Oregon Fair Trade Campaign

Organize for Trade Justice in Your Community

Posted on October 4, 2011 by Arthur

ORFTC supports volunteer-led trade justice organizing committees that meet regularly in Portland and Salem, and irregularly in Eugene. To get involved, please email Elizabeth Swager at elizabeth@oregonfairtrade.org or call (503) 736-9777.

We also maintain a database of supporters throughout the state called the Trade Action Network that we call upon several times each year to submit Letters to the Editor, bird-dog at elected officials’ “Town Hall” meetings and help distribute information. Contact Elizabeth at the address or number above, and she’ll be glad to add you.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Beer & Chocolate Fest a Treat for the Taste Buds

Posted on August 5, 2011 by CTC

For Immediate Release
August 5, 2011

PORTLAND, Ore. — Upwards of a hundred people attended the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign’s first-ever “Fair Trade Chocolate & Northwest Beer Fest” last night at the Record Room in east Portland. At the event, fair trade supporters sampled Northwest craft beers paired with unusual fair trade chocolates from Equal Exchange, and then voted for their favorites. The popular vote for the best pairing of the evening was Ambacht’s Golden Farmhouse Ale with Equal Exchange’s Organic Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt. BridgePort and Ninkasi also generously donated beer for the event, with complimentary hors d’oeuvres from Accento and Genoa.

“This was by far the most delicious fundraiser we’ve ever held. People were able to show their love for ORFTC and their tastebuds at the same time,” said Kari Koch, President of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. ”This was our first beer and chocolate pairing, and based on the money raised and all the accolades we received, I’m hopeful it will become an annual event. I can’t thank our beer, chocolate and appetizer donors enough — and the Record Room for hosting us in such an absolute perfect setting.”

The event was organized entirely by ORFTC volunteers, including Koch, Daniel Bonham and Alexis Ball. Space was donated by the Record Room, with music from DJ Mr. Loney Vato.

Ambacht’s Golden Farmhouse Ale with Equal Exchange’s Organic Chocolate Caramel Crunch with Sea Salt was the most popular pairing of the night. Other pairings included BridgePort’s Stumptown Tart Ale with Equal Exchange’s Organic Ecuador Dark Chocolate, Ninkasi’s Spring Reign Ale with Equal Exchange’s Organic Orange Dark Chocolate and Ambacht’s Golden Rye Farmhouse Ale with Equal Exchange’s Organic Panama Extra Dark Chocolate.

“The best pairing of the evening was between local businesses and the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign,” said Daniel Bonham, ORFTC’s Secretary-Treasurer. ”We deeply appreciate all the support we received from the Record Room, Equal Exchange, Ambacht, BridgePort, Ninkasi, Accento and Genoa. It’s helped to advance our mission of promoting fair trade policies that create healthy economies at home and abroad.”

Photos from the fundraiser are now online at www.facebook.com/oregonfairtrade.

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign is a statewide coalition of labor, environmental and human rights organizations working together to promote trade policies that: prioritize quality jobs in communities across the state; create markets for Oregon products by raising living standards in neighboring countries; enforce consistent standards for labor and the environment across borders; and allow local producers to compete on a level playing field. For more information, please visit www.oregonfairtrade.org.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off

Over 4,500 Area Jobs at Risk Under Proposed Korean Trade Pact

Posted on July 18, 2011 by CTC

For Immediate Release
July 18, 2011

BUSINESS & POLITICS:
Over 4,500 Area Jobs at Risk Under Proposed Korean Trade Pact
Analysis of Government Data Finds Jobs in Electronics and Manufacturing Are Among the Most Threatened in Oregon’s Fifth Congressional District

SALEM, Ore. — Over 4,500 people in Oregon’s 5^th Congressional District work in industries that a U.S. government study identifies as at risk of being offshored should a proposed trade pact with South Korea be enacted. Congress could vote on the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as early as this week. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, the proposed Korean trade agreement would increase the U.S. global trade deficit, negatively affecting employment in industries prevalent in the greater Salem area.

“With the state’s unemployment rate already one of the highest in the nation, Oregon simply cannot afford another job-killing trade agreement,” said Elizabeth Swager, assistant director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. “It’s hard to believe that members of Oregon’s Congressional delegation would even consider supporting a trade deal that’s expected to increase the deficit and cost the state jobs, let alone one that’s being billed as the largest free trade agreement since NAFTA.”

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994, the U.S. Labor Department has certified 51,176 individual Oregon jobs as lost to either direct offshoring or displacement by imports. This figure is almost certainly low, given that service-sector jobs shipped overseas were not typically counted in the data set until mid-way through 2009. In terms of volume of trade, the Korea FTA is the largest pact of its type since NAFTA.

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), the independent federal agency tasked with estimating the likely economic effects of trade agreements, predicts that implementation of the Korea FTA would lead to an increase in the overall U.S. trade deficit. The USITC also indicates that jobs are likely to be lost in high-wage industries such as electronics and manufacturing, with deficits for these sectors totaling up to $1.8 billion. The average hourly earnings of workers in the electronics industry, which is projected to lose a significant number of jobs, were $30.38 in 2008. This was 40.5 percent greater than the average hourly earnings of all workers employed in the private sector.

There are 4,515 people in Oregon’s 5^th Congressional District employed in sectors of the economy that the USITC has identified as most at risk under the Korea FTA. This includes 1,555 in metal products manufacturing and 1,519 in electronics equipment. Statewide, there are 36,999 Oregonians employed in sectors of the economy identified as most at risk.

“It’s not like there isn’t a track-record for our elected officials to go by. My high-tech job was offshored to China last year, and I still haven’t been able to find similar employment,” said Mitch Besser, a displaced software engineer from Lake Oswego. “Past trade deals have destroyed too many families’ livelihoods already. We’ve got to stop this broken model now, before our children’s livelihoods are also destroyed.”

Oregonians called on Congressman Kurt Schrader to oppose the Korea Free Trade Agreement during a picket and press event outside his downtown Salem office on Monday. The Congressman has repeatedly said he is leaning in favor of the Korea proposal.

“Finding a family-wage job is already hard enough without people like Congressman Schrader making it even harder. I don’t know how he can support a NAFTA-style trade deal that even the federal government says will increase the deficit,” said Daniel Bonham, a Woodburn resident. “This isn’t the time for elected officials to be cutting sweetheart deals for Wall Street that come at the expense of their constituents. Congressman Schrader should speak out firmly against the Korea FTA before it’s too late.”

###

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign (ORFTC) is a statewide coalition of labor, environmental and human rights organizations working together to improve trade policy.

For a PDF of ORFTC’s reporter memo titled “Studies on Potential Economic Effects of Korea Trade Pact Show Rising U.S. Deficits and Job Losses,” please email elizabeth@oregonfairtrade.org.

Posted in Korea FTA, Oregon Jobs Lost | Comments Off

Obama’s Trade Policy Endangers Oregon Tech Jobs

Posted on February 18, 2011 by CTC

For Immediate Release
Friday, February 18, 2011

Obama’s Trade Policy Endangers Oregon Tech Jobs
Displaced High-Tech Workers Demonstrate Against Korea Trade Deal During President’s Visit to Intel

Hillsboro, Ore. — Displaced high-tech workers and fair trade advocates held a rally outside the main gates of Intel’s Ronler Acres facility this morning to voice their opposition to the Obama administration’s plan to push forward with the Korea Free Trade Agreement, just before the President spoke inside about how education will make the U.S. more competitive in the global economy. The White House has said it will introduce the Korea trade deal in Congress within weeks.

“No one is going to argue against increased education, but what Americans really need are jobs. Too many high-tech positions have already been shipped overseas, and the President’s proposal for a free trade agreement with Korea would make things even worse,” said Mitch Besser, an unemployed software engineer with a Masters Degree in Software Development and over two decades of experience in the field.

Besser lost his programming job at IGT in Corvallis last year when the company closed its local branch, offshoring the majority of its work to China. Prior to being laid off, Besser and his coworkers had spent much of the year training their Chinese replacements.

The U.S. International Trade Commission, the federal agency tasked with projecting the outcome of potential U.S. trade policies, estimates that the proposed Korea Free Trade Agreement would increase the U.S. trade deficit in electronics — a category that includes high-tech sectors like semiconductors and solar panels — by $762 – 790 million. The Commission also predicts that the trade pact will increase the overall U.S. trade deficit.

According to an April 2010 study commissioned by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, Oregon’s 1^stCongressional District, which is home to Intel and the state’s so-called “Silicon Forest,” already lost a net 14,600 jobs due to imbalanced trade with China between 2001 and 2008. This was the first seven years after Congress allowed China to join the World Trade Organization. The job loss represented 3.76% of the district’s total employment, making it one of the hardest hit in the entire nation.

“There’s a clear track-record of trade-related job loss in Oregon’s high-tech sector due to past trade policies. Passing the Korea Free Trade Agreement will only continue that trend,” said Arthur Stamoulis, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. “People are having a hard enough time finding decent work without our elected officials making things even harder. It’s a message that the President and Members of Congress need to hear.”

In July 2010, Andy Grove, the former Chairman and CEO of Intel, and a current senior advisor, wrote an article titled “How to Create an American Job” in which he argued that, “The great Silicon Valley innovation machine hasn’t been creating many jobs of late — unless you’re counting Asia, where American tech companies have been adding jobs like mad for years.” He points out that the Asian high-tech firm Foxconn currently employs more people than the combined worldwide employees of Apple, Dell, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, Intel and Sony.

Former workers from Intel have repeatedly been certified for “Trade Adjustment Assistance” by the U.S. Labor Department both in Oregon and across the country, meaning that their jobs were either directly offshored or displaced by imports. Workers at other Oregon high-tech firms like InFocus, Symantec, Tyco Electronics, Sumco, Pixelworks and more have also had their jobs directly or indirectly offshored.

9,543 people in Oregon and 12,269 in Washington state are currently employed in the electronics sector. Other iconic Northwest industries that the U.S. International Trade Commission identifies as threatened by the Korea Free Trade Agreement include wood products, paper, wheat production and transportation equipment.

One complaint about the Korea trade agreement made by fair trade advocates is that its 35% “rule of origin” provisions would allow for up to 65% of a Korean-assembled product that enters the U.S. duty-free to be made in third-party countries like China or Vietnam. These countries will not have to make reciprocal market access concessions to the U.S., nor meet even basic labor and environmental standards.

“The problem isn’t that there aren’t enough Americans ready to work. It’s that there aren’t many Americans willing to work for the poverty wages paid in most developing countries,” said Besser. “Passing the Korea Free Trade Agreement will only accelerate this race to the bottom that’s hurting working people everywhere.”

U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk testified before the House Ways & Means Committee on February 9^ththat the administration will introduce the Korea trade deal for a vote in Congress within “the next few weeks.”

###

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign is a statewide coalition of labor, environmental and human rights organizations working together to promote a positive vision for international trade.

Posted in Korea FTA, Oregon Jobs Lost, president | Comments Off

37,000 Oregon Jobs at Risk Under Proposed Korean Trade Pact

Posted on January 25, 2011 by CTC

For Immediate Release
January 25, 2011

STATE OF THE UNION RESPONSE:
Analysis of Government Data Shows 37,000 Oregon Jobs at Risk Under Proposed Korean Trade Pact
Federal Study Finds that Good-Paying Jobs in Electronics and Manufacturing Sectors Are Among the Most Threatened by the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement

PORTLAND, Ore. — Approximately 37,000 Oregonians work in industries that a U.S. government study identifies as at risk of being offshored should a proposed trade pact with South Korea be enacted. President Barack Obama called on Congress to quickly ratify the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during his State of the Union address. According the federal government’s U.S. International Trade Commission, the proposed trade agreement will increase the U.S. global trade deficit, which will negatively affect employment in industries prevalent in the Pacific Northwest.

“With our official unemployment rate over 10 percent, Oregon simply cannot afford another job-killing trade agreement,” said Arthur Stamoulis, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. “It’s hard to believe that politicians would even consider supporting a trade deal that’s expected to increase the deficit and cost the country jobs, let alone one that’s being billed as the largest free trade agreement since NAFTA.”

The U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC), the independent federal agency tasked with estimating the likely economic effects of trade agreements, predicts that implementation of the Korea FTA would lead to an increase in the overall U.S. goods trade deficit. The USITC also indicates that jobs are likely to be lost in high-wage industries such as electronic equipment, motor vehicles and parts, and other transportation equipment, with deficits for these sectors totaling up to $1.8 billion. The average hourly earnings of workers in the electronics industry, which is projected to lose a significant number of jobs, were $30.38 in 2008. This was 40.5 percent greater than the average hourly earnings of all workers employed in the private sector.

There are 36,999 Oregonians employed in sectors of the economy that the USITC has identified as most at risk under the Korea FTA. This includes 9,801 in metal products manufacturing; 9,543 in electronics; 7,163 in motor vehicles and parts; 6,190 in other transportation equipment; 1,648 in textiles; 1,630 in iron-containing metal work; and 1,531 in apparel.

“Finding a family-wage job is already hard enough without our elected officials making it even harder. If the Korea trade agreement moves forward as planned, our state will lose thousands more good-paying jobs,” said Stamoulis. “This isn’t the time for elected officials to be cutting sweetheart deals for Wall Street that come at the expense of the American middle class. Senator Wyden and our U.S. Representatives should speak out firmly against the Korea FTA before it’s too late.”

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden chairs the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on International Trade, and could play an important role in determining whether or not the Korea FTA passes. In town hall events across the state last week, the Senator said that he is still undecided on the trade deal.

###

The Oregon Fair Trade Campaign (ORFTC) is a statewide coalition of labor, environmental and human rights organizations working together to improve trade policy.

For a PDF of ORFTC’s reporter memo titled “Studies on Potential Economic Effects of Korea Trade Pact Show Rising U.S. Deficits and Job Losses,” please email media@oregonfairtrade.org.

Posted in Korea FTA, Oregon Jobs Lost | Comments Off

Oregon Legislators Warn of Trade Deal’s Threat to State Sovereignty

Posted on August 31, 2010 by CTC

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Bipartisan Group of Legislators Ask Sen. Wyden to Defend Oregon Laws from Attack in International Tribunals
The Korea Free Trade Agreement Poses Serious Threat to State Sovereignty

Salem, Ore. — A bipartisan group of Oregon State Legislators sent U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) a letter today urging him to use his position as chair of the Senate Subcommittee on International Trade to strip provisions from a pending trade agreement that threaten to expose Oregon laws to attack in international tribunals.

According to the letter, the pending Korea Free Trade Agreement “includes investor-to-state enforcement mechanisms that enable foreign corporations to directly challenge American laws, regulations and even court decisions as trade violations through international tribunals that completely circumvent the U.S. judicial system.”

Similar provisions in past trade agreements have been used to attack environmental, food safety and other public interest laws. As the letter points out, “provisions in the Korea FTA pose a much greater threat than similar language included in pacts with smaller, developing countries, in that South Korea is a capital-exporting nation with significant investments throughout the United States.”

Korean-owned businesses operating in Oregon in recent years have included a semiconductor plant, an animal feed processor and shipping companies. If the trade agreement passes as written, these and other Korean-owned businesses would be granted special privileges to initiate “regulatory takings” challenges of federal, state and local laws — privileges that are not extended to U.S. businesses or citizens operating in Oregon.

“The Bush-negotiated trade pact with South Korea poses a real threat to Oregon’s environmental and land use laws, as well as to basic principles of democracy,” said Arthur Stamoulis, director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. “Senator Wyden should use his influence to insist that these harmful and unnecessary provisions be removed from the Korea proposal and any future trade agreement.”

The Korea Free Trade Agreement was negotiated and signed by the Bush administration in 2007, but the Bush White House was never able to get it through Congress. Despite speaking against it on the campaign trail, President Obama recently announced plans to press forward with the trade pact after the November election.

A complete copy of the letter and list of signers follows:

The Honorable Ron Wyden
United States Senate
223 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-3703

August 31, 2010

Re: State Sovereignty and the Korea Free Trade Agreement

Dear Senator Wyden:

The pending Korea Free Trade Agreement includes extraordinary rights for foreign investors that, if enacted, threaten to expose Oregon laws to attack in international tribunals. These provisions are unnecessary and unfair, and we ask that you use your position as Chair of the Senate Subcommittee on International Trade to help strip them from the agreement before it moves forward.

Like several trade pacts before it, the Korea FTA includes investor-to-state enforcement mechanisms that enable foreign corporations to directly challenge American laws, regulations and even court decisions as trade violations through international tribunals that completely circumvent the U.S. judicial system. These tribunals routinely hear “regulatory takings” cases that would be thrown out of the U.S. courts — and are even used to attack laws that are applied equally to both foreign and domestic firms.

The investor-to-state provisions in the Korea FTA pose a much greater threat than similar language included in pacts with smaller, developing countries, in that South Korea is a capital-exporting nation with significant investments throughout the United States. In recent years, this has included businesses such as a semiconductor plant, an animal feed processor and a shipping company here in Oregon.

The only other capital-exporting nation the United States has signed a similar agreement with is Canada. It’s worth noting that Canadian firms have filed multiple cases challenging state and federal laws under the North American Free Trade Agreement, with billions of dollars in outstanding cases still awaiting final decisions. Even cases the United States successfully defended against required significant expenditures of taxpayer dollars in order to fight them.

The argument often made in support of including investor-to-state provisions in pacts with developing countries — that their court systems are too corrupt for U.S. investors to receive a fair shake — does not hold water in the case of South Korea, which has a stable court system and firmly-established rule of law. There is absolutely no reason to put Oregon’s laws at jeopardy under international tribunals, nor to grant foreign corporations greater rights than our own domestic businesses.

The U.S. Trade Representative should have heeded the National Conference of State Legislatures’ advice to “exclude an investor-state dispute provision from the U.S.-Korea investment chapter” back during the initial negotiations. Now that the Korea FTA must be renegotiated, the precedent set by the Australia Free Trade Agreement, in which investor-to-state provisions were left out altogether, should be included as a solid requirement.

We look forward to your leadership on this issue, and thank you for your attention.

Sincerely,

Rep. Michael Dembrow (D-45)
Rep. Brad Witt (D-31)
Rep. Kim Thatcher (R-25)
Rep. Brian Clem (D-21)
Rep. Peter Buckley (D-5)
Sen. Diane Rosenbaum (D-21)
Sen. Chip Shields (D-22)
Rep. Paul Holvey (D-8)
Sen. Jackie Dingfelder (D-23)
Sen. Brian J. Boquist (R-12)
Rep. Val Hoyle (D-14)

CC: U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley
Congressman David Wu
Congressman Greg Walden
Congressman Earl Blumenauer
Congressman Peter DeFazio
Congressman Kurt Schrader
Ambassador Ron Kirk

Posted in Korea FTA, Legislation, Oregon representatives | Comments Off

Displaced Workers Call for Trade and Immigration Reform

Posted on July 6, 2010 by CTC

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Local Labor Leaders and Displaced Workers Call for Trade and Immigration Reform, Quality Job Creation
New Study Finds Trade-Related Job Loss on the Rise and a Significant Factor in Oregon’s High Unemployment Rate

SPRINGFIELD, OR — Displaced workers, union leaders, as well as immigrant rights and fair trade advocates will gather at 12pm on Tue., July 6, at Woodworker’s Hall in Springfield, the meeting place of the Lane County Labor Council, to release a new analysis of U.S. Labor Department data indicating the significance of trade-related job loss in Oregon’s high unemployment rate. Over the past four quarters, Oregon lost 10,000 jobs as the result of trade policies, which is more than one quarter of total jobs losses during that period.

The data also show a disturbing trend, with Oregon having more trade-related job lossesin 2009 than any other year on record. The first quarter of this year does not look much better. According to the report, four companies in Springfield and two in Eugene were certified under the Trade Adjustment Assistance program in 2009.

Data for the new study released by the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign came from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. The TAA program provides extended unemployment and job retraining benefits for workers whose jobs are certified by the Department as having been lost due to trade, either through direct offshoring or displacement by imports. Because TAA is difficult to pursue and qualify for, and many workers never even find out about it, the data provides only a conservative estimate of the true number of jobs lost due to trade. Changes in eligibility for the TAA program effected in mid-2009 also suggest that the previous years’ trade-related job losses were actually higher than the data set shows. Read the full report online at:http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/oregon/files/2010/06/JobLossReport.pdf

Ed Gunderson lost his job to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2003. Gunderson was the last U.S. employee of Plastmo, Inc., a small vinyl manufacturer formerly located in Springfield, which moved all of its jobs to its facility in Canada. Having helped two coworkers, most of whom were displaced in 1998, qualify for TAA, Gunderson himself was left empty-handed. He has since become a volunteer Secretary of the Lane Branch of Industrial Workers of the World.”We are told by our government that the wars we are involved in are to protect the American Way of Life and preserve the ‘American Dream,’ yet we allow and even encourage business owners to move production and services out of the country, said Gunderson. “This is economic war against American workers, and the government sanctions it through NAFTA and other treaties, destroying the livelihoods of thousands if not millions of workers.”

The Lane County Fair Trade Campaign (LCFTC), a local alliance, is continuing to press Sen. Ron Wyden, who sits on a key committee in Congress, to support trade the Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment (TRADE) Act. Congressman Peter DeFazio and Sen. Jeff Merkley already support the bill.

In June, the alliance held a forum explaining how the TRADE Act would re-empower local communities at home and abroad in terms of food security. But “the TRADE Act would affect far more than food,” said Samantha Chirillo, Organizer of the LCFTC alliance. “As comprehensive trade reform legislation currently pending in Congress, it would help level the playing field for local employers by establishing strong new labor, environmental and consumer safety standards in future and existing trade agreements.”

The LCFTC also points to the TRADE Act as a model for new trade agreements, like the one with South Korea that is currently being moved forward by the Obama Administration and Congress.

“Most blue collar jobs are gone as the result corporations pursuing cheaper labor overseas,” said Wes Shirley, External Relations Committee Chair, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, Local #3544. “Now we’re seeing service sector jobs, including IT, leave, as well.Job loss from free trade has chipped away at our economy to the extent that it’s literally crumbling. Virtually no one is unaffected by NAFTA-like trade agreements that have made everything and everyone cheap and expendable.”

Guadalupe Quinn, Immigrant Rights Advocacy Program Coordinator with Amigos, points out that trade adjustment assistance is not an option for immigrants to the U.S., who are first forced out of their own country by the poverty inflicted by unfair “free trade,” and then become displaced. “More importantly,” says Quinn, “forced migration has driven down farm workers’ wages in the United States – and indirectly, all wages – as relatively cheap immigrant labor competes in the domestic labor market. While some resent recent immigrants, our economy has become depend on immigrant labor.” Quinn noted that the UFW have launched a “Take Our Jobs” campaign in California to encourage more public involvement in local food production.

“In addition to the TRADE Act, we need comprehensive immigration reform, including citizenship for the 12 million documented immigrants now in the United States, and protection of worker civil rights and liberties,” insists Quinn.LCFTC and ESSN/Jobs with Justice alliances support comprehensive immigration reform.

John Evans,Co-Chair of Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network/Jobs with Justice, says “It’s clear from this dismal report that we need to pass the TRADE Act. But we also need the creation of living-wage jobs that build long-term community resilience, rather than through attracting big businesses or implementing short-term fixes.” ESSN/Jobs with Justice is currently working for better labor standards at the local level, in part through ESSN’s Community Standards Campaign to increase wages for City of Eugene employees.

Speaking at the news conference will be Ed Gunderson, NAFTA victim and volunteer Secretary, Lane Branch of Industrial Workers of the World; Linda Peterson, President of AFSCME Local #3214 and Board Member of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign; Guadalupe Quinn, Immigrant Rights Advocacy Program Coordinator, Amigos; John Evans, Co-Chair of Eugene-Springfield Solidarity Network/Jobs with Justice; local union member James Jacobson; Wes Shirley, External Relations Committee Chair, Graduate Teaching Fellows Federation, Local #3544; and Samantha Chirillo, Lane County Organizer of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign. All groups mentioned are involved in the Lane County Fair Trade Campaign.

Posted in Oregon Jobs Lost, Trade Act | Comments Off

Statement on Rep. Schrader’s Support for the Korea Free Trade Agreement

Posted on July 3, 2010 by CTC

For Immediate Release
Thursday, July 8, 2010

BUSINESS & POLITICS:
Statement on Congressman Schrader and the Obama Administration’s Support for the Korea Free Trade Agreement
by Arthur Stamoulis, Director, Oregon Fair Trade Campaign

“The Bush administration negotiated and signed the Korea Free Trade Agreement three years ago, but was never able to get it through Congress. There’s no way voters will put up with Congress passing this job-killing trade deal now.

“This is an old-model trade pact that dwarfs anything President Bush was able to get pass during his eight years in office. The U.S International Trade Commission and others predict the Korea agreement will increase the trade deficit, and we have no doubt it will end up costing Oregon high-tech jobs at a time when the state can least afford to lose them.

“Congressman Schrader has angered his constituents by speaking out in support of Bush-negotiated trade deals that will cost his district jobs. We want to make sure the Obama administration doesn’t head down that same dangerous path.

“In May 2008, then-Senator Obama told us through a candidate questionnaire that he opposed the Korea Free Trade Agreement and that he would support a range of important trade policy reforms if elected president. Introducing the Korea Free Trade Agreement as written would represent the complete polar opposite of those campaign commitments.

“Oregon needs jobs, not job-killing trade deals. This state simply cannot afford any more business-as-usual trade pacts that force local employers to compete with companies taking advantage of lower labor and environmental costs overseas. The sooner our elected officials get that message, the better off everyone will be.”

###

BACKGROUND: On June 26, President Obama announced that he plans to introduce the Bush-negotiated Korea Free Trade Agreement for a vote in Congress after the upcoming elections — something freshman Congressman Kurt Schrader has been encouraging him to do. Labor leaders, fair trade advocates and the unemployed held a picket today outside a fundraising reception for Congressman Schrader featuring Vice President Joe Biden, the highest-ranking Obama administration official to visit the state since taking office.

President Obama’s completed candidate questionnaire for the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign is online at: http://www.citizenstrade.org/ctc/oregon/files/2011/12/ObamaResponse.pdf

Posted in Free Trade Agreements, Korea FTA, Oregon representatives | Comments Off

Study Reveals Record Trade-Related Job Loss in Oregon

Posted on June 29, 2010 by CTC

For Immediate Release
Tuesday, June 29, 2010

NEW STUDY:
Trade-Related Job Loss a Significant Factor in Oregon’s High Unemployment Rate
Labor Department Data Suggests More Than a Quarter of the Past Year’s Job Losses Were Due to Trade Policies

OREGON CITY, Ore. — Displaced workers, union leaders and fair trade advocates gathered outside the Blue Heron paper mill today to release a new analysis of U.S. Labor Department data indicating the significance of trade-related job loss in Oregon’s high unemployment rate. Laid-off Blue Heron employees certified this month by the federal government for “Trade Adjustment Assistance” are among nearly 10,000 Oregonians who have lost jobs due to either direct offshoring or competition from imports over the past four quarters.

“The Labor Department certified more trade-related job losses in Oregon in 2009 than any other year on record, and the first quarter of this year didn’t look much better,” said Arthur Stamoulis, Director of the Oregon Fair Trade Campaign, which published the study. “Oregon’s middle class just isn’t safe so long as trade policies enable local jobs to be easily shipped overseas.”

Among other things, the new study found that:

Trade-related job loss accounted for a major portion of Oregon’s overall job losses over the past year. Between March 2009 and March 2010, 9,955 Oregonians were certified by Labor Department as losing their jobs to trade. This number is 26.6% of the net 37,400 Oregon jobs lost over that time period.

Trade-related job loss also accounts for a significant portion of Oregon’s ongoing unemployment problem. The 46,959 total Oregon jobs certified as having been lost to trade during the “NAFTA era” of January 1994 to December 2009 are the equivalent of 2.95% of the state’s current total employment — or 22.6% of the state’s total unemployment. For technical reasons pertaining to the data pool, only a fraction of the Oregon jobs lost to direct offshoring or competition from imports are even counted in these figures.

For a variety of reasons, 2009 was an unprecedented year for trade-related job losses certified by the Labor Department. The 9,457 Oregon workers certified as losing their jobs to trade in 2009 was 322% higher than the average number of workers certified each year between 1994 and 2009.

“This state is outright hemorrhaging jobs due to backwards trade policies enacted by Congress,” said Gregory Pallesen, Vice President of the Association of Western Pulp & Paper Workers (AWPPW), the union representing workers at Blue Heron. “The only way we’re going to stem the flow of jobs is if our elected officials get serious about trade policy reform.”

The Trade Reform, Accountability, Development and Employment Act — or TRADE Act, for short — is comprehensive trade reform legislation currently pending in Congress. The TRADE Act would help level the playing field for local employers, by establishing strong new labor, environmental and consumer safety standards in future and existing trade agreements.

“Oregonians keeping losing jobs because Congress hasn’t seen fit to fix the broken trade policies that force companies like Blue Heron to compete with imports from countries with sweatshop working conditions and lax environmental rules,” said Stamoulis. “The best way to prevent more trade-related layoffs is for Congress to pass the TRADE Act.”

Data for the new study came from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. The TAA program provides workers whose jobs are certified by the Department as being lost due to trade — either through direct offshoring or displacement by imports — with extended unemployment and job retraining benefits.

Because someone must take the affirmative step of submitting a worksite for TAA certification, TAA data only offers a conservative estimate of the true number of jobs lost due to trade. Likewise, changes in eligibility for the TAA program that took effect mid-2009 suggests that previous years’ trade-related job losses were actually higher than the data set suggests. These eligibility requirements account in part for the comparatively high number of certifications in 2009, but the data suggests that the year would have been exceptionally high even under the old eligibility rules.

For more information, read the full report online.

Posted in Oregon Jobs Lost | Comments Off