Text Fwd: California Job Losses Since NAFTA And The Impact the NAFTA-like Korea Trade Deal Will Have If Passed

* Text fwd from Steve Zeltzer on Feb. 5, 2011 (* emphases is from the forwarded)

California Job Losses Since NAFTA And

The Impact the NAFTA-like Korea Trade Deal Will Have If Passed

The Korea trade deal is one in a series of NAFTA expansion that the Bush administration negotiated. It was signed by Bush in 2007. As a presidential candidate, President Obama opposed the deal. He pledged to replace the damaging NAFTA model. In June 2010, President Obama said he would start renegotiating parts of the agreement in preparation for sending it to Congress. But he only focused on some modest changes to automobile trade issues. This came after over 100 members of Congress and over 500 unions, environmental, faith and other organizations called on him to meet his commitments and really fix Bush’s old text. The NAFTA-style Korea trade deal Obama is now pushing will contribute to job losses and a major trade deficit.


· JOBS VULNERABLE TO KOREA TRADE DEAL – According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, workers in well-paying manufacturing sectors may be harmed by the Korea trade deal, including the motor vehicle and electronic equipment industries. In California alone, there are 459,503 workers employed in 19,094 establishments in the textile, metal, other transportation, electronic and motor vehicles equipment industries that are at risk if the Korea trade deal is passed.


· LOSS OF MANUFACTURING JOBS- The state of California lost about 486,519 manufacturing jobs since the implementation of NAFTA, and the country as a whole lost about 5 million manufacturing jobs during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2009).


· CERTIFIED JOBS DISPLACED DUE TO IMPORTS/OUTSOURCING – As certified by the Department of Labor's Trade Adjustment Assistance program, 142,065 workers in the California have lost their jobs due to imports or outsourcing since the implementation of NAFTA.


· TRADE DEFICIT DESTROYS JOBS NATIONWIDE – The ballooning trade deficit – both with NAFTA countries and the world at large – during the NAFTA-WTO period also represents millions in lost manufacturing jobs. Since the U.S. began implementing NAFTA-style trade pacts in 1994, the country has lost about 5 million manufacturing jobs.


· The Economic Policy Institute predicts that the Korea trade deal will increase the annual U.S. trade deficit with Korea by $13.9 billion over the next seven years. This predicted rise in the deficit would lead to the displacement of 159,000 net U.S jobs.


· TRADE POLICY HOLDS DOWN WAGES – While these job losses greatly affect many California families, all families are affected by the stagnation of wages brought on by our trade policy. Taking a longer view of trade policy dating back to the initial Fast Track – conceived by President Nixon in 1973 as a way to grab Congress’ constitutional authority over trade policy – U.S. wages for the median worker are only a nickel higher today relative to then, despite a near doubling of productivity.


· When the direct costs of our trade policy are combined with indirect costs – such as corporations’ threats to relocate to avoid wage increases demanded by unions – our trade policy is clearly a net negative for workers in California and across the United States.