e At press conference following rally, Mexican parliamentarian Jorge Calderon explains the conditions of the working
class in his country. To his left is Audrey McLaughlin, Jesse Jackson and B.C. MLA Dave Zirnhelt.

Fight against NAFTA is seen as a major
struggle for democracy and human rights

Joining Reverend Jesse Jackson at
the Hands Across the Border rally
were an impressive array of speakers
from Canada, the U.S. and Mexico,
who aligned themselves in universal
opposition to the upcoming NAFTA.

Jorge Calderon Salazar, a federal
member of the Mexican parliament
and member of the opposition Revolu-
tionary Democratic Party (PRD) told
the demonstrators that opposition to
the NAFTA is a "common fight ... for
freedom, justice and democracy."

He said that a non-democratic gov-
ermment headed by Mexican president
Carlos Salinas de Gortari, which was
fraudulently elected, is trying to im-
plement NAFTA despite the opposition
of a majority of Mexicans.

He warned Canadians and Ameri-
cans that multinational corporations
are trying to present an image of Sali-
nas as a democratic reformer when
nothing could be further from the
truth.

Since Salinas fraudulently took
power in 1988 ovér 140 people have
been killed by the police or the army,
in their fight against the fraudulent
government, and in fighting for better
wages and democracy, said Mr.
Calderon.

"Today the fight for democracy in
Mexico has strong links with the fight
to stop the North America Free Trade
Agreement," said Calderon. "We think
that the interest of people in Canada
and the interest of people in the Unit-
ed States is to support our fight for
democracy....We can't accept a situa-
tion with corruption, (and with a)
non-democratic government, and
when poverty have strong links with
multinational corporations."

"Multinational corporations know
corruption and multi-national corpo-
rations know that Salinas is (the
leader of a) non-democratic govern-
ment," said Calderon.

Calderon said the Maquiladora
trade zone along the U.S. Mexican
border has only meant a decrease in -
living standards. In 25 years of the
Maquiladora program about 400,000
jobs have been created — jobs which
have an “incredibly low standard of
wages and low standard of social se-
curity," according to Calderon.

"This agreement means low wages.
It means that the poverty of the large

part of the Mexican population will
continue....We can't accept a situation
where millions and millions of Mexi-
can people are working for $4.00 a
day."

Audrey McLaughlin, the leader of
the New Democratic Party of Canada
said there's nothing in the trade deals,
either NAFTA or the Canada-U.S. FTA,
to protect workers "and to ensure
health and safety and environmental
standards."

Although Ms. McLaughlin says that
many of the 500,000 people, who have
lost their jobs since the signing of the
FTA in 1989 may have lost hope, "the
power really does reside with the peo-
ple."

‘Tt’s time now for the
people ... to say no to
the politicians that
would sell out our
countries in the
name of profit and
capttal.”

Audrey McLaughlin

She said that the NDP is prepared to
work with coalition interests in all
three countries to fight NAFTA.

"It's time now for the people to take
back our countries. To say no to bad
trade deals and no to the politicians
that would sell out our countries in
the name of profit and capital."

Warnings against the trade deals
sounded even more ominous, when
Elaine Bermhard, Director of Harvard
University's Trade Union Program,
spoke to the rally.

"This free trade (NAFTA) agreement
is a charter of rights for business,"
said Ms. Bernhard. "It locks in a sys-
tem where we will have less and less
power regardless of who we elect.
This may be the last election in all of
our countries when we get a chance
to vote for democracy and to vote for

our future as free and democratic so-
cieties, not societies completely under

the thumb of transnational corpora-
tions."

Bernhard said that the NAFTA, like
the Free Trade Agreement between
Canada and the U.S., will prevent
Americaris from having a nationalized
health care plan, because the agree-
ment will tie the hands of govern-
ments in the future.

An article in the NAFTA specifies
that if a government program (ie. uni-
versal medicare) reduces financial
benefits to companies, (ie. private
medical insurance/hospitals) then the
companies are entitled to compensa-
tion.

Therefore a universal medical pro-
gram will be impossible for the U.S. to
implement without enormous com-
pensation payments to private compa-
mes.

"These bastards have been ripping
us blind for years, and now if we
throw them out and set up a universal
single payer health care system, we've
got to compensate the damn insur-
ance companies," said Bernhard.

The speaker said that NAFTA is in a
fast track approval process in the U.S.
senate and there are 90 session days
to say yes or no to the deal. There are
800 pages of text and 8,000 pages of
enabling legislation to be reviewed.

Dick Martin, Secretary-Treasurer of
the Canadian Labour Congress said
the rally is only the beginning of the
growing opposition to the sell-out
deal.

"In reality NAFTA will tie the hands
of government, preventing govern-
ments from managing their eco-
nomies or instituting humanistic
social and labour programs. The NAF-
TA is a blatant transfer of power from
the state to corporate boardrooms
and forms part of a domestic and cor-
porate agenda to further enrich now
outrageously rich corporations."

Brother Martin said the CLC is start-
ing to mobilize across the country and
will continue until NAFTA is defeated.

Larry Kenny, president of the Wash-
ington State Labour Council, said that
the Pacific Northwest is the fastest
growing economy in the United States
because "Canadian companies are
moving across the border to take ad-
vantage of Reagan-Bush labour laws,
to escape Canadian unions and to

change $18.00/hr. Canadian ,
$8.00/hr. U.S. non-union jobs...

~ not trade policy, that's union b

He added: "We have the po
we have the right to insist that g
ments act in our interest. They can
be allowed to act in the interest of t
bottom line."

Craig Merrilees, a National Co-I
rector of the "Fair Trade Campaig
San Francisco based coalition of tr
unions, environmental, human rig
and social justice groups told the r:
of the grim reality that the Mexican
working class faces in the Maquilado-
ra Trade Zone.

"If you're in Mexico and you have a
problem with the pollution that's com-
ing from a U.S. plant just across the —
border, you can't go to your govern-
ment, you can't talk to the media, and
you can't organize a community orga-
nization... You can't do those things —
until you have human rights and polit-
ical reform."

The speaker said that Washington's
trade experts have mostly never been
to the free trade Maquiladora Zone.
He said workers are being poisoned —
inside and outside of factories while
multinational companies deny that
they are doing harm.

"Every day women are inhaling the
fumes of toxic soldering when putting
together circuit boards ... Workers are
watching helplessly as 16 year old
boys are eaten alive in unguarded ma-
chinery owned and operated by the
Ford Motor Company."

Mr. Merrilees said the Mexicans
needs enforceable health and safety
regulations, environmental protection
laws, and minimum wage laws which
are not in the NAFTA.

"This free trade agreement is only
about one thing - it's about making life
easier for multinational corporations,
corporations that have turned their
backs on America, turned their backs
on Canada and they aren't trickling

down to Mexico - they're trickling on
Mexico."

British Columbia's Minister of Eco-
nomic Development and Small Busi: ;
ness, Dave Zirhelt took to the pad

e Harvard University’s Elaine Bern-
hard said that NAFTA will ensure less
power for elected officials.

and reiterated the province's opposi-
tion to NAFTA. In June the B.C. gov-
ernment told the federal government
that it would not participate in NAFTA.
"We feel that the communities and
the working people of B.C. and Cana-
da have been sold out by the conserv-
ative negotiators that have been
dealing between the countries."
Said Zirnhelt: "We stand together
with those parts of the Democrat par-
ty in the U.S. and those political
forces in Mexico that say if there's go-
ing to be trade agreements they have
to incorporate strong environmental
standards so that the playing field in
trade is fair .... we suggest that labour
policy has to be incorporated into
agreements along with environmental
policy so that we guarantee standards
that so many of us are fighting for."
Added Zirnhelt: "We realize that we
have to trade products, but not to the
detriment of working classes of other
countries."

2/LUMBERWORKER/DECEMBER, 1992