letter to the Editor” site and plug in your zip code. Fill in the subject and body of the letter. There’s a couple of examples below. Put in your name and address, and press send. Repeat if you want to send to multiple papers in your area. You don’t have to leave your computer, or look up any newspaper addresses. The whole process will take five minutes. Simply go to http://www.moveonpac.org/lte/index.html and get started right now. ...more...
June 16	The Bush Administration and opponents of fair trade are pushing Congress to pass the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) this month. Unfair trade agreements like CAFTA have helped send 2.5 million manufacturing jobs beyond our borders since 2001. Working families have already been devastated by NAFTA and GATT, which have taken away family-supporting jobs and offered only lower-paying jobs with fewer benefits or no jobs at all in return. Another flawed trade agreement like CAFTA would only mean more job losses for hardworking American families. ...more...
June 7	“The biggest live music show the world has seen” is being held July 2nd – exactly 20 years after Live Aid -- to raise awareness of third-world debt and to promote fair trade. Geldof is calling upon world leaders attending the G8 Summit in Scotland on July 6 to increase international aid, promote fair trade and cancel the debt of the world's poorest countries. ...more...
May 17	The WiscoTrader would like to thank and recognize Representatives like Gwen Moore who ran on fair trade issues and came out to oppose CAFTA before the vote. Moore -- elected last November to represent downtown Milwaukee – ran television ads against unfair agreements like CAFTA, and made opposition to outsourcing a key ingredient of her win. Only one of Wisconsin 's ten-member delegation has publicly endorsed the agreement, while six of our ten federal officials are publicly opposed to CAFTA. ...more...
May 3	When Jim Hightower and Patrick Buchanan are on the same side –with the Sierra Club and John Birch Society singing kumbaya together in the background – there is real hope we will actually change the way trade agreements work in this world. A broad coalition including labor groups, business, farmers, environmentalists, political activists and the interfaith community are continuing the rally to derail CAFTA. ...more...
April 19	The Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) -- the first major U.S. trade pact in over a decade -- met with strong bipartisan skepticism in the Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday, signaling it will be hard-pressed to win congressional approval. Former fervent backers of past trade agreements expressed reservations about CAFTA. ...more...
April 6	Sen. Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, announced a committee hearing on the United States-Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) for next Wednesday, April 13. It is rumored that the House Ways and Means Committee will also hold a hearing the same day. These will address “general issues” of CAFTA, and do not include the basic “mock-mark-up” activities needed for CAFTA implementing legislation to be finalized. This hearing was rescheduled from the original April 6^th date. ...more...
March 22	We may all know that Representatives Obey, Baldwin and Moore oppose unfair trade agreements including CAFTA, and that Senator Feingold has been a national leader on Fair Trade issues. What many people don’t realize is that most of our Wisconsin Delegation – both Republican and Democrat – have taken strong stands against the failed free trade policies in the past. For example, nine of our eleven federal officials opposed the Australian Trade Agreement, with only Congressmen Ryan and Petri supporting it. ...more...
March 8	The Good: Poll Shows Americans Oppose CAFTA "Would you favor or oppose CAFTA if it reduces prices you pay as a consumer but eliminates jobs for U.S. workers?" A whopping 74% of voters polled said they would oppose the agreement; 17% were in support. The survey also found that 51% oppose the CAFTA trade agreement altogether and only 32% supports it. Anti-CAFTA sentiment crosses party lines, with Republicans (47 to 37 percent) joining Democrats (53 to 31 percent) and Independents (53 to 32 percent) in opposition to the agreement. Overall opposition to CAFTA is stronger in red states (53 to 31 percent) than in blue states (48 to 34 percent). More polling results at www.americansforfairtrade.org ...more...
February 22	The Good: Feingold Introduces 'Buy American' Bill The Buy American Improvement Act strengthens the Buy American Act of 1933, which requires the federal government to purchase American-made goods whenever possible. "Over the last five years, Wisconsinites have lost nearly 80,000 manufacturing jobs, largely because of unfair trade agreements and questionable administration policies," Feingold said. "By purchasing American-made goods whenever possible, our federal government will send a simple message to American workers: We support you." ...more...
February 8	The Good: Outsourcing Listed in Top Ten State Issues The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) reported last month that “Adapting to World Trade” would be one of the ten top issues for state government in 2005. Unfortunately, California , Massachusetts and Minnesota have had to recently repeal state laws that were found in violation of U.S. trade law. For more, visit www.ncsl.org/programs/econ/et.htm ...more...
January 25	Milwaukee artist Terese Agnew's latest project, "Portrait of a Textile Worker," is causing a stir among anti-sweatshop activists and labor unions. The 8x9 foot quilt is made out of thousands of garment labels, and will be on display from Jan. 28 to Feb. 12 at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts in Brookfield 's Mitchell Park. It will be unveiled during an opening reception with the artist on Jan. 28 at 6 p.m. , and those wishing to attend should RSVP by calling 262-781-9470. ...more...
January 12	FTAA Deadline Passes without a Deal Most fair trade victories are won when the U.S. Congress is unable to bring items to a vote for lack of a majority, or when a trade deal can’t be struck for lack of support. The passing of the January 1st deadline for negotiating a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) is a major victory for fair trade activists. The mainstream media failed to report this major loss to corporate conglomerates. “The administration must face the fact that NAFTA was a radical experiment that failed,” said Lori Wallach, director of Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch. “Citizens and legislators in the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean have seen NAFTA’s result in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and have said ‘no’ to the expansion of these policies, which harm workers, threaten our environment and undermine our democracy.” ...more...