Union wants to fix NAFTA, not junk it

http://www.post-trib.com/news/856906,steelworker.article

March 23, 2008
By Andy Grimm Post-Tribune staff writer

Fourteen years after it was passed, NAFTA is again making headlines, with the major Democratic presidential contenders saying they would like to see changes to the trade pact.

Change would be good, agrees Jim Robinson, executive director of District 7 of the United Steelworkers. It just may not come from political or business leaders.

Robinson and the union this week will host a contingent of Mexican steelworkers on a visit to Granite City, Ill., a town where many feel the North American Free Trade Agreement gutted an already faltering steel industry. The gathering is part of a continuing program of face-to-face visits for Mexican and U.S. steelworkers that began in earnest after NAFTA, and Robinson expects it to come off without the animosity one might expect from Granite City workers.

"Most people understand that we live in a world of international companies and a global economy," Robinson said. "When I start talking about we need to develop global union ties, I don't get people who disagree much. They say, 'We need global unions.' "

Change in unions' purpose

When Robinson joined the union of what was then Inland Steel in 1971, the turn-of-the- century union battle cry of "Workers of the world, unite!" wasn't on the lips of many of his 120,000 fellow USW members. Today, there are 70,000 or so steelworkers in Illinois and Indiana, a steady bleeding of jobs that Robinson blames only partly on NAFTA partners such as Mexico and Canada.

FULL story at link.

I say junk it. I was originally a believer in globalism because I thought that we could use it to set one set of standards for labor and environment that would help the world.

Instead, it was *always* about further engrossing the rich at the expense of everyone else.