Author Archives: mnftc

MINNESOTA FAIR TRADE COALITION PRAISES ROBUST RE-AUTHORIZATION OF TRADE POLICY ADVISORY COUNCIL

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Josh Wise; 952-818-5474; josh@citizenstrade.org

The Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition is very pleased that the legislature and governor reauthorized the Minnesota Trade Policy Advisory Council (TPAC) in a more robust form in the 2013 legislative session as part of the Jobs and Economic Development bill. “International trade negotiations are occurring constantly, and they have a huge effect on Minnesota’s economy and quality of life,” said Josh Wise, Executive Director of the coalition. “It is important that we analyze how these talks will affect us here in Minnesota, and make our voice, as a state, heard in the negotiations.” Despite record exports, Minnesota still ran a more than $12 billion trade deficit in 2012, according to the Census Bureau. This deficit includes a more than $8 billion deficit with China alone, a $500 million increase over 2011. Additionally, trade policy governs far more than just the exchange of goods, extending to environmental regulation, public health, and even internet privacy policy. The laws created by these treaties override federal, state and local laws.

Created in 2008, the original Trade Policy Advisory Group was largely rendered ineffective by legislative politics and existed for four years without producing anything of substance. The council, in its new form, will ensure accountability and effectiveness. In addition to commissioners and legislatures, the TPAC will include members of communities who are affected by trade policy including from labor, business, farming, environmental groups and international development organizations. The TPAC is required to meet at least once a year to“advise the governor and the legislature on matters relating to United States trade agreements; assess the potential impact of federal trade agreements on the state’s economy; advise the governor and the legislature of the group’s findings and make recommendations, including any draft legislation necessary to implement the recommendations, to the governor and the legislature,” and other responsibilities.

“The Trade Policy Advisory Council provides a real opportunity for Minnesotans to understand how they are being affected by globalization, and how we can create our place in the global economy,” said Kera Peterson, chairperson of the MN Fair Trade Coalition. “Trade Agreements like NAFTA and the Korea FTA have proved not to be in best interest of Minnesotans. It’s important that we make our voice heard on pending deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership and any agreement with the European Union. Minnesota has a nation leading quality of life, and its important that that not be undermined by unfair trade practices.”

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The Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition formed in 1991, in opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement and globalization. Our membership has since grown to include over 70 labor, family farm, environmental, faith and social justice organizations across the state of Minnesota. Our mission is to create, promote and support fair trade policy and that empowers local communities protect their quality of life in Minnesota and around the globe.

Big Business is trying to force through bad trade deals for Minnesotans by undermining our ability to have a say in the negotiations!

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Right now, lobbyists and unelected government officials are meeting in secret to negotiate THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP!

The TPP is a massive “free trade agreement” potentially involving the entire Pacific Rim – over 60% of the global economy – that would de-regulate the same corporations that caused the Great Recession and undermine the ability of local governments and communities to protect their quality of life!

Free trade agreement like NAFTA and CAFTA have sent good paying jobs overseas to sweatshops, contaminated water and land around the world, and lined our shelves with cheaply made, unsafe products, all in the name of higher profits! The TPP would go even further in creating a global race to the bottom for wages, consumer safety, food sovereignty and the environment.

How Can They Do That!?!

Every major trade agreement has been passed by first passing what’s called Trade Promotion or “Fast Track” Authority, where Congress abdicates its responsibility to regulate international commerce to the President, by guaranteeing an up or down vote on trade policy that they don’t even see until its completed, without amending it.

This undermines democracy, and inhibits Congress’ and our ability to thoroughly understand the impacts the agreement could have on their constituents.

Additionally, States are virtually left out of the process that can decide how they spend their own tax dollars.

This is not a popular policy! The renewal of Fast Track, in 2002, passed through Congress at midnight by only two votes. Fast Track expired in 2007.

Enacting Fast Track means secret trade negotiations, like the Trans-Pacific Partnership, will be accelerated to an alarming speed, denying legislators and the public the appropriate time to consider the serious ramifications of these agreements.

Fast Track unnecessarily creates a situation where negotiators cannot be held accountable by the public, and legislators are denied their constitutional authority to set the terms of trade agreements.

Recently over 400 organizations sent a letter to Congress, demanding they oppose Fast Track as a destructive policy.

Call  Senator Amy Klobuchar today and tell her to oppose any attempt to impose Fast Track on  Americans and Minnesotans!   612-727-5220; 202-224-3244

Call  Senator Al Franken today and tell him to oppose any attempt to impose Fast Track on  Americans and Minnesotans!  (202) 224-5641; (651) 221-1016

For more information, visit http://www.citizen.org/trade/fasttrack/

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Offshoring on the Rise in Minnesota Last Year

Minnesota Among the Hardest Hit by Trade-Related Job Loss in 2012;
President’s “Trans-Pacific Partnership” Could Accelerate Job Loss Even Further

Minneapolis, Minn. — The day before President Barack Obama is expected to promote his Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Free Trade Agreement as a job creation effort during the 2013 State of the Union Address, a Minnesota fair trade advocacy coalition has released a new analysis of U.S. Labor Department data showing that Minnesota lost over 20% more jobs to offshoring in 2012 than in a typical year and the 7th most jobs per person in the entire nation.

“Minnesota communities have been hit hard by offshoring over the years, and the data shows that that trend doesn’t seem to be slowing,” said Steve Hunter, Secretary-Treasurer of the MN AFL-CIO.  “Minnesotans have good reason to worry that this so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership could cause a devastating blow to what remains of the state’s middle class.”

(Video by Tom Niemisto of Minnesota 2020)

The newly compiled data released today by the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition shows that the U.S. Labor Department certified 2,525 Minnesota jobs as destroyed by either direct offshoring or displacement by imports in 2012, which is 21% higher than the average number of jobs offshored from the state in any given year since the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) took effect in 1994.  The total number of trade-displaced jobs certified by the Labor Department in Minnesota since 1994 now stands at 39,797, which is the 15th highest in the nation as a percentage of state population.

The U.S. Labor Department individually certifies workplace layoffs as being trade-related in order to qualify displaced workers for the Trade Adjustment Assistance program.  The coalition argues that this data set necessarily undercounts the true number of Minnesota jobs that have been offshored, first, because it requires people to proactively apply for certification and, second, because people in service sector jobs that have been offshored, such as those in call centers or computer programming, have typically been disqualified by law from inclusion in the program.

Minnesota workplaces certified as having trade-related layoffs in 2012 included the Alexandria Extrusion Company (Alexandria), Anderson Corporation (Bayport), Boston Scientific Corporation (Plymouth), CenturyLink (Minneapolis), Ecolab (Eagan), ExpressPoint Technology Services (Minneapolis), Ferrara Candy Company (Round Lake), Ford Motor Company (St Paul), HCL America (Duluth), Hutchinson Technology (Plymouth), IBM (Minneapolis), Lawson Software (St Paul), Medtronic (Mounds View), Nilfisk-Advance (Plymouth), Northwest Publications (St Paul), Prometric (St Paul), Schawk Minneapolis (Minneapolis), Springs Global US (Minneapolis), Superior Plating (Minneapolis), Supervalu (Eden Prarie), Thomson Reuters (Eagan) and Verso Paper (Sartell).

“The Trans-Pacific Partnership would accelerate job loss in Minnesota by forcing local employers to compete with companies that take advantage of sweatshop working conditions in places like Vietnam and Malaysia, which are undercutting even Chinese manufacturers,” said Josh Wise, director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition. “We need trade policies that protect workers’ rights abroad and jobs here at home, not ones that continue a global race to the bottom that no ordinary Minnesotan can ever win.”

The Trans-Pacific Partnership is currently under negotiation between the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.  Among those countries alone, it would become the largest Free Trade Agreement in U.S. history, but it is also being specifically negotiated as a “docking agreement” that would be open for any country in the Asia-Pacific region to join.

January Update: Mapping dislocated workers in MN

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Since the middle of October, when we created this map, there were 19 new TAA claims. Among them were the a solar supply company in Lakeville moving production to China, and the “Quality and Regluatory team” from General Mills, as well as 4 graphic designers from the Pioneer Press getting outsourced to India. Click the icons on the map below to see details the Trade Adjustment Assistance claims in Minnesota over the last 5 years. Unfortunately, because displaced workers have to actively file a petition for TAA or have one filed on their behalf, this represents only a small fraction of the jobs and workers that are being dislocated. We’ll be updating this map as new claims become available.

View Map of TAA Claims in MN 2007-2012 in a full screen map

Senator’s Franken and Klobuchar take a stand for Minnesota Workers!

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For Immediate Release
Contact:
Josh Wise, 952-818-5474
“We are very happy that both senators from Minnesota are taking such a strong stand for the rights of workers in Minnesota and around the globe,” said Josh Wise, Director of the Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition. “With countries such as Vietnam, which has been referred to as the ‘low cost labor alternative to China,’ being party to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, it is vitally important that our elected officials do everything in their power to ensure that this massive free trade deal does not repeat the results of NAFTA and create a race to the bottom for wages and working conditions. Senators Franken and Klobuchar took action today to preserve Minnesota’s high quality of life and we applaud them for that.”
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The Minnesota Fair Trade Coalition is a coalition of nearly 50 labor, faith, environmental, family farm and social justice organizations, united in the belief that trade policy should create good jobs, sustainable communities and a high quality of life in Minnesota and around the world. www.mnfairtradecoalition.org.

For Immediate Release:
December 3, 2012
Contact: 
Alexandra Fetissoff (Franken), 202-224-4645
Chris Averill (Snowe) 202-224-8667
Sens. Franken, Snowe Urge President to Protect American Jobs
in Negotiations Over New Pacific Free Trade Agreement
Sens. Say Pact Should Maximize American Job Creation,
Open New Markets, Target Other Nations’ Unfair Trade Practices
WASHINGTON, DC [12/03/12] – Today, U.S. Sens. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) urged President Obama to ensure that a new Pacific free trade agreement now being negotiated will not only open new markets for U.S. exports, but also create and protect American jobs, and target other nations’ unfair trade practices.
“As the economy continues to recover, a major priority of the American people and of your Administration has been preventing the outsourcing of good American jobs,” the senators wrote in a bipartisan letter to President Obama. “[The Trans-Pacific Partnership] should be crafted to maximize good job creation and market expansion while minimizing the incentives for further off-shoring of middle class jobs.”
Among the priorities Sens. Franken and Snowe asked President Obama to undertake in the negotiations were efforts to prevent unfair currency manipulation, to ensure that countries that are not a part of an agreement couldn’t take advantage of it to get their goods into the U.S. market, and to make certain that other countries in the negotiations protect fundamental labor rights.
They also urged that other countries’ State-owned enterprises be required to play on a level playing field and that incentives to send U.S. jobs and manufacturing overseas be eliminated.
The free trade agreement, known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, currently includes eleven nations – Australia, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, and the United States — and may include more in the future.
Sens. Franken and Snowe’s bipartisan letter to President Obama, which can be read below, was signed by 22 of their Senate colleagues, including: Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Robert Casey (D-Penn.), Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Jon Tester (D-Mont.), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), Chris Coons (D-Del.), Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.).
Dear Mr. President:
            As the economy continues to recover, a major priority of the American people and of your Administration has been preventing the outsourcing of good American jobs.  In the context of trade policy, we believe, like you, that trade when done right should create and preserve good American jobs instead of outsourcing them. As your Administration has stated, a balanced trade agenda means opening markets for U.S. exporters and keeping faith with workers here at home.
            Pursuing such a balanced trade agenda requires that your Administration and Congress work together.  Nowhere is such cooperation on trade more urgent than in the ongoing negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a vast, multi-country free trade agreement that will have a significant effect on global trade and investment.  It should be crafted to maximize good job creation and market expansion while minimizing the incentives for further off-shoring of middle class jobs.
            With that objective in mind, as you and your United States Trade Representative continue negotiations on a TPP, we respectfully urge you to:
•           Maintain “Buy American” government procurement requirements. The American people, through their elected officials, should not be prohibited from establishing government procurement policies that prioritize job creation in the United States.  We hope that you will direct USTR negotiators to ensure that any TPP not restrict “Buy American” and “Buy Local” government procurement policies at the federal or sub-federal level.
•           Require strong Rules of Origin. The Rules of Origin in the TPP should ensure that only signatories to the TPP will benefit from its increased market access and other provisions so that employment opportunities in the U.S. may be expanded.  Non-TPP members must not be allowed to use weak rules of origin as a backdoor way to enter the U.S. market and further depress U.S. job prospects.
•           Ensure that State-Owned and State-Supported Commercial Enterprises (SOEs) operate on a level playing field.  Given that SOEs are more common in the other TPP countries than in the U.S., the TPP should require that SOEs competing with private U.S. enterprises operate and make decisions on a commercial basis. The agreement should also incorporate a reporting requirement so that countries have to provide information on the operation of their SOEs in other TPP countries on a regular basis.
•           Safeguard against investment and service sector rules that provide incentives for the off-shoring of both good manufacturing and service sector jobs.  These rules should not grant corporations extreme protections that help them relocate investment and jobs overseas.
•           Include an enforceable obligation to protect fundamental labor rights. A country that denies these rights to workers is providing a hidden subsidy that keeps wages artificially lower than they otherwise would be if workers were free to organize and bargain—a subsidy that makes U.S.-based producers less cost-competitive. The free exercise of fundamental labor rights is key to improving the standards of living and expanding export markets while labor suppression merely ensures that middle classes—and export markets—will be smaller than they otherwise would be.
•           Safeguard against currency manipulation. To prevent the artificial suppression of job-creating American experts, the TPP should explicitly allow countries to respond to and offset currency manipulation.
            If your Administration pursues these basic negotiating objectives and collaborates with Congress during the negotiations—ahead of the ratification debate—we are confident that the TPP can become a tool for job creation that helps rebuild a national consensus on international trade policy.  We look forward to working with you and the USTR to ensure that the TPP meets the crucial goals of opening markets to American exports and keeping faith with American workers.  Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact any of us.
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