AFL-CIO says China's trade policies hurt U.S. jobs The AFL-CIO, which sees Chinese trade practices as a threat to American jobs, on Thursday filed a petition in Washington, D.C., asking President Bush to impose trade sanctions against China.There are plenty of things that hurt US jobs. But, free trade is the way to go for prosperity.
I think that the child labor mention is grossly overblown. In China, each family is only allowed to have ONE child, a son or a daughter. The nation is filled with single child families. Each kid has a lot of attention from mom, dad and often four grandparents. Sure, the kids are working, but they are working at music, art, dance, sports, studies, and ENGLISH lessons.
That's what we found.
Perhaps the undercut of US prices has something to do with the gross rules and regulations that we put on our businesses.
There is plenty to do in this world. Building walls between nations and people in terms of hurting the markets and free trade among the lawful is not the focus I'd want to advance.
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AFL-CIO says China's trade policies hurt U.S. jobs
Saturday, June 10, 2006
By Anya Sostek, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
George Bornes is a steelworker at the Wheatland Tube Co. in Sharon.
But yesterday morning, he was speaking out about what he called unfair labor practices in China.
His comments at an AFL-CIO press conference Downtown yesterday underscored the point that for American unions these days, all politics is global.
The AFL-CIO, which sees Chinese trade practices as a threat to American jobs, on Thursday filed a petition in Washington, D.C., asking President Bush to impose trade sanctions against China.
In what is formally known as a Section 301 trade petition, the AFL-CIO contends China's "unreasonable trade practices" in child labor, minimum wages and human rights violate the Trade Act of 1974.
Those violations have enabled Chinese companies to unfairly undercut U.S. prices and resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of American jobs, according to the petition. Starting Thursday, the Bush administration had 45 days to respond.
Mr. Bornes, 57, of Transfer, Mercer County, said 300 of his co-workers are now on layoff status -- a fact he blames on an influx of cheap steel from China.
"Chinese pipe is being delivered on our West Coast at $550 a ton," he said. "The steel and zinc raw materials for us to make the same pipe, before it's even delivered to our plant, is $700."
At the press conference, held in the lobby of the United Steelworkers headquarters, union leaders found an easy target for the trade imbalance and loss of Pennsylvania jobs in U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum.
A large poster served as a report card on Mr. Santorum's trade stances, giving him "F"s on issues such as his votes in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement and the Fast Track/Trade Promotion Authority.
William George, president of the Pennsylvania AFL-CIO, repeatedly criticized Mr. Santorum for spending much of his time in Virginia and for accepting large campaign contributions from law firms that represent "the Chinese Red Communist nation."
Two years ago, the AFL-CIO filed a similar Section 301 trade petition against Chinese labor practices. Saying at the time that he preferred cooperation to confrontation, President Bush rejected the complaint.
Yesterday, union leaders noted that the trade deficit with China has grown substantially since then -- $202 billion in 2005, an increase of 25 percent from the year before. They also criticized China for having as many as 20 million children in the work force, 6 million people in forced prison labor, and 127,000 deaths in industrial accidents in 2005.
"The violation of worker rights in China is both morally repugnant and economically damaging," said Bob Baugh, director of the AFL-CIO Industrial Union Council.
Not surprisingly, the union leaders also took issue with China's stance toward organized labor.
"If you form a union there, you'll end up in jail," said Leo Gerard, president of the United Steelworkers.
(Anya Sostek can be reached at asostek@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1308. )
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